Presidential candidate cookies. Custom Portrait Cookies. Sugar cookies. Chocolate chip. Sweet treats are baker Sarah Silverman’s forte. She started with a hole-in-the-wall shop in the East Village; now she’s here in the Seaport.  

Drop by Funny Face on Fulton Street for a meme-shaped cookie or something sweet in the shape of a pop culture icon—or, for the ultimate in sweet treat swagger, place a special order for custom-made cookies featuring your own face.  

Here, Sarah shares the story of how it all began. 

When did you start baking?
When I was 21. I’d never baked before that, but I would always eat dessert and loved to try unique sweets. I started working at a bakery on the Upper East Side called Two Little Red Hens. I was a college dropout; lost and depressed. But I loved the bakery business and the people I worked with. I knew it was something I wanted to do forever. 

Your first face cookies were of the presidential candidates in 2016. What inspired those?
I came up with the idea two weeks before I opened my shop. I had a day to myself where I could sit and relax in bed for the first time in awhile and BOOM! I just imagined a face on a cookie. But which face? It was during the height of the 2016 election season, so… perfect timing. 

Why did you launch Custom Portrait Cookies? 
I really didn’t want to do custom cookies! I seriously dreaded the thought of it. So much work goes into it — not to mention the amount of pressure to make sure they are perfect. But my good friend Callie, who was one of my first customers. pushed me into making one for her boyfriend Sam and the rest is history. A highlight has been the Kardashian cookies. They have seriously helped my business so much and are so nice. 

The new storefront in the Seaport was made possible through a COVID restaurant recovery grant from the city. What are your thoughts on how the restaurant industry is recovering?
The places that were able to weather the storm are going to be booming. I think they’ll be so busy, they won’t have time to enjoy the rush. That’s how we’re feeling right now. 

How do you know when a crazy idea for a new cookie is a keeper?
Normally we test out a design on our website and see how it does. If we see it’s not super popular, we’ll retire the design. There’s always surprises to see what’s popular and what’s not. 

What are your favorite items on the Funny Face menu?
That’s a no-brainer CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES!  

Funny Face is now open at 6 Fulton Street. Open Mon–Tue, 12 – 5PM, and Wed-Sun, 12-8P.M  Preview the menu at the Funny Face website or on Instagram.