When people ask what sets Fairytale Brownies apart from other brownie companies, they usually expect us to talk about our premium ingredients or the secret family recipe.
Those things are important and we certainly wouldn’t be where we are today without them. But the real answer to what makes us different — what makes us the best brownie bakery around — is YOU!
Fairytale Friends are some of the most passionate, engaged, and excited people in the world. You love brownies almost as much as we do and we couldn’t be happier to have you around to help us spread the word about our little brown squares.
Recently, we posted to our Facebook page asking people to share their favorite memory with Fairytale Brownies to celebrate the fact that we’ve been in business for 25 years.
We were expecting to hear a few sweet memories (mostly from our family) but we were blown away by the number of memories we were part of. From new jobs to new babies to roommates sharing a sweet treat, every story reminded us just how obsessed we are with our Fairytale friends.
Check out some of the top memories from the last 25 years or add your own by visiting our Facebook page.
Here’s to 25 more years of memories!
Is it just us or is the decision between trick or treat the easiest choice of all time? Especially if we’re talking ooey gooey, fudgy brownie treats themed for Halloween. There’s no competition, even for the biggest pranksters.
We know that this is the time of year where you want to rush out and stock up on everything from sour candy to chocolate bars, but we’re here to tell you there’s a better way to enjoy Halloween. This will even beat the houses that hand out king-size candy bars. Bet you’ll never guess what it is!
You guessed brownies, didn’t you? We’re not very good at hiding our obsession.
Putting our complete bias to the side, we really think these easy Halloween treat ideas will change your Halloween from a sweet holiday to a full-blown party.
Check out just some of the fast and fun ways you can transform your brownie treats to make this Halloween the best one yet.
This one is the quickest win for everyone. In your centerpieces, when you’re handing out candy to the neighborhood or when you’re bringing candy bowls to the office — just switch out the candy for Magic Morsels or Fairytale Sprites.
They’re the perfect size for a quick snack and a more exclusive treat than the same candy you can find at a gas station. Trust us, people will invite you to every Halloween party after you bring a bowl full of brownies.
If you’re feeling crafty, this is a great easy Halloween treat to make with young Halloween enthusiasts! Simple, fast, and super yummy.
All it takes is a few Magic Morsels, some regular size marshmallows, white chocolate, and black icing.
Just cover any Magic Morsel with white chocolate, stick the marshmallow on top so it’s standing tall, add eyes and a mouth with the black icing. Voila! You have a simple, delicious, seriously festive Halloween party treat!
This one is for those of you who love to hang out at home with a small group of your favorite people. Maybe you have a Halloween-themed dinner or maybe it’s just a movie night and you need an easy Halloween treat for dessert.
All you need to impress those around you is get a plate, draw a spooky spider web using black icing, then place your favorite Fairytale Brownies treat right in the middle. People will think you starred on an episode of Top Chef and we definitely won’t tell them otherwise.
This Halloween treat is a bit more involved than the others, but way cool and worth it in the end! It’s still a fairly simple DIY project that doesn’t require any artistic talent. Just some basic craft supplies.
Take 3 pipe cleaners, spread them like a star then tape them to the back of the Magic Morsel. Bend the pipe cleaners into a zig-zag to create “knees.”
Glue a googly eye to a pom-pom to create an eye. You will need two for each spider!
Then cut a piece of double-sided tape, place it on top of the Magic Morsel, then attach two eyeballs onto the tape.
And that’s it! Just like that, you have an easy Halloween treat to add to the party snack table, at place settings, in goodie bags, or even in your mouth.
Try these out or create your own and share them on Instagram! We want to see how creative you get!
Putting in the time to bake or craft a cool Halloween treat for your friends and family is an awesome way to embrace your creative side and get into the Halloween spirit. We’re all for it!
But sometimes the easiest way to treat your Halloween party guests is by letting someone else do the work. Then you can focus on setting up the decorations, making the actual meal, or just partying and catching up with friends.
So we’re here for you there, too. If you want to order easy Halloween treats for your party that taste so good they’ll turn your guests into brownie zombies, take a peek at our Halloween gifts. Not only are they packed with irresistible treats, but they’re also wrapped in frightfully adorable Halloween-themed packaging.
No matter how you like to celebrate Halloween, we think you can be more creative than resorting to the age-old candy bar. Make it fun and it’ll be a Halloween to remember forever!
Now, how about some Thanksgiving dessert ideas or easy holiday treats?
Let’s set the scene.
It’s 25 years ago. You’re driving down the road and decide to fill up your car with gas that costs $1.13 per gallon.
