- Our first story takes us to Boone, where a college student was assigned to make cookies in his class at Appalachian State.

Would you believe that assignment turned into the Appalachia Cookie Company?

And producer Teresa Litschke shows us the whole country is eating them up.

[whimsical music] - [Teresa] You just never know when you're gonna come up with a great idea.

- I had to write a business plan for a class at App.

And there were a couple different ideas that I was kicking around at the time, and I thought, "There's no late night sweet option."

We used to be open until 3:00 AM.

We're not open that late anymore.

But that was kind of the concept, was like, "Let's sell cookies, let's sell 'em late, and we can deliver 'em to students when they're up late at night wanting cookies."

- Yes, we used to get them delivered all the time.

- [Teresa] The only problem with that was working so late in an out-of-the-way storefront with a handmade sign.

- The sheriff's department came by at, like, two o'clock in the morning and they started, like, asking questions that weren't just like, "Can we get some cookies?"

They wanted to know what we were doing selling cookies at two o'clock in the morning.

But they became customers pretty quick.

- [Teresa] Along with most of the general population of Boone who frequent their new location on King Street.

- I've been getting cookies from App Cookie Co since I was a student at App State over 10 years ago.

They were very popular on campus.

But now that this location is right by my office, I'm here at least once a week.

- [Teresa] Oh, that could be dangerous.

- Yeah, but so good.

[cheerful music] - [David] Throw 'em in the oven.

- [Teresa] So how does a college student majoring in marketing and management learn to make cookies?

[cheerful music] - I used to bake cookies, I guess, too, like, around the holidays with, like, my grandma and my mom and stuff.

But in terms of, like, figuring it out, we just kind of trial and errored a bunch of different things.

We made a lot of really nasty cookies before we started making the cookies that we make now.

- [Teresa] Practice does make perfect, and remembering how grandma made them certainly helps.

- So we do make everything from scratch right here in the store.

Everything comes in, raw ingredients: butter, sugar, eggs.

And everything is made by hand in the store, the whole process, - [Teresa] These cookies are big, and the variety they make is crazy.

- At any given time, we usually have between 20 and 24 flavors, I would say, but in total, hundreds probably.

- It's incredible.

I mean, there are so many different flavors.

Personally, I'm a little restricted because I can't have dairy.

But I have tasted many of them anyway, and they are always good.

[chuckles] - [Teresa] Most popular cookie?

- [David] Bestseller: chocolate chip, hands down.

- [Teresa] The classics are covered, but that's only the beginning.

- So, I mean, we make everything from the traditional chocolate chip, snickerdoodle, sugar cookies, to kind of the little bit more different like our blueberry white chocolate oatmeal, which is really popular.

We have a cheesecake cookie that's extremely popular.

- Yeah, and, like, the outside is a little crispier and then the middle is like a true cheesecake texture.

It's amazing.

- [David] We do, it's like a bacon bourbon maple syrup cookie.

And then our campfire s'mores.

It's got a graham cracker on the top and bottom and then the cookie sandwiched in between that, with a Hershey's bar and a giant marshmallow on top.

- [Teresa] They even have a cookie for those with special dietary needs.

- In fact, our gluten-free vegan Yosef, or Appalachian gold, we call it, is probably my favorite cookie.

And I'm not gluten intolerant or vegan or anything, it's just that good.

It's apple, cinnamon, chocolate, coconut, oats, and pecans.

- It's perfect.

It's not too hot.

It's cooled a little, so it's a little gooey.

The chocolate is still melty, hasn't firmed up yet.

It's sweet, but it's not overpoweringly sweet.

It's got dimension.

It's delicious.

- [Teresa] And that gooey goodness is by design.

- [David] Yeah, so we do have, like, hot, ready cookies.

We also, we typically do bake to order, and that's kind of what we're more known for, I think.

So you order your cookies, hang out, wait 15, 20 minutes, and then you get hot, fresh-baked cookies straight out of the oven.

- [Teresa] Never fear.

If you can't make it to Boone, their cookies can make it to you.

- We ship nationwide.

We routinely ship to the West Coast, Hawaii.

- [Teresa] Not bad for a class assignment gone extremely well.

- My thought has always been like, "I'll try this out, and if it doesn't work out I'll get a real job."

And 13 years later, we're still making cookies.

[cheerful music] - App Cookie Co is located at 1087 West King Street in Boone, and they're open daily.

For more information, give them a call at 828-355-4448 or log onto their website appcookieco.com.