One Cookie at a Time
Whitney Miller finds delicious purpose through the art and science of baking.
Cooking has always been a part of Whitney Miller’s story. From the time she was 12 years old, she had already decided she was going to be a pastry chef. That passion stemmed from watching her great-grandmother not only in the kitchen but around the dining room table in Poplarville, Mississippi.
“She’d invite people over for any given occasion, and she’d cook for them,” Miller recalled. “I would look at their faces after they had tried a bite of her food, and it was just pure joy that exuberated across their faces. I knew I wanted to do that.”
Little did she know at that time how far her gift would take her.
Cookie career dreams
As time went on, Miller’s dreams of making cooking a career took a back seat. Miller decided to study to become a dietitian at the University of Southern Mississippi; that way, food was still along for the ride. However, her senior year, food became the main driver when she applied to be on the first season of “MasterChef.”
“When I saw the chance to audition, I thought to myself, ‘Better late than never; this is my chance to really do what I want to do,’” Miller said.
“MasterChef” is a competitive cooking reality television series with none other than British celebrity chef and restaurateur Gordon Ramsay as the host. Miller was one of around 10,000 chefs who auditioned to be on the show — and one of 50 selected to go to Los Angeles for filming.
During one of the challenges on the show, Miller had to make a cupcake. It was the first time she was able to show off her baking skills, and she made it to the top three for that challenge. Later, she won a dessert challenge, and that’s what brought on her nickname.
“I knew this was my chance to shine,” Miller said. “Somewhere along the way, my competitors deemed me the Pastry Princess.”
As she thinks back to that period of her life, Miller remembers having so much confidence in her skills at just 22 years old, and she credits that all to the Lord. It was a confidence, though, that surprised Ramsay.
“I remember Gordon Ramsay telling me that I did not have as much experience as everyone else on the show,” Miller shared. “I told him that I had 10 years of experience because I had been doing this since I was 12 years old. He laughed and told me that was a lot of life experience.”
Miller’s confidence, determination and, of course, culinary skills led her to winning the entire competition in 2010, leaving with a quarter of a million dollars, a personalized cookbook and the prestigious “MasterChef” trophy in hand.
Creating Whitney’s Cookies
Fast forward a few years. Miller, her husband and three children have made their home in Franklin, served by Middle Tennessee Electric. Aside from raising her family, Miller has spent her years sharing her food with others, even some impressive names.
“In my second cookbook, I have a brownie cookie recipe, and everyone has raged over it,” Miller said. “I have served it for a ‘Dancing with the Stars’ after-party and even the Tim Tebow Foundation.”
That single recipe sparked Miller’s latest venture — Whitney’s Cookies.
“A family friend told me to create a cookie company based off of that cookie alone,” Miller said. “I traditionally do Southern cooking, so cookies weren’t really on my radar. So, I had to pray about it. After a while, though, I knew this is what the Lord wanted me to do.”
Whitney’s Cookies of Franklin offers an array of goodies, but it was all launched from a young girl’s dream — and the popularity of a stuffed cookie recipe.
In 2019, Miller began Whitney’s Cookies, and in 2020, she began to ship nationwide.
“2020 was a crazy time to get a business started, but the Lord watched over my company,” Miller shared. “While other places were closing, we were able to stay open because we weren’t seeing people face to face. It was a sweet time because we were able to meet people’s needs to celebrate different occasions when they couldn’t be together.”
Every year since, Whitney’s Cookies has seen growth — especially since opening a storefront in 2023. The shop wasn’t originally a part of the plan, especially after having her third baby, but when a spot opened in downtown Franklin, she knew what she had to do.
“It has always been on my heart to have a storefront in downtown Franklin,” Miller said. “We did a seven-week turn around and opened at the end of September, right when everyone would want cookies for the holiday season.”
A cookie for everyone
Whitney’s Cookies are not your “average Joe” cookies. You’ll quickly understand that as you walk into the Tiffany-blue storefront off Fourth Avenue where a Whitney’s Cookies neon sign lights up the room with “Eat cookies y’all” painted on the wall. In the display case, there are New York style cookies.
“I wanted to make cookies this area had never seen before,” Miller said.
She did just that. These large, thick and rich cookies are what Miller calls “science.”
“Baking is a science,” Miller said. “Even more so with this particular style because there are so many things that affect a cookie to spread, but I didn’t want my cookies to spread. I wanted them to be nice and thick, but not too thick. As a chef, I am big on flavor, and I don’t want something overly sweet. I want you to be able to taste the flavor.”
The cookies come in a variety of flavors like salted peanut butter cup, celebration sprinkles, oatmeal raisin and — the fan favorite — stuffed chocolate chip cookie. It’s a chocolate chip cookie with the brownie cookie dough that started the business in the center.
Miller’s favorite, though, is the vegan chocolate chip cookie. When she was first creating the recipes for her cookie company, she couldn’t try them.
“My second child had a dairy intolerance,” Miller shared. “As I was nursing him, he couldn’t have dairy, so I couldn’t have dairy. My husband was my taste tester for the four months I was in the development process.”
Of course, one day he wanted her to try them for herself. So, she ended up creating the vegan chocolate chip cookie that is dairy-free. It has a special ingredient, that, as she says, “puts it over the top.” Since then, she has also created a gluten-free option because she wanted everyone to have something to enjoy.
“Being able to have literally a cookie for everyone and being able to bring people joy are what bring me joy,” Miller said.
Cookies and joy around the country
Since opening, Whitney’s Cookies has made more than 1,000 cookies a day in her Thompson’s Station kitchen and distributed more than 500 cookies every day throughout her Franklin storefront as well as local coffee shops around Nashville, Thompson’s Station and Spring Hill. Some have even been sent to Puerto Rico, Alaska, Hawaii and the Middle East for soldiers serving our country.
Miller has even had cookie collabs where she has partnered with celebrities like Kimberly Schlapman from the country band Little Big Town and Sadie Robertson from the “Duck Dynasty” family to create and share cookies from their childhood memories.
“I love the story behind food, and I think it speaks to people,” Miller said.
As for what’s next for Miller and Whitney’s Cookies, she hopes to expand her kitchen and, one day, storefront, but most importantly, she wants to continue serving up joy one cookie at a time.
Try Whitney’s Cookies!
100 Fourth Ave. N. Franklin, TN 37064 Order online at whitneyscookies.co to ship nationwide.