On your journey, you drive around listening to Boyz II Men singing about the end of the road or The Cure falling in love on a Friday.
You finally arrive at your destination — the movie theater where you pay $4.15 for a ticket to see Aladdin or Wayne’s World or A League of Their Own.
Meanwhile, in Arizona, at least one current Fairytale Brownies employee hasn’t even been born yet and we open the doors to our original bakery for the very first time.
It’s been an incredible 25 years filled with so much more fun and joy than we could have ever imagined. We’ve become so much more than brownies — we’ve been business partners and volunteers and coworkers. We’ve built playgrounds and won awards.
We’ve also baked millions of treats. So many treats.
And while we love looking back at everything we’ve done, there’s no way we’re letting ourselves stop any time soon
But we are never ones to turn down a celebration, so for the next week, we’re inviting you to celebrate our anniversary with us. After all, there’s no way we would have gotten this far if it weren’t for your love of our little brownie squares.
The entire week of October 16th, 2017 follow us on Instagram to be part of some super sweet surprises. There may be some giveaways and other swag for you to win.
We’ve got a few more surprises planned (a little birdie told us it might be a good idea to subscribe to our email list to get first dibs), but we want to know, what are your favorite Fairytale memories from the last 25 years? We love hearing from you. Your stories are what have made these last 25 years so sweet!
Let us know on Facebook, find us on Twitter, or come tell us in person. Let’s celebrate together!
To the next 25.
You’ve heard the carrot on a stick metaphor, right?
Tie a carrot to the end of a stick and hang it in front of a rabbit. The innocent bunny thinks the carrot is floating in one place, but secretly, whoever holds the stick moves the carrot a little further away any time the rabbit inches closer.
The idea is people work harder when you incentivize them with the one thing they want most.
It’s a fine metaphor, but really, how many people can relate to wanting a carrot so much that they chase after it for an infinite amount of time?
We’re going to guess zero people who read this blog. Do you know what’s a better example? Offering people delicious, indulgent fudge brownies when they do something spectacular at work.
We’ve had the distinct pleasure of working with Vantage Mobility International, an incredible company that works to provide wheelchair-accessible vehicles to those who need them.
One particularly awesome program they run is called “Trade In, Trade Up.” Sophia, the team lead, was tasked with helping her sales team recruit more people to participate in the program by trading in their old vehicles. Obviously, the more access VMI has to vehicles, the more they can provide wheelchair-accessible vehicles.
It’s the whole point of their great business.
So what did Sophia do? She incentivized her team with a corporate gift from Fairytale Brownies.
A genius decision if you ask us. She started handing out boxes of Fairytale Brownies to the team members who saw the most success in the “Trade In, Trade Up” program. She thought that at the very least, she would be able to say thank you to those who worked hard.
But the box of little brown squares proved to be more powerful than she imagined. According to her, “rewarding the sales team with brownies is a small investment for the returns” she’s seeing. Adding it “keeps the rebate program fresh in their minds” because when the Fairytale Brownie craving kicks in, there’s not much else anyone can think about.
Okay, we added that last part, but it can’t be far from the truth. The Fairytale Craving is real.
As much as we love seeing the stories roll in about families and friends sharing the gift of brownies with each other, we also love seeing programs like this work. We love seeing these stories of shared joy so much that we do whatever we can to make sending brownies as easy as possible for you.
Seriously. Just send us a spreadsheet of names and addresses, and we can send thank you gifts to all your clients with no extra work on your part. Include dates on that spreadsheet, and we can schedule out gift deliveries for weeks or months in advance — perfect for a corporate birthday program.
These gifts can be customized with your full-color company logo, too. All the logo printing is done in-house and checked over by our lovely and talented printing specialist. That means we can create branded logo gifts really fast and then have a real human approve it for perfect printing quality.
Spreading joy doesn’t stop at the brownies. It can also include bringing success to you and your clients!
Let’s set the scene. You’re at work when suddenly a notification pops up.
“August Birthday Celebrations starts in 15 minutes.”
You start to feel kinda excited, right? You know you’re going to get a small break from emails and there will be cake for everyone. So you head to the break room and realize Jason is in charge of cutting the cake.
Jason is great. And talented at many things. But cake cutting isn’t one of them. He starts off with huge pieces full of frosting, and by the middle, he realizes there’s no way what’s left is going to feed everyone, so he starts to give out slices that are barely thicker than printer paper.
It’s a disappointing disaster, and you know it’s going to be the same next month. But do you know how it could all be avoided?
Birthday brownies.
