Toronto is eating up the unconventional cookies from this micro-bakery
As Toronto nurses its infatuation with thick, soft-centred cookies (I'm looking at you, Craig and Andrea), there's another venture gaining traction in the city whose cookies are all the way on the other side of the spectrum.
While describing a cookie as "thin" and "chewy" could easily be misconstrued as an insult, the opposite is true for Annex-based micro bakery Thin Billy Baked, which serves them up high in brown sugar and low in flour, resulting in paper-thin, sugar-crusted cookies that folks in the city are eating up.
Thin Billy Baked founder, the titular Billy, describes the discovery of his passion for baking like a scene in a rom-com when two best friends finally realize they've actually been in love with each other all along.
Billy first discovered baking while working in the corporate world in 2011, he tells blogTO. Though he grew up baking alongside his grandma (whom he calls Nan and describes as an "epic baker"), he concedes that he was more of a taste tester than co-baker.
Still, Billy decided to fill Nan's shoes after she passed away, baking cookies and brownies for his family at Christmas just like Nan had in the past, and they were an instant hit.
"Over the years, I have played around, making the original recipe very much my own. Mostly brown sugar and very little refined white sugar. More chocolate than flour, and nearly twice as much chocolate and butter," Billy tells blogTO.
"I also totally stumbled upon my unique baking technique (to get them so thin) by accident! Cookies were just a treat I'd bake for myself or if I was going to a party."
It wasn't until the doldrums of the Covid-19 pandemic hit when Billy began toying with the notion of turning his distinctly flat cookies into a full-fledged business, looking to contemporaries like Craig's and Courage Cookies for inspiration.
As of Jan. 1, 2026, after years of running Thin Billy Baked as a side gig, Billy officially turned the cookie business into his full-time gig. It's a move that he describes as "both scary and exciting," but one that's been very much encouraged by the scores of Toronto residents who have already become Thin Billy devotees.
So what exactly is it about the Thin Billy approach to cookies that has people in the city chomping at the bit? Billy tells blogTO it comes down to subjectivity.
While the thick, fluffy style of cookie (popularized, in large part, by Levain Bakery) has been all the rage in recent years, Thin Billy offers a completely different cookie-eating experience.
Since cookie preferences are as deeply personal as preferred french fry shapes or how you take your morning coffee, there's a built-in audience for cookies of all shapes and sizes.
And, opposed to U.S.-based juggernaut Crumbl, which switches up its flavour rotation weekly, Thin Billy currently only offers two flavours that, in Billy's opinion, have been absolutely perfected: The OG, with Belgian milk chocolate, peanut butter, and toffee, and the Brown Butter (Belgian) Chocolate topped with Maldon sea salt flakes.
"We're the new cookie on the block, so most people will be trying us for the first time, so we want to make sure it slaps," Billy explains, but adds that he'll add more flavours in due time.
After a brief brush with virality courtesy of local reviewer Rick Silver back in 2023, an unexpected tragedy forced Billy to take a step back from the cookie business for nearly two years. Now, back in business full time, he's ready to take Thin Billy Baked further than it's ever gone before.
While Billy concedes that he does dream of opening a brick-and-mortar location one day, there are a lot of cookies to sell before that can happen, so, for now, Thin Billy Baked is operating on a weekly order deadline for pick-up or delivery.
There may also be partnerships with local restaurants in the works, too, Billy notes.
"The plan is to get more momentum before getting serious about a retail space, and until then, we'll continue to rent commercial kitchen space until demand necessitates a bigger, permanent space," he says.
"Maybe just maybe soon, but no promises!"
To keep up with the latest Thin Billy Baked drops and order your own, you can follow Thin Billy Baked on Instagram or check out Billy's website.
