Sarah Kieffer
Sarah Kieffer is the Minneapolis baker, photographer, and cookbook author behind The Vanilla Bean Blog and its rippled pan-banging chocolate chip cookies.
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Latest
Sarah’s happenings, collected from public sources, plus her backstory and Starbook, where fans write.
Known for
Overview
- Based in
- Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Work
- Baker, cookbook author, and photographer
- Blog beginnings
- The Vanilla Bean Blog, May 2011
- Signature recipe
- Pan-banging chocolate chip cookies
Mini bio
How it started.
Sarah learned in coffeehouse kitchens, including the Blue Heron in Winona, where Larry and Colleen Wolner taught her to bake during college. She began with chocolate chip cookies on busy weeknights and gradually learned the rest of the bake case.
A family recipe history.
She started The Vanilla Bean Blog in May 2011 to build a food history for her family. A self-taught baker, she moved into home baking after her two children were born. Recipes share space with photographs, reflections, and the everyday meaning of making food for other people.
The cookies fans know.
Her pan-banging cookies appeared in The Vanilla Bean Baking Book in 2016. Repeatedly dropping the baking sheet creates crisp, rippled edges around a soft center. In 2017, coverage in The New York Times helped bring the cookies to a wider audience.
Beyond the cookie sheet.
Her five cookbooks range from cookies and holiday bakes to morning treats and afternoon sweets. She photographs her blog recipes and also shoots for other cookbooks. In September 2026, she shared that she was working on a gluten-free baking book and another recipe deck.
Creditschronological, newest first
- 2025Holiday Baking DeckAuthor
- 2024100 Afternoon SweetsAuthor
- 2023100 Morning TreatsAuthor
- 2021Baking for the HolidaysAuthor
- 2020100 CookiesAuthor
- 2016The Vanilla Bean Baking BookAuthor
Awards
Quotes
There is purpose in our foodSarah Kieffer, The Vanilla Bean Blog
In her introduction to the blog, Sarah reflects on how baking and sharing meals connect people.
Trivia
- Her website introduction pairs her love of baking with listening to Ella Fitzgerald.
- She remembers a Blue Heron orange scone in 1998 as the bake that changed her mind about scones.
- In her September 2026 update, she shared that she was tending a garden and that her dahlias had finally arrived.
Find Sarah
Follow Sarah for recipes, baking notes, and news from her kitchen.
Are you Sarah Kieffer?
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