Okay, sure. We might be a little biased. And maybe our solution to 99% of daily struggles involve brownies, but hear us out because this one is actually legitimate.
Here’s why.
Everyone gets the same size treat, no matter who is in charge of handing them out. Just take one and enjoy! No more waiting in line for Jason to slice that cake piece-by-piece.
Plus, our brownies come in a variety of sizes so everyone can take what they’re feeling at the moment. We have bite-size Magic Morsels, snack-size Fairytale Sprites, and indulgent full-size Fairytale Brownies!
The knife Jason used to cut that birthday cake will probably stay in the break room sink for weeks. Do everyone a favor and avoid kitchen utensils entirely!
Each brownie is individually wrapped. That means no crumbs in the breakroom, no cleanup, and no wasted food. In the unlikely case of leftovers, you can simply store the extras in the fridge for later.
Brownies are also completely customizable to your mood and taste preference. Just order a giant box with enough treats for a crowd, and everyone will be happy.
Everyone gets to pick out their favorite flavor, then add toppings to taste.
All our treats are certified kosher and all-natural. We have nut-free and sugar-free brownies, plus cookies or blondies if you want to offer even more variety.
Seriously, birthday brownies are the dessert for everyone.
If you want to customize the birthday brownie box with your company’s logo or a goofy photo of the birthday boy or girl, you can. We have custom logo gifts ready to be printed with an image of your choice and delivered directly to your office.
But why stop there? Birthday brownies are good for more than just office celebrations!
Brownies were made for serving at children’s birthdays, where equal shares are necessary to prevent full-blown toddler meltdowns! You really can’t lose when you pick brownies.
Or bring a birthday gift basket to parties where the guest of honor hates the attention of the Happy Birthday song (why is it so long?) but still wants all the dessert.
Plus, have you seen how incredible a brownie dessert spread can look? You can stack brownies high in an impressive tower or line them up in cute containers. You get to use bowls filled with any topping you like — sprinkles, chocolate, caramel, whipped cream — the list is endless. Guests will be blown away by how you decorate a quality brownie spread.
Speaking of brownie towers, we have those too. A chocolate treat tower gift piled high with brownies, cookies, and blondies is the best birthday present they could ask for.
Basically, what we’re saying is we don’t know why birthday cake would ever be chosen over birthday brownies.
We’re not saying abandon cake altogether. There’s probably still a time and place for cake.
We’re just saying brownies can take birthdays to a whole new level. An upgrade you deserve, if you ask us.
Since 2002, Fairytale Brownies has worked with our absolute favorite non-profit, KABOOM! The team at KABOOM! believes every child deserves a chance to play, so they build safe, exciting playspaces for children in need across the country.
It’s obviously a mission close to our hearts because if it weren’t for a kindergarten playground, Fairytale Brownies would have never existed. Our founders met on the kindergarten playground and have been friends ever since!
Beyond being responsible for bringing the world the best brownies, playgrounds offer a place for creativity, physical activity, and connection to thrive. Play isn’t just something you do at recess and forget about in your teens. It’s something that can benefit you forever.
Here are some of the reasons we encourage play for everyone at Fairytale Brownies. Maybe it will inspire you to bring more fun, active collaboration to your business or workplace.
During our busiest days, we have over 120 people working around the clock to build the best food gifts possible, packed to the brim with gourmet treats. There’s a lot of brownies to bake, gifts to pack, emails to send, customers to help… In short, there’s a lot of work to do!
It’s a standard we set for ourselves because we love it, but it means we need a playful energy to keep balance.
We blast music, crack jokes with each other, and make sure to have fun together. It brings more joy to our jobs and we like to think you can find a hint of that happiness in every brownie bite.
Do you know how to get more done? Have fun while you’re doing whatever the task is.
Seriously, it’s not just a cute internet cliché — it’s actual science. Everyone creates better ideas if they’re encouraged to play around and use their imagination.
While you’re at work, don’t forget to take breaks! Take a walk, close your eyes, listen to music. It’s not slacking, because it’ll keep you from burning out. Happy employees do better work, and that’s a fact.
How else do you think we could have come up with our bright new look? By breaking out of our shells and working with each other in a fun, playful environment we were able to create something unique and totally inspired.
Life is all about balance. If you indulge in decadent brownies (which everyone should), it’s also important to get outside and be active.
Running is fine, and sure, weightlifting helps. But playing a game, interacting with people you like most, and using your energy for something other than yelling in traffic is so much more enjoyable.
Go for a walk, throw around a ball at the park, visit the local tennis court, or go swimming with your friends or family. There are so many great ways to get some fresh air and make your body happy!
