Cookies for a cause: Kris Emerson uses baking expertise to write benefit cookbook

MOSES LAKE — Kris Emerson’s “Cookie Book” started with a benefit cookie auction.

Emerson and her husband Paul Emerson are the owners of the Grocery Outlet in Moses Lake, at 1177 N. Stratford Road. Last Christmas they were looking for a project to benefit the toy drive, sponsored by the local Salvation Army.

The Emersons supported the Salvation Army’s Tree of Sharing project for years, she said, but the Tree of Sharing was canceled in 2020. So she looked for an alternative and came up with a project that involved one of her favorite pastimes.

“I’m a baker at heart. I bake cookies and give them away as gifts,” she said.

So she came up with a natural fundraiser.

“I baked a dozen cookies, and we auctioned them off every day for 12 days,” she said. “And when we started doing that, I knew that people were going to want the recipes for the cookies they were getting.”

She teamed up with Michaelle Boetger of Michaelle Boetger Graphic Designs in Moses Lake to provide a booklet with the recipes.

“Last year, the auction raised about $1,100. I was a little bit surprised and a lot speechless that it did that well,” Emerson said. “So this year, it was like, ‘Wow. Let’s do it again.’”

Cookies will be auctioned again this year, and people who don’t win the auction can buy the cookbook to get the recipes.

All proceeds, both from the auction and the cookbook, will go to the Salvation Army toy drive.

“This year’s ‘Cookie Book’ has got more recipes and more information. I’ve added some fun little stories about why I chose the cookies I chose to put in the book.”

The 2021 “Cookie Book” is in color and is spiral bound, as well.

“We’ve kind of taken it and improved it. And this year we’re actually selling the cookbooks,” Emerson said.

The cookie selection is the reflection of many years of baking and giving away cookies.

“I just kind of pulled from my most-requested cookies when I’m baking, to my family favorites,” she said. “Some of these are cookies that my grandma used to make at the holidays. I picked from the ones that seem to be the most popular when I’m giving them away.”

She baked lots of test batches in preparation.

“I think the staff here has been cookied out, because I tested all of the recipes, which meant they got lots of cookies,” she said. “But that was fun, too, because then I got feedback. What they thought, if they liked them. Most recipes made it.”

The “Cookie Book” has classics, like peanut butter and chocolate chip, snickerdoodles and sugar cookies. Some are a little less familiar, like lemon meltaways and chocolate crinkles. Some are downright decadent, like the jam, hazelnut, white chocolate cranberry oatmeal.

Emerson admitted to having a favorite.

“The peanut butter cookie recipe. That is my all-time favorite. Peanut butter cookies are my favorite, and this recipe – it’s amazing,” she said.

Emerson has been baking most of her life.

“Some of my earliest memories are baking with my grandmother,” she said. “She always baked on Saturdays, and if we were at her house, we got to help.”

Her mom never objected to her daughter using the kitchen.

“That (cooking) was something I could do when I got home from school that kind of kept me out of trouble. It never bothered her to have me bake cookies or whatever. As long as I cleaned my mess up, she was a happy camper,” she said.

The “Cookie Book” is $15 for a print copy and $8 for the online version. It can be ordered at www.mlgocookbook.com, and will be available at the Grocery Outlet Dec. 1.

Emerson said it was a lot of work and a fun project.

“I’ve always wanted to write a book. I never realized it would be a cookbook,” she said.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.