Food category
Baked Goods
Breads, cookies, cakes, brownies, and similar shelf-stable baked items.
Informational only, not legal advice.
Status by state
- Arizona /AZ Allowed
- California /CA Allowed with limits
- Florida /FL Allowed with limits
- Georgia /GA Allowed with limits
- Illinois /IL Allowed with limits
- Indiana /IN Allowed with limits
- Maryland /MD Allowed with limits
- Massachusetts /MA Allowed with limits
- Michigan /MI Allowed with limits
- Missouri /MO Allowed with limits
- New Jersey /NJ Allowed with limits
- New York /NY Allowed with limits
- North Carolina /NC Allowed with limits
- Ohio /OH Allowed with limits
- Pennsylvania /PA Allowed with limits
- Tennessee /TN Allowed
- Texas /TX Allowed
- Virginia /VA Allowed with limits
- Washington /WA Allowed with limits
- Wisconsin /WI Allowed with limits
Status comes from each state's allowed and prohibited lists, or from the state's own guidance where the lists don't settle it. "Allowed with limits" means the state allows some products in this category but not others. "Unclear" means the cited sources don't say either way.
Of the 20 states covered, 3 allow baked goods, 17 allow it with limits, 0 prohibit it, and in 0 the official sources don't settle it.
What each state's lists say
Arizona: Yes
Allowed list:
- Baked goods, e.g., cookies, cakes and cupcakes, brownies, cheesecakes, pies and cobblers (including pumpkin), pastries, tarts, donuts, breads, rolls, bagels, muffins, scones, and biscuits
California: Yes, with limits
Allowed list:
- Baked goods without cream, custard, or meat fillings (e.g., bread, cookies, cake, fruit-only pies — no pumpkin)
Prohibited list:
- Baked goods with cream, custard, or meat fillings (including pumpkin pie)
Florida: Yes, with limits
Allowed list:
- Loaf breads, rolls, biscuits
- Cakes, pastries and cookies
- Fruit pies and dried fruits
Prohibited list:
- Bakery goods that require refrigeration, such as cream, custard, or meringue pies and cakes or pastries with cream cheese icings or fillings
- Focaccia-style breads with vegetables or cheeses
Georgia: Yes, with limits
Allowed list:
- Baked goods such as loaf breads, rolls, biscuits, and cakes (except those whose fillings require refrigeration or have high moisture content)
Prohibited list:
- Baked goods whose fillings require refrigeration or have high moisture content
Illinois: Yes, with limits
Allowed list:
- Baked goods and candy that are not time/temperature control for safety (TCS) foods may contain dairy (e.g., caramel, buttercream frosting)
Prohibited list:
- Pumpkin pies, sweet potato pies, cheesecakes, custard pies, creme pies, and pastries with TCS fillings or toppings
Indiana: Yes, with limits
Allowed list:
- Baked goods that are not TCS (e.g., cakes, cupcakes, cake pops, cookies, breads, bagels, sourdough, pretzels, quick bread, scones, baklava, kolache, muffins), with icing only if commercially prepared or from a science-based academic recipe and classified as non-TCS
- Pies with high acid fruits or fillings, and pecan pies; pastries and doughnuts filled with commercially prepared jam or homemade high acid fruit jam
- Baking mixes (cake, cookies, or bread)
Prohibited list:
- Cheesecake; cream, custard, meringue, sweet potato, pumpkin, and vegetable pies; fruit tarts; pumpkin roll unless the icing is commercially prepared or from a science-based academic recipe and non-TCS
Maryland: Yes, with limits
Allowed list:
- Non-perishable baked goods without potentially hazardous toppings or fillings (e.g., bagels, biscuits, breads, brownies, cookies, muffins, pastries, tortillas, sourdough bread and rolls, and cakes, cupcakes, and buns without perishable icing or fillings)
- Pies, turnovers, and fruit tarts from fruits with a natural pH of 4.6 or less
- Dry bread or "instant" bread mixes
Prohibited list:
- Perishable baked goods: baked goods with perishable icings or fillings (e.g., buttercream, cream cheese, royal icing), cheesecakes, cream and custard pies, meringue cookies and pies, pumpkin, sweet potato, and pecan pies, macarons, waffles, focaccia-style breads with vegetables or cheeses, and fried doughnuts
- Without laboratory testing: icings and fillings made with perishable ingredients, and moist quick breads such as banana, pumpkin, and zucchini breads with a water activity above 0.85
- Fermented foods, except sourdough bread (e.g., kimchi, kombucha, pickles, sauerkraut, kefir, yogurt)
- Fresh or refrigerated pasta, raw cookie or pizza dough, and unbaked energy or protein balls
Massachusetts: Yes, with limits
Only non-time/temperature control for safety (TCS) baked goods may be made at a cottage food operation. MDPH lists cream-filled pastries, cheesecake, and custard as examples of foods a Residential Kitchen may not prepare or sell.
