Community Highlights: Meet Tori Hamilton of Flour and Parchment

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tori Hamilton.  

Hi Tori, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
As early as my junior year of high school, I knew I had a product and customers. I started my first small business when I was 15. Whatever I felt like baking was what I sold! Sometimes it was seasonal cookies, and other times it might be 2-bite cheesecakes. I even competed with the Otis Spunkmeyer muffins being sold for our school’s fundraiser. My younger sisters served as salespeople. They would sell the product, and we’d divvy up the day’s earnings. Their share of the earnings was mostly performance based with a base salary.

However, long before we got to my first hustle, I started baking with my mom in our family’s kitchen on Sundays. We’d sometimes bake a few things throughout the week, but the piece de resistance of the week was Sunday dessert. For years my mom owned it, then we tagged teamed it most weeks.

Eventually, I took it as my own, adding my own flair and sense of adventure to my pastries. Between increased time in the kitchen, hours of Food Network challenges, and every other baking competition and show, I was increasingly inspired. Before long, I was developing recipes, and my fledgling business began in high school. Of course, there were a few starts and stops along the way as I attended college, but Flour and Parchment was born well before it became an LLC.

After nearly a year of pursuing the perfect chocolate chip cookie, I finally created the best chocolate chunk cookie you never knew you needed. The recipe is a proud moment for me and had its fair share of frustration, underbaked and burnt batches, and one too many burns along the way. It is truly a labor of love, and it’s a privilege to share and hear their rave reviews.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s been a pretty smooth road, honestly. My biggest hurdle has always been me. I am an expert in analysis paralysis. I tend to research and answer as many of my “what ifs” as possible. Eventually, I paused, contemplated, and realized that there is a point where it’s a bit absurd to try and mitigate every possibility. Trying to do so kept me stuck in the research and brainstorming phases of the process for far too long. After this realization, I was able to move into the prototyping phase. Learning to take action while tweaking along the way was much more effective and eventually lead me to where I am today.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Flour and Parchment?
Flour and Parchment is a scratch bakery that specializes in chocolate chunk cookies. My chocolate chunk cookies have quite the reputation! This cookie recipe has been tested, tweaked, and tasted until it met my standard of all that a chocolate chunk cookie should be. It’s the perfect balance of sweet and salty. Many customers have said it’s decadent and enjoyable without feeling too guilty afterward because it isn’t overly sweet. This recipe, along with the responses to the work I put into it are the greatest moments for me. I also enjoy the creativity of the occasional custom cake since they are a true challenge for me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/FlourandParchment