The shockingly high cost of baking

I would love to hear from readers in the US if the cost of food, in particular baking supplies, has seen an increase lately. Prices have been increasing steadily here, but today was an enormous shock. I have seen the price of flour increase (about 17%), the price of eggs (9%), not to mention milk and all kinds of dairy. Chocolate chips went up by about 11%, and bittersweet chocolate by 15%. Pecans nearly doubled in price over the last year, though you can definitely minimize your use. But today was truly the topper. The price of sugar rose by more than 40% (lucky me, it was on sale, limit 3 kilos, at just 15% more than last week. What a bargain!) And cocoa - the best brand of unsweetened baking cocoa was almost 50% more expensive than the week before.

Is this really a worldwide phenomenon, or are we just lucky? You know, here in the land where we pay for free education and we pay for free healthcare, we pay outrageously high income taxes, not to mention exorbitant sales tax, gasoline tariffs, and various and sundry charges for little things, like security. Still, we live here, so we are super-lucky. But I would still love some feedback...

Let me reassure you, though, that despite my rant, I am intent on maintaining my cookie prices for as long as I can. I have not raised them in over two years and will continue to hold steady as long as it's feasible. It's my commitment to provide delicious products, made of the highest quality ingredients. And I am clearly not in it for the money. So enjoy your cookies. We'll keep making them.

Dvora