Source: MDPH — Retail Food Code Standards for Permitted Residential Kitchens (Updated April 2019) (Cottage Food Products) · Verified Oct 21, 2026
Source: MDPH Food Protection Program — Residential Kitchen Questions and Answers · Verified Oct 21, 2026
Michigan: Yes, with limits
Allowed list:
- Baked goods that don't need refrigeration: cookies, breads, quick breads, muffins, cakes (including wedding and birthday cakes), and shelf-stable pies, including cooked fruit pies
- Granola, dry herbs and herb mixtures, dry baking mixes, dry dip mixes, dry soup mixes, and dry bread mixes
Prohibited list:
- Pies, cakes, and cheesecakes that need refrigeration (e.g., banana cream, pumpkin, lemon meringue, custard pies), and frostings that need refrigeration, such as cream cheese frosting
- Breads with fresh or frozen vegetables, soft cheese, or large chunks of hard cheese
Missouri: Yes, with limits
Allowed list:
- Baked goods that are not potentially hazardous (cookies, cakes, breads, danish, donuts, pastries, pies, and other items prepared by baking the item in an oven)
Prohibited list:
- Baked goods garnished with fresh fruit; meringue and cream pies
New Jersey: Yes, with limits
Allowed list:
- Baked goods (e.g., bread, rolls, cakes, cupcakes, pastries, cookies, brownies, muffins, scones, cake pops, biscuits, macarons, babka, doughnuts, cake rolls)
- Fruit pies, fruit empanadas, and fruit tamales made with cooked fruit (e.g., apple, peach, blueberry, strawberry)
- Dry baking mixes (e.g., pancake, cookie, cake, and brownie mixes)
Prohibited list:
- Cheesecake, cheese- or cream-filled pastries, and baked goods with alcohol or CBD; French toast, pancakes, waffles, crepes, cannoli, and focaccia with vegetables or mushrooms
- Pumpkin, sweet potato, yam, rhubarb, vegetable, meat, pecan, key lime, and lemon pies; fresh fruit tarts and pies with fresh or uncooked fruit
- Dried egg noodles, pasta with egg, raw pizza dough, and raw cookie dough
New York: Yes, with limits
Allowed list:
- Breads, rolls, biscuits, bagels, muffins, and scones (high-acid or commercially dried fruit and herbs OK; no vegetables)
- Doughnuts (no cream fillings), cookies, baklava, biscotti, brownies
- Cakes and cupcakes (no homemade buttercream or cream cheese frostings)
- Double-crust fruit pies
Prohibited list:
- Breads containing vegetables
- Cheesecake, cream-filled pastries, cream pies, meringue pies
- Single-crust, custard, nut, or meat pies
North Carolina: Yes, with limits
NCDA&CS allows baked goods that do not require refrigeration, but bakery products with cream or cream cheese fillings and cheesecakes are high-risk and not permitted. "Moist" breads/cakes, some pies, and homemade cream cheese frostings may require pH or water-activity testing.
Source: NCDA&CS Food & Drug Protection — Home Processor · Verified Oct 21, 2026
Ohio: Yes, with limits
Allowed list:
- Non-potentially hazardous bakery products (e.g., cookies, breads, brownies, cakes, fruit pies)
- Candy (including no-bake cookies and chocolate-covered pretzels), not including fresh fruit dipped in or combined with candy
Prohibited list:
- Potentially hazardous foods (e.g., raw or cooked animal products, cooked vegetables, garlic in oil, cheesecakes, pumpkin pies, custard pies, cream pies)
Pennsylvania: Yes, with limits
Allowed list:
- Baked goods (e.g., cakes, breads, bagels, cookies, rolls, muffins, brownies, biscuits, most fruit pies and pastries)
Prohibited list:
- Perishable baked goods (e.g., cheesecakes, pumpkin pies, cream, custard, or meringue pies and pastries, pudding)
Tennessee: Yes
Tennessee allows any cottage food not on its prohibited list, and no baked goods item is on it. Source: 2025 Tenn. Pub. Acts ch. 431 (SB 484 / HB 130), amending T.C.A. § 53-1-118, § 4 (T.C.A. § 53-1-118(b)(3)) · Verified Oct 5, 2026
Texas: Yes
Texas allows any cottage food not on its prohibited list, and no baked goods item is on it. Source: Texas DSHS — Texas Cottage Food Production · Verified Sep 15, 2026
Virginia: Yes, with limits
Allowed list:
- Baked goods that don't need time or temperature control (e.g., cookies, fruit pies, muffins, sourdough bread, and breads or cakes not filled or topped with fresh fruit, fruit curd, custard, whipped cream, mousse, or cream cheese)
Prohibited list:
- Breads with fresh toppings or inclusions such as cheese, herbs, or vegetables; breads or cakes filled or topped with fresh fruit, fruit curd, custard, whipped cream, mousse, or cream cheese; cheesecakes, cream pies, custards, and meringues
- Apple butter, banana jam, fig jam, lavender jelly, pepper jelly, and zucchini or carrot cake jam; low-sugar or no-sugar jams and jellies may also not qualify, depending on the recipe
Washington: Yes, with limits
Allowed list:
- Baked and fried goods cooked in an oven, on a stovetop, or in an electric cooking device: loaf breads, rolls, biscuits, quick breads, and muffins; cakes, including birthday, anniversary, and wedding cakes; pastries and scones; cookies and bars; crackers; donuts, tortillas, pizzelles, krumkake, kale chips, and similar products
- Pies, except custard-style pies, pies with unbaked fresh fruit, and pies that need refrigeration after baking
- Sweet breads made with fresh fruit or vegetables, if the produce is mixed into the batter and oven-baked
- Dry herbs, seasonings, and mixtures from approved sources, recombined and packaged (e.g., dry teas, bread mixes, soup mixes, dip mixes, spice blends)
Prohibited list:
- Bakery goods that need any refrigeration, such as cream, custard, or meringue pies and cakes or pastries with cream or cream cheese fillings, fresh fruit fillings or garnishes, low-sugar glazes or frostings, cream, or uncooked eggs
- Focaccia-style breads with vegetables or cheeses
Wisconsin: Yes, with limits
Allowed list:
- Baked goods that are not potentially hazardous, made in the baker's home (generally baked by dry heat above 140°F in a closed chamber such as an oven; some items made in a waffle maker or Dutch oven count), such as cookies, cakes, and muffins
Prohibited list:
- Potentially hazardous baked goods (any business producing them must be licensed)
- Items dried in a dehydrator (not considered baked goods)