Oprah named these North Carolina cookies as one of her favorite things for 2021
Cookies from a local bakeshop have landed on the hottest holiday shopping list of the year.
Mogul and global tastemaker Oprah Winfrey dropped her annual “Oprah’s Favorite Things” list Monday. The list typically turns into the most in-demand gift guide of the holiday season.
One of the sweetest pieces of this year’s list comes from Chapel Hill baker Tonya Council, whose jar of Tonya’s Cookies Pecan Crisps was christened one of Oprah’s favorite things.
Council’s cookies join cashmere, virtual reality goggles, a rowing machine and dozens of other gifts on the coveted list.
“Baker Tonya Council wanted GF cookies that tasted like her grandmother’s pie,” read the blurb on Oprah’s website. “The result: a sweet treat that’s rich while somehow staying very light.”
Following grandma’s legacy
Council followed her family’s legacy into the kitchen. Her grandmother, Mildred “Mama Dip” Council, opened the famous Southern restaurant Mama Dip’s Kitchen in Chapel Hill, and went on to author multiple popular and influential cookbooks.
The restaurant remains open today on Rosemary Street in downtown Chapel Hill, operated by Mama Dip’s children.
Tonya Council found her calling in baking, most notably cookies. She opened Sweet Tea & Cornbread, a prepared foods shop in Raleigh’s Crabtree Valley Mall and opened a restaurant of the same name in the North Carolina Museum of History in downtown Raleigh.
Council’s pecan crisps happen to be gluten free and come in a five pound jar, retailing for $53 on Amazon, but are $43 via the Tonya’s Cookies website.
This story was originally published November 1, 2021 at 12:06 PM with the headline "Oprah named these North Carolina cookies as one of her favorite things for 2021."
