Mrs. Hanes Moravian Cookies
Clemmons, North Carolina
Mrs. Hanes Moravian Cookies is one of the few bakeries left in the country where customers can still find hand-cut Moravian cookies.
“It’s a dying art,” said Mona Hanes Templin, daughter of the original Mrs. Hanes. “There used to be a lot of Moravian women who made these cookies around the holidays.”
The business was originally started by Templin’s grandmother, who developed a unique recipe for Moravian sugar cookies, and that recipe has been passed down through Hanes generations ever since. The current building rests over what was once the grandfather’s cow pasture.
“We still make our cookies by hand, using rolling pins and cookie cutters. There’s no machinery involved,” said Templin. “It’s definitely a labor of love.”
Some of the cookie flavors include sugar, black walnut, lemon, chocolate and butterscotch, although ginger is the store’s bestseller. All the cookies are hand packed in tins.
“They’re very thin, too,” said Templin. “One customer described them as a cookie with only one side.”
In anticipation of the holidays, employees begin baking batches of the ginger cookie as early as January, essentially a year in advance. They are the only kind offered with such a long shelf life.
“It actually tastes better the older it gets,” said Templin. “Like wine, the flavors are enhanced with time.”
The shop bakes around 100,000 pounds of cookies each year. Groups are encouraged to call in advance to tour the building and production area.
River Street Sweets
Charleston and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
No one makes pralines like River Street Sweets. Composed of cream, sugar, butter and Georgia pecans, these mouthwatering candies are made hot and fresh every 20 minutes.
“We actually make more pralines than anybody in the country,” said Jennifer Strickland, who helps manage the business with her family.
Pralines are native to New Orleans and the surrounding region, so when River Street opened new locations in Charleston and Myrtle Beach, many people had never heard of them.
“When we first moved to Myrtle Beach in 1997, no one knew what pralines were, but they do now,” said Strickland.
Other River Street products include glazed pecans, salted-caramel dark chocolates, saltwater taffy, log rolls and bear claws, which are similar to chocolate turtles with caramel and pecans. Customers are welcome to sample many of these items before purchase as well.
“What sets us apart is that we make all of our homemade candies right in front of our guests, and we’ve been doing that for a long time,” said Strickland.
River Street Sweets often participates in local festivals and will cater events, such as weddings or other gatherings. Dessert lovers can order any of their favorite sweets online to be shipped in tins, towers, boxes or baskets.
