PITTSBURGH — Cookie tables have been customary at weddings, Christmas parties, bridal showers and so many other life events for years in Western Pennsylvania. So when Laura Magone started a Facebook page to celebrate and preserve the tradition in 2015, the filmmaker was pretty certain she’d draw at least a few members.
But she never imagined the legions of bakers and cookie enthusiasts who would join the online community — and continue to join almost by the hour.
The Wedding Cookie Table Community is fast approaching 120,000 members, Magone notes with some amazement. That’s more than quadruple the number it had back in August 2019, when 400 of the group’s amateur and professional bakers broke the Guinness World Record for the largest wedding cookie table in her hometown of Monongahela as part of its 250th birthday celebration. The elaborate display included 88,425 cookies on 140 tables.
And no, it’s not just Americans sharing beloved recipes, baking tips and advice and snapshots of their sweet creations on the site. The group boasts several active members in Australia “and we definitely have a lot more Canadians than you might expect and from other parts of the globe,” she says.
That includes Europe and Eastern European countries such as Poland, where members love to compare their traditional baked treats to those made in the U.S. — and where many believe the cookie table tradition has its roots.
Wherever they hang their flour-dusted aprons, all share a common goal: making the best cookies they can for their events, and figuring out how to best transport said treats to whatever venue and display them in an eye-catching manner.
To help them along, Magone happily reports the return of the group’s beloved Cookie College.
First offered in 2018 and 2019, and then put on hold like everything else during the early days of the pandemic, this is the third year for the instructional event. Set for May 7, it’s perfectly timed for the 2023 wedding season, which according to Brides magazine, peaks in June and September. It runs from noon-4 p.m. at the DoubleTree by Hilton, 340 Racetrack Road, Meadow Lands, Washington County.
As in previous years, a panel of experts will demonstrate how to make and decorate various cookies, only an a much bigger scale. Says Magone, “we’ll up our game a bit.”
Attendees will get to watch as two companies — Ohio-based Crochet Cookie and Mona’s Unique Boutique in Johnstown — decorate and style a cookie table in real time. Also, more than a dozen members will demonstrate everything from how to cut and fold a kolache to how to press and decorate German springerle or paint sugar cookies with royal icing.
There also will be a presentation on how to make serving and display pieces from thrift shop finds, and a segment called “Baking Tips, Tricks and Hacks” paneled by expert members.
“They’ll be telling you secrets of their baking gathered over the years,” says Malone. “That’s a hallmark of our group — the willingness to share.”
The volunteer-run event also will feature vendors around the perimeter of the ballroom, including C Palmer Manufacturing, which has been making and selling pizzelle cookie irons in West Newton since 1947. Crescent-based USA Pan will also be on hand with its professional bakeware and a contest for the most creative apron. (Winner gets a five-piece baking set.)
Since many members only know each other through social media, the cookie college is a great way to put a name to a face, says Malone. She only recently learned that a member she knows online as Contessa Maria is actually named Helen. “It’s just so nice when you finally get to meet people.”
As for the history of cookie tables, Malone says the tradition probably only goes back to the 1950s or ’60s, when brides favored buffet receptions and cookies were laid out on trays or stacked in aluminum containers. “And it’s definitely not an Italian thing,” she says, but crosses many ethnic backgrounds and religions.
“Catholics and Protestants both have traditions of baking cookies.”
One reason the tradition has lasted in Southwestern Pennsylvania and died in others is because of the ethnic composition of our neighborhoods, she says. Despite the deindustrialization of the area, “people have an interest in maintaining traditions.”
While some might consider a cookie table an economic way to provide guests with dessert, Malone sees it as an act of community.
“They’re at all of life’s events, starting from when someone is born to when they die,” she says.
“Cookies are an expression for happy occasions and sad ones, too. … It’s an act of generosity and showing that you care.”
The Facebook group, she adds, is a source of pride that adds a layer of richness to her life.
As the descendant of four immigrants raised in a town that’s lost its industrial roots, “I feel honored to help carry on this tradition, and feel driven to keep it alive.”
Previous cookie colleges have sold out and Magone expects the 2023 event will, too, as registration is capped and 500 of 700 tickets have already been sold. Admission is $30 at eventbrite.com.