Jennifer Colson
In early July, The Baked Bunny owner and baker Jennifer Colson was deep into peach pies.
She’d come across a batch of perfectly ripe fruit and couldn’t resist.
“Cherry season’s next,” she said, already looking forward to August. At her cheerful, quietly ambitious bakery in Wright Square, the menu moves with the season and whatever fresh ingredients happen to catch her eye.
There are always cakes – chocolate is the staple, the other two rotate – and a steady lineup of sweets: Key lime pie, lemon bars, blueberry scones, crumb cake, and a gluten-free chocolate pie that’s turned into a cult favorite.
Her guava bars and guava cheesecake? Nonnegotiable.
“People would murder me if I took those off,” she says, only half joking.
Colson grew up in Miami and spent summers in Highlands before moving here full time. Baking started as a side hustle – something she fit in around day jobs and design work – until a holiday season left her cranking out 47 pies from her home oven.
That was the turning point. She signed a lease in 2024 and opened The Baked Bunny in March 2025, converting a former jewelry shop into a full commercial kitchen. The name comes from her college nickname: Jenn Bunny.
While pastries and pies are her specialty, she’s also earned a quiet following for her breads: baguettes on Thursdays, sourdough on Fridays, and bagels on Saturdays – all baked in-house, small batch, and gone quickly.
This cookie – a chewy, golden riff on a friend’s great-grandmother’s Cuban recipe – is her latest guava creation. She added white chocolate chips, fine-tuned the texture, and kept the balance just right: sweet, tart, and a little salty.
“It’s tropical and nostalgic,” she says. “Kind of like Miami, if it moved to
the mountains.”
Cookies aren’t a regular item at the bakery – “they’re tricky to keep fresh” – but this one might make the leap. And if not, you’ve got the recipe. Just try not to eat the whole batch in one sitting.
Guava White Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes about 2 dozen cookies
Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup granulated sugar
½ cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup guava paste, chopped into small cubes
1½ cups white chocolate chips
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Make sure your butter is at room temperature—soft enough to press a finger into but not melted. This helps create a smooth, even dough.
Cream the butter and sugars in a stand mixer (or with a hand mixer) until light and fluffy, about 3–4 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each, then stir in the vanilla.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add to the butter mixture, mixing just until combined.
Fold in the guava paste and white chocolate chips by hand to avoid overmixing.
Scoop the dough into rounded tablespoons and place on a parchment-lined tray or plate.
Refrigerate the scooped dough for at least 30 minutes. This step is key: chilling allows the butter to firm back up, which helps the cookies hold their shape and develop that perfect chewy texture.
Transfer chilled dough to prepared baking sheets, spacing cookies 2 inches apart.
Bake for 10–12 minutes, or until edges are golden and centers are just set.
Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
The Baked Bunny is in Highlands at Wright Square, 177 Main Street, (828) 482-0070.
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