One Tough Cookie

Contributed

Follow along with local cafe owner and home baker Katie Spangenberg as she bakes through all of the cookie recipes in her grandmother's Betty Crocker Cooky Book.

Most people flip through their grandmother's cookbooks and feel nostalgic. Katie Spangenberg (40 Under 40 Class of 2025) flipped through hers and saw a challenge: hundreds of cookies that she has yet to bake.

"This past Christmas, I was getting the dough ready, and I had my Betty Crocker Cooky Book sitting on the counter, and on the back, it says, 'over 450 recipes.' And I was like, dang, we use like 10 of those," she recalled.

She began flipping through all of the recipes and excitedly hurried out to her husband, Jason, in the living room and asked him, "What if I baked them all?" To which he replied, "You realize that's the plot of Julie & Julia, right? She turns 30 and cooks through the whole Julia Child cookbook."

Having just turned 30, Spangenberg decided it was fate. So, just before the new year, she sat down and planned out how she would accomplish the feat in one year.

"It says 450 recipes, but that's like variations on cookies, frostings, and fillings," she said. "But there are actually 279 cookies." As of this week, she baked No. 46, meaning she's got 233 cookies to go, which is roughly five cookies a week, give or take a snowstorm.

Spangenberg closed her blue kitchen cabinets as she moved about the room in a calculated flurry — much like Julie — dumping ingredients into a chrome KitchenAid mixer. Except this time, it's under the glow of a ring light.

"Today we're making malted milk round cookies," she said into her phone camera, which recorded her atop a tripod on the countertop. Each time she bakes a cookie, she films the process and posts the recipe on TikTok.

"My first video was my intro video, and I thought I'd get some hits or whatever, and maybe if I lose motivation no one would notice," Spangenberg said. "But my first video got over 6,000 views, and I gained a bunch of followers, so I was like, 'Oh, now I actually have to be accountable.'"

In her videos, she gives the cookie a final rating at the end and has found that her favorites are the ones with strong flavor profiles. She said that a lot of the recipes don't include the strong flavor that people desire today, so she gives suggestions on how to improve the recipe.

"Food really connects people," Spangenberg said. "I have so many people who are following along or commenting with fun stories of certain recipes or how their mom used to use that cookbook when they were growing up. I have also received a lot of great tips from followers."

Every 50 cookies, she plans on doing a "Cooky Book Wrapped" with her top picks and fun statistics.

She's no stranger to the kitchen as owner of Bean & Bear Cafe in Edinboro, baking muffins, cinnamon rolls, cookies, and biscuits from scratch for her customers daily. But she's also learning how to set boundaries for herself and avoid burnout.

On days she works open to close at the coffee shop, she doesn't bake, but she might choose two easier recipes to bake the next day to catch up. If there's a really intense recipe, she saves it for a day when she can properly devote her attention to it.

Luckily, she had a small supply of baking supplies already, and said that since the book came out in the 1960s, it's pretty budget-friendly.

"For the most part, a lot of the cookies use the same ingredients," she said. "If it says add a nut, but it doesn't say what kind of nut, like, I use walnuts, because they're the cheapest ones."

Because she owns a coffee shop, she often puts the nut-free cookies out on a plate for customers to try for free. As the year goes on, she plans on donating her cookies to bake sales or places like assisted living homes. She said that if anyone is interested in trying the cookies they see her bake on TikTok, they can message Bean & Bear's social media to ask.

To watch the cookie connoisseur as she bakes through the Cooky Book, find Katie & Betty on TikTok (@muensterblackcat).

On the flour-covered counter, you might catch a glance of the book itself. From her grandmother's kitchen to her mother's kitchen to her kitchen, The Betty Crocker Cooky Book is a red-covered treasure chest that holds some of her family's heirlooms and newest baking gems.

Chloe Forbes is a local journalist and cookie consumer. Reach her at chloeforbes14@gmail.com.