Believe it or not, a lot of steps go into creating the perfect brownie gift. Collaboration is the only way we can get premium ingredients baked into mouthwatering brownies that are then packed into high-quality gift boxes and shipped across the world.
To make collaboration as effective as possible, we all have to get along. And what is the best way to get along? You guessed it. Have fun together!
That means building playgrounds together, bringing people joy with brownies together, and remembering we have some of the best jobs in the world. Play might not be the answer to every challenge your business faces, but it’s helped us in countless ways over the last 25 years.
And if you need a kick start to your new, playful work culture, might we suggest a Crowd-Pleasing Giant Gift Box for your next office brownie party?
(Come on, you knew that was coming).
When we counted up all the things we’ve been able to accomplish over the last 25 years — millions of brownies, thousands of happy messages from customers, hundreds of exceptional employees —what we valued most was the number of memories we’ve made. They’re countless.
Some are small memories, others are big. Some came from back at the very beginning and some happened just last year. Each of them is important to our story.
If you’re into nostalgia and playful memories, here are some of our favorites through the years.
Back in the very beginning, before the highly efficient team of expert bakers and gift packers, we were a very small team.
To keep up with the orders, our founders had to enlist their moms to help out. One of the jobs the moms did was wrap every gift basket, using scissors to make every ribbon curl and all! So, naturally, they dubbed themselves the Fairytale Brownies Wrap Group.
Sadly, their single was never released, but we’re certain it could have topped the charts.
One of the first times we were lucky enough to be written about by Florence Fabricant, the famed food writer for the New York Times, was way back in 1995.
We love everything about the article and definitely point to it as the first time we felt like we actually “made it.” Reading it now, we can’t help but laugh at the line that says, “Only a credit card and a telephone or fax machine are needed.”
Thankfully, we all moved on from the fax machine.
Back in 2011, we were lucky enough to be featured on an episode of The Food Networks show Unwrapped.
At the time, we were known as a gourmet brownie company, but our chewy cookies were pretty new. When the news came in that they wanted to feature us for our cookies, we were thrilled.
We hosted the film crew as they recorded every step of our cookie-making methods, which is still the same by-hand, from-scratch process we use today! It was one of those days where we all felt insanely proud of the job we were doing to spread a little joy in the world.
More than once we’ve put ourselves to the test. Sure, we can bake incredible brownies, but could we be builders? Turns out, we’re good enough with some power tools to build not one, but TWO different playgrounds entirely on our own!
(Confession: we did get in a little practice on the hundreds of volunteer hours we’ve put in at other playgrounds, so we weren’t entirely green).
Each experience was so much fun to bond as a team and create something that would last well past 25 years for our community. Of all the things we’ve done, building playgrounds with KABOOM! is one of our favorites.
We obsess over every part of the Fairytale Experience. Premium ingredients, expertly designed packaging, hand-packed gifts, and fast, free shipping. Each step contributes to what makes our gifts unforgettable.
But the truth is, the real magic happens in the baking process.
Each time we bake a Fairytale Treat we get to be equal parts creative and careful. There’s a lot of pressure to get every batch perfect, but it’s also a lot of fun to make something we know brings joy to people across the world.
The tradition of high-quality baking started even before we were an official business. More than 25 years ago, we laid the foundation for our baking process as a group of friends in a catering kitchen trying dozens of recipes to figure out how to make the absolute best brownie.
It was such an exciting time in our history, but we were still taking it very seriously — we wanted everything to be exceptional.
And after all this time, we still haven’t compromised on what it takes to create our famous, award-winning Fairytale Brownies. Although, we’re very lucky to have outgrown the group of friends in a test kitchen! Now we rely on our expert baking team with decades of experience to follow the precise process that ensures our treats come out perfectly delicious.
Every brownie starts with exact measurements of quality ingredients, which get weighed out by hand. Each batch of batter must be identical in order to maintain consistent taste and quality. We want every bite to taste the same for our loyal customers, no matter what.
After the ingredients are melted and mixed, we spread the batter onto our pans and garnish with one of our delicious toppings, all by hand.
Yep — even the beautiful cream cheese and raspberry swirl designs are done by hand! Our bakers are methodical and artistic. It’s magic, we’re telling you!
The icing on certain treat flavors used to be by hand, but those icing bags are heavy! To save our expert bakers from aching arms and shoulders, we decided to switch to an icing machine for the four flavors that are drizzled with icing. This is the only automated part of the treat-baking process.
Next, we throw them in the oven. Our ovens have been specially modified for baking brownies! While the treats bake, we have to carefully monitor each batch for temperature and humidity — not an easy thing to do in the Arizona desert.
