Savor Transforms The Shortbread Cookie

“I don’t like cookies,” admits the cookie baker, and thank goodness for that, because when it became clear to Andre Kreft that it was his destiny to make cookies, he had to come up with a kind he liked.

As it turns out, plenty of discerning cookie lovers also like the savory shortbread bites that come out of Savor Fine Foods, Kreft’s Litchfield County micro bakery. The buttery morsels have irresistible names and flavor combinations you don’t find in the standard cookie repertoire. 

"Krakatoa" combines cocoa powder, cardamom, coffee liqueur and ground pepper; “Naugatuck” includes birch extract mixed with maple syrup and candied cranberries; “Firefly” is made with Salemme pepper (Connecticut grown and cultivated), dried onion bits and lime peel. There are varieties with black olives and orange peel, chai tea, candied ginger, lavender and coconut. The first bite is always an adventure that keeps you coming back for more.

“I can taste the flavors on my palate when I’m coming up with them,” says Kreft. “I’m about 90% correct when I bake it.”

Kreft and his part-time staff of six make the cookies in a commercial kitchen in Thomaston, Conn. He started the business in 2010 and sells the majority of his output at festivals throughout the year, although Savor cookies are pretty easily available in retail establishments in the Rural Intelligence region. Verdigris (Hudson), The Smithy (New Preston) and Six Depot (West Stockbridge) carry the packages that are tied up with a tag (handsomely designed by Kreft) that clearly announces the ingredients. They’re not inexpensive (about $10-12 per bag), but they’re generously packed and oh-so-worth-it. Savor also sells through its website.

Kreft is a Connecticut native who lived in San Francisco for 25 years, making his living as an artist and arts administrator. The cookie business was an exercise in making lemonade out of lemons (as in “Nicasia,” accented with rosemary, smoked applewood sea salt… and lemon).

“My father passed away, and I moved back and took care of my mother for her last 10 years. I separated from my spouse, married again and bought a house in Waterbury,” Kreft recounts. “We were going to move to Hawaii, but my mother went into hospice just as my spouse learned he had Hodgkin's lymphoma. He passed away a year later.”

There were other losses, too. The recession hit. Kreft, stuck in Waterbury, thought about opening a business. In college, he had helped a baker friend roll dough for extra income, and his friend suggested he do something like that. Kreft did his cookie research and found that shortbread has a long life span. He began developing and experimenting, first giving away the cookies to friends. Selling at farmers markets followed. He was renting a commercial kitchen in New Preston, but as the business grew he built his own in Thomaston.

Now he and his team hand roll and hand cut 45,000 cookies a week, sourcing the high-end ingredients locally wherever possible. The birch maple and cranberry cookies were inspired by ingredients indigenous to western New England and Connecticut in particular. Some ingredients are seasonal, and Kreft changes up the savory components to meet people’s tastes, which, he says, have changed over the almost 10 years he’s been baking. People are more open now.

The Savor cookies are excellent paired with nibbles and drinks. Kreft suggests topping the dried shallot variety with a dollop of chevre and a sprig of arugula for an instant canapé. “Krakatoa,” the chocolate cookie, pairs beautifully with champagne. “Nicasia” is lovely with a lemon sorbet or dry crisp white wine (or even a sweetness because of the salt in the cookie).

“My goal in doing this business was to make people smile,” Kreft says. “Once, a huge motorcycle guy came up to our booth. He tried our lavender cookie, looked at me gruffly and said, ‘This tastes like love.’”

An endorsement to be savored, for sure.