Sometimes at the end of a long, cold fall day, all you need is a big warm homemade cookie.
No one knows this better than Amy Wong and Lawrance Combs, co-founders of Batch 22 Bakery. Every week, the small business owners make thick, cheery buns — which is a special nickname for the 6 oz. cookies — out of their Cupertino home kitchen.
But these aren’t just any old cookies. Batch 22 flavors range from all-American chocolate to Asian-inspired Ube and Matcha cookies. Special seasonal puddings make their way onto the menu, such as Pumpkin Spice and Gingerbread during the fall, and Pink Lemonade and S’mores during the summer months.
Cookie lovers can snag a batch by ordering online at Batch 22’s website. Wong and Combs offer delivery to anyone living in Santa Clara County, but customers can also pick up cookies at Batch 22’s pop-up stores in Cupertino. Outside the county, people can buy pudge at select retail stores, such as Ponyo Foods in Milbrae or Piedmont Tea in Oakland.
Group 22 was born in the midst of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and has only grown since then. The business’s Instagram account boasts more than 4,700 followers as of Oct. 18, and Wong bakes about 200 to 300 cookies a day to fulfill anywhere from 10 to 35 orders. The bakery will expand to a brick-and-mortar store at 15466 Los Gatos Blvd later this year.
We recently asked Wong and Combs about Batch 22. Their answers have been edited for length and clarity.
Question: What is the meaning of Batch 22?
Lawrence: At first we went through a bunch of different options. We came across Amy’s bakery, but then we thought everyone does… Amy has a wry sense of humor, so we wanted to make the name some kind of pun or some kind of joke. We decided on Batch 22, batch is batch of cookies and Catch 22 is the impossible decision. I thought it worked really well to sell cookies to people.
Question: What inspired you to start a cookie business?
Lawrence: At first we thought maybe we would start (selling) milk bread, (Amy) was doing so much during the pandemic, but she had already battle-tested all these cookies. She would go to the gym and hand out cookies she was testing to random gym goers… They were so good everyone was looking forward to them and the bread wasn’t there yet.
Amy: After having my first Levain Cookie in 2016, I have been trying to recreate it. Eventually I had my recipe for Oatmeal Raisins and then started making other cookies. I had been testing cookies for three or four years by then. Now people ask me if I would ever branch out into other things, but I think not, there are so many other flavors I can do. Cookies are such a specialty, they are so deceiving. They look so simple but are actually quite difficult to master and making the same thing over and over again… handling new cookie flavors is quite the challenge.
Question: How was the launch of Batch 22 during the pandemic?
Amy: We were in the early stage of emerging bakers. I know there are still a lot of them around, but that’s how it originally started. A lot of people were at home, and a lot of people said, “I’m at home, let me try to bake and try to sell things to get them.” It was just a pleasure to be part of that early crowd.
Lawrence: I think we also grew very quickly because we promoted a lot of comments and love on Instagram, all of which were mostly positive… However, this was the perfect environment. If people were at work, if everyone was still working at that time, I don’t think it would have been as effective. It would have taken us longer to get to where we are.
Question: How do you get inspiration for your flavor combinations?
Amy: Some of them are your fall classics or American classics. We try to make it better, or make it the way we want, like less sweet or more complex and flavor forward. Some are more innovative like pink lemonade, but then there’s a category for Asian flavors like Ube Dulcey or Matcha White Chocolate.
Lawrence: I think inspiration strikes randomly. We’ll just have a casual chat and Amy won’t be working on any new flavors for a while. It will just click and she’ll be like, “Oh we can make this flavor.” Then she’s on it for six straight weeks until she’s ready or never sees the light of day.
Question: How does a cookie idea get on the menu?
Amy: I usually make a few versions and figure out what the main problem is. I’ll be stuck when it’s 80% or 90% done. That’s where the most time-intensive part is, just perfecting that little thing – maybe it’s not tea-forward enough, or maybe it’s a little too sweet… sometimes you find different ingredients to source and it makes all the change.
Lawrence: There are a lot of cookies Amy makes that are really good, like eight out of 10 that are almost there, but then we won’t put them out. It’s like the only thing that’s not quite right. She got really into food science issues, she bought food science books to try to solve these problems, because that one thing would just bother her enough that she’d say, “No, I’m not publishing it.” .
Question: What are your favorite cookies?
Lawrence: I’m Always a Campfire Pin (S’mores Cookies)
Amy: I’m torn between the Corn Flake, which is a sweet salty cookie and has miso cornflake crunch that we make in house, and the marshmallow, it’s such a complex flavor bomb. I actually eat more Ube Dulcey.
Amy Wong
Age: 31
Position: Co-founder and baker
Residence: Sunnyvale
Education: York University, Communication Studies
Hometown: Cupertino
5 things to know about Amy
1. He likes to work out
2. She reads 100 books a year
3. Her favorite part of running Batch 22 is discovering the science behind making cookies
4. Her all-time favorite cookie is Dulcey Chocolate Chip Cookies. Dulcey is a caramelized white chocolate
5. She teaches herself about food science and would like to study this field in the future.
Lawrence Combs
Age: 30
Position: Co-founder
Residence: Sunnyvale
Hometown: Salinas
5 things you need to know about Lawrence
1. Works as a competitive youth gymnastics coach
2. He’s a big chess nerd
3. He is interested in investing
4. Despite running a cookie business, his life revolves around health and fitness
5. He is a house