And then the brownies are cooled, cut, and individually wrapped for freshness.
It’s fascinating to see each part of the process work together seamlessly. Whether our bakers are a team of 10 or a few dozen during the busy holiday season, everyone dedicates themselves to maintaining quality standards in every Fairytale Treat.
The result? Twelve delicious flavors of Fairytale Brownies, baked to perfection.
We’re proud of what they accomplish every day and we love that their hard work delivers joy to everyone who tries our brownies.
Summer days tend to be everyone’s favorite. And we get it. They’re longer, warmer, and full of adventure. There’s not much to dislike about them. But we think it’s time for everyone to acknowledge that summer nights are the true heroes of the season.
Have you ever gone for a moonlight swim in the winter? Of course not. You’re not auditioning for a role in Titanic. In the summer, though, it’s one of the most magical things you can do.
But if we’re creating a definitive list of the best summertime activities, bonfire nights are the obvious winner. Sitting around a fire with your friends, swapping remember when stories, and stuffing your face with delicious, gooey, chocolatey s’mores couldn’t be any more perfect.
Or so we thought.
And then we got the idea to swap chocolate bars with brownies and our entire lives were changed immediately for the better.
Don’t get us wrong. We love chocolate bars. In fact, we’re such big fans that we didn’t start baking our brownies until we were sure we had the best chocolate the world had to offer. Specifically, fine Callebaut dark chocolate imported all the way from Belgium.
So we would never try to take away from what chocolate bars have done for s’mores and the world. All we’re suggesting is for serious snackers to try this upgraded s’more experience ASAP.
Try it for yourself!
Buy brownies in bulk for the best deal. Trust us. After you try it once, you’ll want to make more.
After that, prepare yourself because you’re about to take a bite of something that will blow your mind.
When we first tried this incredible treat, we weren’t sure exactly what type of synergy was created with the combination of these three simple ingredients, but we are confident that there’s no going back to traditional s’mores now.
The crunch of the graham cracker combined with a warm, fresh-from-the-fire marshmallow complement the rich softness of the brownie perfectly. It’s like the combo was tailor-made for a summer night.
When you really want to win someone over or take that summer camping trip to the next level, s’mores like this are the perfect lead-in to giving them a summer gift of brownies.
Now that we’ve stumbled on a new twist on a classic treat, we can’t stop brainstorming new ways to enjoy brownies. Seriously, it’s become an obsession now.
Just to name a few…
Tweet us a flavor combo idea you want to see brought to life or a classic snack you want to see brownie-fied and we might feature it in our next snacking adventure.
Right now, though, we gotta go make another brownie s’more.
We aren’t usually ones to be dramatic, but at the beginning of 2017, we faced a problem that was nothing short of a catastrophe. Everything we hold dear — the integrity of our treats, the value of the gifts we deliver, the efficiency of our bakery — was threatened by this one problem.
Okay, maybe we are being a little dramatic, but it’s still true.
Currently, there is a worldwide vanilla bean shortage. We don’t have all the details, but basically, when we started to order our supply of vanilla, everyone was telling us it was going to be hard to find.
Pure vanilla extract is one of the main ingredients necessary to create our soft, chewy cookies and buttery blondies, so you can imagine the kind of panic that gets sent through our headquarters when someone tells us we might not be able to access it.
Our award-winning brownies were safe since the recipe doesn’t call for vanilla. But our deliciously mouthwatering Fairytale Cookies and Fairytale Blondies account for half our flavors, so it was still a big deal!
There were other options offered to us, we could go for a slightly lower quality so that we could maintain our costs. But we didn’t build a legacy on shortcuts so we went with Plan B — start searching high and low for the best price on the best vanilla available.
You wouldn’t believe how many other people were searching for the exact same thing. We were competing with ice cream shops and cupcake bakers and basically anyone with a serious sweet tooth. By our estimates, that pretty much includes every person on the planet!
Countless calls went into contacting people from around the globe and asking them what they could tell us about the quality of their vanilla beans. Yes, we know. Sometimes conversations get weird around here, but it’s all for the common goal of baking the best premium treats in the world.
Finally, we were able to find a supply of our signature pure vanilla extracts. The exact kind and quality that fans all over the world have come to know and rave about. We found a price that wouldn’t affect any of our loyal customers and thanked our lucky stars that the entire crisis was averted.
All it took was some dedicated Fairytale Brownies team members and a few very deep dives into Google and we were able to maintain our very important baking schedule and the quality of our heavenly Fairytale Blondies and Cookies.
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