New Brunswick baker receives credit from Billy Idol for her sugar cookies

Kara Beaumont is fondly known around Riverview, N.B., as The Cookie Lady.

Her sugar cookies include six ingredients, a lot of creativity, hours of work and now they also have a big name celebrity endorsement behind them.

“I screamed and there were some swear words that came out of my mouth because I could not contain myself,” said Beaumont. “I got a phone call and then all these messages, ‘You need to look at Billy’s Instagram,’ and I didn’t know who Billy was because, you know, Billy Idol and I are not on a first name bases, so when I saw it I just, like, lost my mind.”

Typically, Beaumont is asked to make cookies for visiting artists, teams and special events place at Moncton’s Avenir Centre, but she says they usually go to the promotional team.

Last week, the founder, owner and baker for Buttercup Cookies made rock star Billy Idol his own custom cookies ahead of his show at the Avenir Centre.

“They were customized to Billy specifically so his album covers, his special microphone he uses, his safety pin jacket he wears, his walk of fame star and his face,” she said. “They were very Billy.”

Beaumont’s daughter, Emmerson Walker, says while her mom’s cookies are undeniably delicious, it was still shocking to hear they made their way to Billy Idol.

“That’s crazy, in my opinion. I didn’t think big, big celebrities were going to eat her cookies, no offense to her, but that’s really cool,” said Walker.

Beaumont says Billy Idol is the biggest non-Canadian she has ever made cookies for. Stuart McLean and Jim Cuddy are just a few famous Canadians who have also tried her treats.

“I just wanted to do something I loved and that I had fun doing and it kept me close to home and I have a little person at home and it kept me close to her. Everything fell into place and now it’s just a matter of, ‘Oh, my gosh, how big do I want this to be?’” she said.

She has been baking since she was a child alongside her mom and despite her celebrity cookie status, the core of her tasty treats is still family.

“Every single one of my cookies has been rolled out by my dad’s rolling pin. It’s probably made 50,000 cookies and I have all these fancy rolling pins that just sit in a drawer because it’s my favourite one because it’s part of my dad,” she said.

Every order Beaumont does is personalized in her commercial kitchen located in her backyard and she ships her sugar cookies worldwide.

“My family and I got together, my almost 80-year-old dad and my 10-year-old. We laid tile, we put up drywall, so that was my big growth spurt and now I’m like, ‘I don’t know what I want to do because I never imagined this part,’” she said.

Even her daughter never thought she’d have a kitchen just for cookies in her own backyard.

“I’m very proud of her,” she said. “I like how she stared it from the ground and built it up all by herself and that’s pretty cool to me.”

Dave Matthews is now on Beaumont’s dream list while Walker hopes for Dolly Parton. 

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