Made by Mom Gift Guide: Kerrigan's Cookie Shoppe

Last year, Smith, a preschool teacher, was looking for a way to supplement her family's income. She also knew that she made cookies everybody raved about.

Smith had tweaked a family friend's chocolate chip cookie recipe. Instead of the usual gooey, Toll House cookies most people are used to, she'd created soft, cakey cookie clouds dotted with chocolate chips (that's actually my description because I've eaten them and they are delicious).

Smith wondered if she could parlay the recipe into a business. She asked friends on Facebook if anybody wanted to try some free cookies. Let's just say her friends jumped at the opportunity. She sent out 20 samples. And the feedback was good.

Smith got to work to make sure her kitchen in her east Raleigh home met all the requirements of state regulators to make and sell baked goods. And in June, she officially opened Kerrigan's Cookie Shoppe. The business is named after Smith's daughter, a happy, outgoing eight-year-old who doesn't let anybody hold her back.

"She's awesome," Smith tells me.

Smith has tried to make her cookies as healthy as cookies can be. She uses only unbleached flour, eggs from vegetarian-fed hens, pure bourbon vanilla extract and dark chocolate chips, for instance. No products have nuts. And she uses lactose-free milk.

"The quality of ingredients is important to me," she said.

Smith has branched out beyond her chocolate chip cookies and now offers sugar cookies, brownies and seasonal specialties. Her prices start at $9 for a dozen cookies and $12 for two dozen.