Cooking up 'little bites of heaven'

Even at rest, the 160-pound industrial-strength Berkel mixer looks like it means business — and it does.

Cookie business, that is, and most people have never tasted cookies quite like these. Still, the gleaming machine appears a tad out of place here in Karen Beaver’s Charlottesville kitchen.

Aside from large windows that provide a lovely view of a gurgling goldfish pond and towering trees, it’s a kitchen no bigger or fancier than most.

What Beaver and her son, Hovhannes, as well as his wife, Gohar, create here almost daily are Armenian

sugar cookies. These tasty treats have been called “little bites of Heaven,” but according to the matriarch who makes every batch of dough, words can’t do these cookies justice.

“I get asked all the time what’s the difference between Armenian and American sugar cookies,” Beaver said one recent morning as she and her son weighed and hand-formed dollop after dollop of dough into the shape of cookies about the size of a silver dollar in circumference and at least an inch thick.

‘Taste one for yourself’

“I say, ‘You have to taste one for yourself. When you taste it, then you’ll know.’ So they taste a cookie and say, ‘Yes, but what makes them taste like this?’

“I say we use real butter, sugar, flour and some have additional spices. ‘Yes, yes, but what makes them taste like this?’ Then I say, ‘It’s the love we put into each of them.’ And we really do.”

Beaver was born in Boston, but moved back to Armenia with her parents after World War II. She loved the traditional Armenian sugar cookies her mother made, but never thought to get the recipe from her.

“When my father passed away, two of my sisters who lived here in the United States wanted my mom and me to come back, so we did,” Beaver said. “I love to cook and bake, and after my mom passed away I tried for the longest time to find the recipe for her sugar cookies.

“One day I was looking through her papers and I found the recipe. It was just lucky. I got emotional when I found it.”

For years Beaver made the cookies for only family and friends. Then in 2004 she started Granatus Sugar Cookies as a part-time business venture.

The first retail outlet Beaver brought her cookies to was The Virginia Shop in the Barracks Road Shopping Center. Gail Garnett, the store’s manager, tried a sample cookie and has been selling them since.

“These are cookies with exceptional quality, and are completely unique compared to what we know as sugar cookies in the Southern states,” Garnett said. “The flavors are very distinct and delicious.

“The mixed tins with a variety of flavors are very popular, as are the tins with the traditional Armenian sugar cookies. We have repeat customers come in all the time for them.

“The comment we hear most often is that they’ve never had a cookie similar to one of these. They love them because they’re not crisp, but buttery and soft. They’re wonderful with tea or coffee.”

By 2006 the cookies were selling very well online and at local outlets such as The Virginia Shop and Foods of All Nations. With ever-increasing sales, the family trio decided to go into it full time.

“The best thing is that this is a family business,” Hovhannes Beaver said. “That’s part of the charm.

“Every day I’m doing something with the people I love. That’s important to me.”

Now the love-filled sugar cookies come in 18 flavors such as chocolate chip and the most recently conceived peanut butter sugar cookie. Holiday flavors, available from October through January, include apple-cinnamon, gingerbread, eggnog and pumpkin sugar cookies.

“The peanut butter sugar cookie has been really exciting for me as a peanut butter fan,” Hovhannes Beaver said. “I’ve wanted it for a while, and we finally came up with the right recipe.

“In my mind it’s the perfect peanut butter cookie. We often go places to offer samples of our cookies, because a lot of people aren’t familiar with this type of cookie.

“I get a thrill when people bite into a cookie and say something like, ‘Man, this is the real thing. This is a cookie.’ I don’t want people to like our cookies; I want them to love them.”

Popular gifts

Mona Lisa Pasta at 9211 Preston Ave. sells individual Granatus cookies, but most people buy them in circular tins containing at least a pound. Business is particularly brisk this time of year, because a lot of people are buying them as gifts for around $16.

These are substantial cookies without being large or heavy. They have an underlying buttery taste that complements the various flavors.

“When Americans think of sugar cookies they usually think of a thinner, harder cookie,” Hovhannes Beaver said as the oven timer rang and he promptly removed a fresh batch of cookies.

“Our cookies are in a totally different ballpark. They melt in your mouth and have a wonderful texture and consistency.”

After many requests there are now sugar-free sugar cookies, too. These are made with Splenda.

“So many people told us it would be wonderful if we offered sugar-free cookies,” Karen Beaver said. “I’m not a big fan of sugar-free cookies. I mean it’s a misnomer, sugar-free sugar cookies.

“But people who eat them say they’re great, so who am I to argue?”

Each cookie, regardless of the sweetening agent used, comes with a slight, thumb-size dimple in the top. It has become the Granatus signature for excellence, but it’s not something indigenous to Armenian culture.

“I must tell you, if you go to Armenia you won’t see cookies like this,” Beaver told a visitor as she removed yet another sheet of freshly baked cookies from the oven. “When I started making the cookies I just did it with my thumb.

“It may be that my mom used to do it that way. You could call it our signature.”

Granatus Sugar Cookies has earned the right to affix the prestigious “Virginia’s Finest” mark on their products. As the cookies become more popular the Beavers are thinking about expanding to meet the growing demand.

One plan they’re considering is remodeling the basement and putting some of the operation there. They said they will get as big as they can without compromising the quality of the cookies.

For now the Berkel mixer will do its work in the kitchen, right next to the table where a little love goes into each cookie.

Love and support

“My late husband was very encouraging of everything I did,” Beaver said as she packed a tin with cookies, placing a small slip of paper between each one. “I know he knows we’re doing this, and he’s happy for us.

“We made cookies for so long just for family and friends. It’s nice to know they weren’t just saying our cookies were good, because they knew us.

“Now total strangers tell us how much they like them, and that makes all of us feel wonderful.”