Take one nibble of a Vermont Moonlight Cookies maple shortbread—in the shape of a leaf, of course—and you’ll taste the essence of Vermont rolled and baked into one buttery dough. The vision of that cookie inspired Barbara Bacchi to found her company in 2003, and she went through 13 iterations until she landed on the ideal version. Although she won’t give up her recipe, she proudly lists her Vermont ingredients: Cabot butter, King Arthur flour, Sidehill Farm jams, Red Kite Candy caramel, and a special dark maple syrup her Shaftsbury neighbors, Rick and Greer Kobik of Maple Hill Maple, reserve for her each spring.
It takes persistence and passion to produce consistent batches of cookies, and Barbara has dedicated 22 years to this noble pursuit. A one-woman operation, this spunky septuagenarian spends 10- hour days baking, frosting and filling, packaging, and managing distribution of local deliveries and online orders. Her daughter, Andrea E. Bacchi, serves as digital marketing and business development manager. In addition to being chief taste tester, she’s also her mom’s biggest cheerleader.
Top sellers in the Vermont Moonlight Cookies repertoire include shortbreads (maple, lemon ginger, raspberry, and tangerine), as well as raspberry linzers, chewy ginger molasses, and chocolate chip. Seasonal and holiday flavors appear on occasion. With enough advance notice, Barbara also specializes in wedding favors and corporate gifts, which she can create in Vermont-themed shapes.
Barbara reflects on her journey. “My husband, Andrew, and I first visited Vermont in 1970 with a sports car club that came to work at the Mount Equinox hill climb in Manchester. We were mesmerized by Vermont’s beauty, so we moved here from Brooklyn in 1973. We were homesteaders with a big garden, some goats, chickens, ducks, and a cow.”
It takes persistence and passion to produce consistent batches of cookies, and Barbara has dedicated 22 years to this noble pursuit.
She spent the next 30 years raising her family and worked as assistant editor at fly-fishing magazines among other jobs. In the early 2000s, she got hooked on the Food Network’s Food Finds, in which the host travels the country visiting small-town shops, mom-and-pop stores, and local vendors who take pride in making specialty foods the old-fashioned way. “I said to myself, I can do that!” And thus Barbara tapped in to her love of baking and established Vermont Moonlight Cookies in 2003.
The company began in her kitchen and later expanded into a commercial space with a small retail shop near her home in Shaftsbury. She’s been a longtime member of the Vermont Specialty Food Association. “Everyone in that organization is so willing to help one another. Entrepreneurs sharing ideas and resources. It’s all about collaboration and support, not competition.”
During the pandemic, Barbara obtained a town permit and transitioned the production back to her home kitchen. Although her packaged cookies can still be found in select shops from Bennington to Manchester and Dorset, most sales are online now. (Insider tip: if you want to order cookies for the holidays, orders must be placed by December 1.)
After two-plus decades, Barbara still seems amazed at her success. “But it’s not just the cookies; it’s the friendships that have evolved with my customers from around the country. You meet good people through food.” Even after 52 years in Vermont, Barbara considers herself a “Brooklyn kid who loves to bake.” Thanks to the buttery love she rolls into her cookies, she’s made Vermont just a little bit sweeter.
