We wanted to do something a little different this year.  There are a ton of pages on social media for the same towns, which offer a lot of the same posts but what about giving a little more?  What about a real intro to the businesses that make our community special?  We thought it would be interested to bring some faces and live experiences to "Everything Rockland County" and Living Rockland County was born.  Living Rockland County is to be a local community page filled with live and recorded videos and vlog posts as opposed to just written text and tags.  The videos will feature our R2M team members, who are all community influencers and tapped into the county they call home.  And what we don't know, we are excited about exploring and looking forward to sharing with you.  Being that we are just coming off holiday cookie season, we thought, why not start with some sweet treats?

How do we come up with the nominees?  We first propose the question on the various Rockland pages/groups on Facebook to get the names of the businesses/people to focus on.  Based on the most popular answers I create the official survey and post the link to the original posts.  Once the poll has been created, the participants following the post begin to move their recommendations and choices to the official Survey Monkey poll via the shared link. 

For the cookie poll I waited until we had over 500 responses before calling a winner.  Aunt Mia's Sweets in Orangeburg, NY was the clear front runner.  Number two was the NY Cookie Boutique. Sweet and Salty and The Cookie Kitchen tied for 3rd.  Don't get us wrong!  There are a ton of amazing cookies in Rockland but we wanted to pay homage to what we were told were Rockland's Favorites and introduce you to the faces behind the brands.  (I love that it's all local).

Maria of Aunt Mia's has a great story.  It all started with a bet from her husband.  He loved the black and white cookie from the deli down the street and bet her that she couldn't make it.  It took three months to figure it out she says, but she did it!  From there her family and friends had requests and the requests for cookies didn't stop!  Maria has been baking professionally for approximately 11 years now!  

What I really love is that Aunt Mia's Sweets does a lot for the local community.  Community contributions is how Maria got the word out about her business as opposed to advertising.  Aunt Mia's Sweets is currently running a protective mask sale, which she uses to raise funds for local charities.  The current fundraiser is for Ataxia-Telangiectasia (AT) in support of a local family who's son is affected by it.  Stop in to get your today!

Aunt Mia's Sweets best seller is her raspberry cookie.  I'm not really a fruit cookie kind of gal, but I tried it during our cookie chat (Find the chat on Living Rockland County).  It was sooooo good!  Maria's favorite is her chocolate pretzel.  If you stop by the shop she'll let you experience it for free!  Don't forget to check out Rockland's other top cookie bakers and stay tuned for more of Living Rockland County videos and surveys.  If there is anything that you want us to share, email us at Info@ready2mov.com.  Happy 2021!