Cookie Month meets Cookie Carts
by Sue Zelickson, Tastemaker in Residence
Isn't every month cookie month??? People of all ages love cookies and with so many types to choose from, everyone of us longs for and enjoys our cookie favorites.
With a influx of doughnut shoppes, cupcake shoppes and even pie shoppes; it seems odd there are only a few cookie shoppes. I remember when Mrs. Field hit the malls with her Chocolate Chip Cookies. Then I was so lucky to have met Wally Amos, founder of Famous Amos, when he had a little shop in Beverly Hills. It didn’t take long for him to become so famous that he filled supermarkets and hotel room treat bars with his little chocolate chip cookie bags. In fact when he came to Minneapolis, he baked some in my very own oven…that was so awesome!
We are very lucky to have two wonderful Cookie Carts, located right here in the Twin Cities. They began with one cart on West Broadway in Mpls and are now brick and mortar. The back story of the Cookie Carts begins with Sister Jean Thuerauf and her passion to provide a safe place to engage North Minneapolis teenagers. It all began in her tiny kitchen as she helped them with their homework and baked the cookies for the Cookie Cart. As more young people showed up, she needed more space; so in 1988 she found a little store front on Emerson Ave North where she converted the Cookie Cart concept to a 501c3 non profit; then she began selling the cookies from a little cart. Eight years later the Cookie Cart moved to 1119 West Broadway and actually just updated their space two years ago. In 2018 a second Cookie Cart bakery and training center was opened on Payne Avenue in St Paul. Both locations provide teens, 15 to 18 years old, with lasting and meaningful work, life and leadership skills; all accomplished through their experience and training in urban nonprofit bakeries.
It has been my great honor to be on the board of the Cookie cart for over ten years; I’ve watch their growth impact the community and the kids who are working there. The cookies are amazing and very reasonably priced. As we head into the season of giving, don’t forget they make the perfect holiday gift as well as treats for your events. They even decorate them for holidays! It is heart warming to buy these sweet delights all the while knowing the proceeds are helping so many teens in so many ways. My favorite cookies include the chocolate chocolate chips, ginger, pumpkin spice and snickerdoodle to name a few. And they are only $12 a dozen.
So celebrate cookie month and support the Cookie Cart all year long. For more info check out cookiecart.org.
