Cookies just like Grandma's
Jason Tenenbaum and his mom, Lynn Tenenbaum, have something extra to celebrate this Mother's Day. The mother and son team are the head of Solomon's Gourmet Cookies LLC, a Chicago-based kosher bakery and catering business that is enjoying the wildly successful placement of some of their cookies and brownies in Sunset Foods stores.
"I think this one is here to stay, unless they really pooch, but I doubt it," said Tony Gapastione, Director of Purchasing for Highland Park-based Sunset Foods. "For a product to sell so well after running only one advertisement is unusual," he said of the brand he began ordering last February.
(Tamara Bell/Staff Photographer)
(Tamara Bell/Staff Photographer)
Gapastione said the biggest seller is "Cookie Carmelita." Not far behind are "Brookie Cookie," "Chocolate Chip Brownie" and "Turtle Brownie." They cost $1.59 each.
"Jason turned this into what it is from recipes on a few slips of paper," Lynn said of their business. It's doubled in volume year-over-year since 2004. The business was stared by Lynn, a Chicagoan, and her sister, Sandra Sweet of Northbrook, using many recipes from their late mother, Frieda Solomon.
Sunset offers Solomon's in their Lake Forest and Libertyville stores and in the 24-foot-long kosher sections of their Highland Park and Northbrook stores. Solomon's includes dairy in their products, and claim their rightful place on Sunset's kosher shelves through approval by the Chicago Rabbinical Council, a kosher certifying agency.
"Short of baking the cookies ourselves, we participate in the baking process," said Rabbi Dovid Oppenheimer of the CRC.
The council reviews every recipe and technique and makes regular visits to ensure kosher compliance. As he does with 7 other Chicago-based food companies, Oppenheimer calls from his office phone before 6 a.m. every day to remotely trigger a switch that turns on Solomon's 2 electric ovens. That's his official participation in the bakery process. Oppenheimer estimated that 200-300 companies in Chicagoland are CRC compliant.
The idea of a kosher bakery, said Jason, "is homage to my grandmother." Over the years, he's helped develop the home-based business his mother and aunt had started using their mother's recipes into a vital, commercial concern.
One recipe the women reclaimed was their mother's "Sandies," the cookies she sent inside care packages to her husband, Aaron, while he was stationed in France during World War II. They were his favorite.
"Now, the 'Sandies' we make from her recipe are included in specially-ordered gift packages we ship to troops in Iraq," Jason said.
Apple pie bars are the top seller in their cafe situated at the front of their bakery at 2238 N. Elston Ave. in Chicago's Lincoln Park. There's also a daily selection of cookies, cupcakes and other confections. The bakery is a 4,700-square-foot warehouse where 11 support staff and bakers roll out the sweet treats daily. Employees sign a secrecy oath and run recipes down the shredder after every shift.
They plan to open a shop in Highland Park or Northbrook. Solomon's Gourmet Cookies is also a thriving online business at www.solomonscookies.com, with a whole range of cookies and bars and gift assortments available by mail.
"Even though we're doing everything on a large scale, we're not compromising quality," Jason said. His grandmother's standards still rule, and in a family business, the emphasis is on "family."
In fact, said Jason, "The best thing about this is working with your family." And of course, he never forgets who the real boss is: "My title may be CEO, but she's still Mom."
Chocolate on chocolate, with a cherry on top -- what's not to like?
1 C of cocoa
4 oz. (1/2 lb.) unsalted butter
3 eggs separated
2 C granulated sugar
3/4 C whole milk
1/2 C sour cream
2 C cake flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. instant coffee
1/2 tsp. salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper muffin cups.
Cream the butter and the sugar. Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each. Dissolve the coffee in the milk. Add it to the butter mixture. Add the cocoa. Sift flour with the salt and the baking powder. Begin and end with the flour. Add the sour cream to the butter mixture alternately with the dry ingredients. Beat the egg whites until stiff, and fold into the batter. Put 1/3 cup of batter in each muffin cup. Bake 20-25 minutes.
Frost with your favorite frosting, top with a maraschino cherry if desired.
This makes about 16 cupcakes.
SOLOMON'S GOURMET COOKIES
Cafe at 2238 N. Elston Ave., Chicago. (773) 537-4214. www.solomonscookies.com.