Manna Bakery’s caramelized butter honey sesame cookies are outrageously good—and we’ve got the recipe

Unless you’ve been trawling Instagram for baked goods, you likely haven’t come across Manna Bakery, the online bakery from 24-year-old Saif Manna.

A recent Temple grad raised in Dubai, Manna started baking when he was 8 years old and he’s been dreaming about opening a restaurant or bakery since he was tween. He was in his junior year when it occurred to him: What am I waiting for? He launched Manna as an on-campus business in 2021.

Now baking out of a commissary kitchen, Manna whips up more than just cookies — there are airy brioche doughnuts, sumptuous cakes, and pillowy focaccia — but cookies are bound to be his calling card. That’s because they’re big (often a whopping 6 ounces), beautiful, and absolutely delicious. Take the Levant cookie, made with ground and chopped pistachios, dolloped with dark chocolate chunks, including one so large it melts into a puddle. Or there’s the Giant, an inch-thick chocolate chip-walnut cookie inspired by cookies from Levain Bakery and Famous Amos, of all things.

Manna was kind enough to create a new cookie for the Inquirer’s holiday cookie edition: a chewy caramelized butter & honey sesame cookie sprinkled with chopped pistachios and crushed dried raspberries. You can buy it from his bakery directly if you wish, but he wrote a very detailed recipe — pan-banging instructions included — that makes an excellent replica at home. They’re one of our eight show-stopping, slam-dunk cookie recipes for this year — contributed by local bakers, restaurant owners, and even a cheese shop.

Manna is eyeing up brick-and-mortar spaces downtown, but in the meantime, you can order treats for pick-up on North Broad Street.