I have sampled the creme brûlée cookie from downtown cookie/coffee shop Chainé (38 Burro Alley, (505) 477-3235), and I’m fairly sure it cured my depression. A brown butter sugar cookie injected with custard post-bake and brûlée’d just so, it also accounted for a few days’ worth of sugar intake for a guy like me. But when you’re sampling items from the pastel-laden shop created by cookie maven Chainé Peña, you must throw caution to the wind and accept that concessions are necessary when you’re eating one of the best sweet treats of your life.
If you live in Santa Fe, you’ve likely visited or at least heard about Chainé. Originally opened in 2019 on Water Street, Peña’s project languished without a spot for nearly two years starting in 2020, but since reopening within the building that formerly housed Door 38 Pizza down Burro Alley, the success has been fast and almost explosive. Peña is an interesting woman, too—one who cut her teeth in the makeup and practical effects world of filmmaking before returning to Santa Fe to embrace its slower lifestyle.
“I’m a grandma,” she says jokingly. “I like to get up early and go to bed early, and wouldn’t you know it? That’s good for baking.”
Courtesy Chaine Pena
Peña is mainly self-taught, though she’s picked up tips and tricks from bakers over the years. Her flavor combinations, however, are all hers, including popular items like a rice pudding macaron, the increasingly popular cherry-almond matcha drink and whatever fun combos and experiments you might see in the future. Oh, and before we get to the here and now when it comes to Chainé, you should know that Peña’s temporary closure in 2020 had nothing to do with the pandemic.
“We were one of those weirdo businesses that did really well during COVID with online ordering,” Peña says. “It’s just…we ended up growing rapidly, and we couldn’t support all our growth and product in the Water Street location; I was a super-naïve first-time business owner, and we couldn’t fit a second oven in the space, so eventually I put [my equipment] in storage and even listed it for sale.”
Then the Burro Alley spot became available.
“I’d heard about the space before it went on the market, and when I tell you I harassed the owner, I mean it,” Peña says. “I jumped right in the minute the former tenants left.”
Chainé is still fairly small, and an adorably dusty-pink space with a small handful of seating options and cookie cases bursting with the aforementioned creme brûlée number, piñon chocolate chip cookies and a rotating variety of macarons representing all the bold hues you want from that particular cookie. On the day I visit, two of Peña’s three employees flit about in the back, baking and taking orders and constructing cookies; the smell of biscochitos wafts from the oven.
“You keep saying ‘we,’” I tell Peña. “Do you have partners?”
“No,” she responds. “I’m the only owner.”
She’s also the main cookie designer. Yes, Peña is open to collaboration (including a recent goddess-themed series of macarons designed by an employee for As Above So Below Distillery), but her love of cooking and kitchens runs deep—though baking is special for Peña, especially when it comes to cookies.
“I grew up in a super-traditional Hispanic household where I was standing on the stool in the kitchen to make tortillas with my great grandmother,” she recounts. “I still use my grandma’s biscohito recipe to this day, too.”
Alex De Vore
Peña draws inspiration from her mother as well, whom, she says, was sculpting fancy cakes by hand as far back as the 1980s, well before cake molds and TV shows turned the whole cake situation into a baffling ordeal. Still, she notes, the cookie remains a tough mistress to wrangle, especially at high altitudes. Being a bit of a perfectionist doesn’t make that any easier, but part of the joy, Peña adds, is in the challenging nature of baking at 7,500 feet.
Santa Feans have responded with a borderline obsession for Chainé. The business sells out before closing time fairly regularly, and the popularity of Peña’s treats have landed her collaborations and features with local businesses like Sky Railway and 35 North Coffee. She’s also got numerous plans for theme months, including May’s Mamacita Macaron Menu featuring special items like the rosa pistachio macaron with pistachio butter and rose water; the arroz mango mami with sweet mango and sticky rice; and the besito de chocolate with bittersweet ganache and raspberry jam.
As for any future expansions and partnerships? They’re possible, though Peña is quick to note she has no interest in going corporate.
“This is everything, truly,” she says gesturing to her shop. “This is the experience, and I walk in every day and I’m in this dreamy desert shop with cookies—what isn’t to love? I had a company come in and ask to take meetings, but I’m not interested in that. I want to be successful, but Chainé is me, and I’ve put everything into creating it, so I don’t see a need for growth that’s corporate or commercial.”
Chainé Peña’s Must-Try Cookies
With so many cookie options available at Chainé, SFR asked Peña to choose her top three favorite items for newcomers, regulars and anyone in-between.
“I’m gonna go with the creme brûlée cookie, because that one sells out every day,” Peña says. “It was an early one, the second cookie we ever offered, and it’s like a convenient way to have a creme brûlée on the go and we give it…the quintessential crunch. It’s going to give you the creme brûlée elements, but it’s not on-the-nose.”
“I’ll also go with the blue corn macaron, because it’s something we bring onto the menu often because it’s so popular,” Peña explains. “What’s so cool about it is we use local blue corn in the macaron shell, though those are traditionally made with almond flour, and the ganache is a whipped sweet corn and vanilla bean, and when you take all those flavors…in the best way possible, it tastes like that last little bit of cereal milk, and you get the crunchy exterior of the blue corn, then that creamy cloud of sweet corn inside.”
“The Piñon chocolate chip cookie for sure,” Peña tells SFR. “It’s organic piñon and 60% cacao chocolate, so it’s pretty rich, but with super crispy edges and a chewy interior. And it’s something I’m proud of because one of those big corporate cookie chains is opening on the Southside, and they use a lot of shortening and oil, but we use real butter, high-quality butter, plus sugar and eggs. And our chocolate chip cookies are chunky chewy. Also, if people come in, I can throw it in the oven for a minute and it comes out warm and gooey.”
