I wish we kept a ticker that counted how many times we've been asked this question over the six years that we've had retail outlets. It is hands-down the most common question we receive at the shop, farmer's market, kiosk.. everywhere. To a non-regular Batter customer, a Sand Angel is something brand new.
If it were on Wikipedia (come to think of it, maybe we SHOULD list the Sand Angel on Wikipedia!), the description would read something like this.. "A Sand Angel is a cookie similar to a cross between a snickerdoodle and a molasses cookie. It is a chewy, cinnamon-y cookie with a unique crisp exterior and a dense, soft interior."
Sand Angels are pretty darn special for many reasons. For one, they were included in a roundup of the top ten cookies in the country. Two, they are a SECRET RECIPE. Three, you can only get them from Batter Bakery in SF. Four, we've made a wedding cake out of them. Five, they are trademarked. Six, people order them from across the country on a regular basis. Seven, they are just plain amazing.
A woman at the farmer's market on Saturday told me that the Sand Angels were the reason they had driven down from Sacramento for the day.
Two little boys in the Polk Street neighborhood have been coming in for at least a year for their special cookie treat. When these two tiny blond boys first came in, I would hear their high-pitched voices from wherever I was in the shop pipe "I wanna sand cookie! a sand cookie!" Now that they are a bit older (but still tiny guys), they beeline to the counter and politely tell the cashier "Two Sand Angels please, separate bags!" then hand over their money and scamper happily away.
Hearing Sand Angel stories always makes me happy... What's yours?!?