The spirit of the holidays and the smell of cookies filled the halls of Lorain County JVS as the junior Bakery and Pastry Arts students happily prepared preordered cookie boxes for their annual holiday cookie fundraiser.
This year’s class baked over 25,000 cookies including Sicilian white cookies, mint shortbread, jam thumbprints, peanut butter kisses, chocolate walnut, and coconut snowballs, just to name a few.
Bakery and Pastry Arts instructor, Chef Chris Moore, shared the lessons the students learned with this project. “It is about the organization, paying attention to details, quality of craftsmanship, and learning through repetition, how to increase your speed without sacrificing quality.”
Every cookie has its place in each box, and a diagram is displayed for the students to follow so each box looks the same. Large boxes contain nine to ten dozen cookies while small boxes hold five to six dozen.
Marissa King, Bakery and Pastry Arts junior from Firelands, shared how she felt taking on such a large undertaking. “I was nervous about this at first, but now that we are putting the orders together, it isn’t as stressful as I thought it would be.”
King baked the Sicilian white cookies but shared that the classic sugar cookie is her favorite.
This year, 117 large boxes and 118 small boxes were ordered. The cookies are pre-sold with the sale beginning in early November. Due to the popularity of this annual sale, Moore does not need to advertise. Customers email Moore directly to place their orders and he usually sells out before the Thanksgiving holiday break.
According to Moore, the funds generated help cover the cost of supplies, but most of the money is put into the program’s activity account that follows the students into their senior year. The funds are then used toward their chef jackets and annual awards banquet.