I have a cookie recipe that is made with almond paste. It is quite costly to produce. All the bakeries that I have seen sell these types of cookies by the pound. I have been asked to make these cookies for a friend who is willing to pay for them. How do I figure out the cost by the pound?

Hi,
If you are thinking about making these cookies again I would treat this as a trial production run. Try to be as accurate as possible. Keep complete notes of every step.

Cost of the ingredients.
Time you spend acquiring the ingredients, measuring, combining and baking. Don’t forget to track how much time you spend on cleanup. Once you have the time spent you can multiply that times an hourly wage for yourself.
The cost is the ingredients plus your wage. Divide the cost by the number of pounds of cookies produced and there you have it. In addition to your time and ingredients you may want to add some factor for energy used (electricty,gas, etc.) and equipment wear and tear.

ginaco - 16 November 2010 08:38 AM

I have a cookie recipe that is made with almond paste. It is quite costly to produce. All the bakeries that I have seen sell these types of cookies by the pound. I have been asked to make these cookies for a friend who is willing to pay for them. How do I figure out the cost by the pound?

If you’re buying almond paste, I’m sure you can make it more cheaply.

Ginaco:
This is a topic that I have discussed endlessly with a friend.  When doing high quality home baking, it is nearly impossible to command the price we deserve.  If you are not buying the ingredients in bulk, like a bakery, and not working in huge batches, it becomes very very expensive.

Good luck

When doing high quality home baking, it is nearly impossible to command the price we deserve.

It is so true, and for exactly the reasons you give—plus many “high class” bakeries mix in shortening and use cake mixes, even.  The “big one” here in Charlotte uses a mix for her most popular cake ($50 Chocolate truffle cake - chocolate cake/chocolate ganache) and uses 1/2 shortening in many frostings, neither of which I’d ever do. 

For the same cake, made our way, I’d have to charge $125.  So when people ask me if I sell cakes and for how much, I answer the same as when they’d asked me if I sell my knitting—“If I gave you a price, you would laugh me out of the county,” and leave it at that!!!