Join our cookie community and share your family stories!
You can’t keep Bess away from cookie sheets
One of my favorite things about recreating Cookies by Bess is reading all the old newspaper articles written about Bess. A lot of the information in the articles is the same, as the stories are the stories, but each article also has at least one new “tidbit”. The “tidbit” I learned from You can’t keep…
Bess Hoffman: ‘Baked with Love’
This week I decided to post another article from Cookies by Bess’ promotional tour back in 1980. This article, Bess Hoffman: ‘Baked with Love’, was written in The Post Crescent (newspaper serving Appleton-Neenah-Menasha, Wis.) on Tuesday, June 3, 1980. The article once again introduces Grandma Bess Hoffman and how she began baking cookies. her Cookies…
“Cookie lady writes a book”
On Thursday, June 12, 1980, The Milwaukee Sentinel published an article on page 1, part 4 (the Food section) titled “Cookie lady writes a book”. The article highlights Bess Hoffman on her come back tour for her famous cookie cookbook, Cookies by Bess. The Milwaukee Sentinel article is one of many showing up in newspapers…
Who was Bess Hoffman?
Happy Anniversary Cookies by Bess! This week marks 1 year since we updated the Cookies by Bess brand, website, and blog! Thank you EVERYONE that visited our website, read our blogs and followed us over this past year! I’ve had a blast so far and I am looking forward to continuing to work my way…
Holiday Cookie Exchange
Now is the time to start thinking about and planning your Holiday Cookie Exchange! One thing I always look forward to as we get closer and closer to the holidays is a Holiday Cookie Exchange! Being Jewish, I didn’t grow up celebrating Christmas, but pretty much everyone I knew and worked with did. Working at…
Hints and Short-Cuts for Baking Cookies
It hit me as I was reading through the old scrap books my father sent me last summer. My Dad got the “pack rat” gene from his father, my Grandpa Abe! I was looking for the notes Grandma Bess put together for the classes she taught at the Wausau (WI) Technical Institute. I found the…
Letters to Cookies by Bess
I’ve mentioned in a few of my previous blog posts that my father saved just about every piece of paper and picture related to the republishing of Cookies by Bess in 1980. I’ve also mentioned that last summer, when my parents and I really started solidifying our plans to re-brand Cookies by Bess again, my…
Cookies and Kisses
This week, my Cookies by Bess blog is all about Cookies and Kisses, a poem written by an unknown poet. The poem, shown below, was hand written with calligraphy by artist Judy Hagstrom. Judy also illustrated the poem with hand drawn and painted cookie designs. This illustration, hand signed by Judy Hagstrom herself, is one of…
Wausau’s Famed ‘Cookie Lady’ Comes to Town
When I first launched the Cookies by Bess Facebook page back in October 2017, my cousin Craig Hoffman posted a picture of Grandma Bess and her Appleton, WI grandchildren (Bess had three other grandchildren in 1963 living in Chicago, IL and later in the 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s was blessed with four more!) This picture…
Grandma and Me
Happy New Year to Everyone! I decided to start the New Year with a Family Interest blog. Cookies by Bess has been “live” now for about 6 weeks. We’ve gotten such a great response from our family and friends all across the country. We’ve heard from old friends of Bess and Abe in Wausau, WI,…