28 | DECEMBER 19 • 2024
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antor Rachel Gottlieb
Kalmowitz of Birmingham
made a special plan with her
daughter, Ilana Kalmowitz, 13. After
seeing a notice on the Jewish Moms
Of Metro Detroit Facebook group,
she signed them up for a Chanukah
cookie-decorating class at Diamond
Bakery.
The event, which took place Dec.
17, was a chance to connect with the
community to celebrate, especially
when Chanukah comes late in the
month at a time when people will
largely be home or engaged in end-
of-year travel, she says.
Kalmowitz explains she was drawn
to the cookie-decorating event
because her daughter is very artistic.
She texted her daughter about taking
part in the event together.
“I thought it would be fun to do
something Chanukah-related with
my daughter as we were heading
toward Chanukah,” she says. “It
gives us an opportunity to connect
in different ways and to try to bring
our light out into the community.”
Chanukah cookies are an annual
tradition at Diamond Bakery, says
Gina Rowley, a former owner who
now lives in Florida. “For Chanukah,
we always did the fondant cookies;
we would do menorahs and stars,”
she says. “Everything is blue and
white during Chanukah time. The
little sprinkle cookies were very
popular, blue sprinkles, blue and
white sprinkles together.”
From stars to hearts, they made
sure to have a diversity of cookies
on hand, she says, adding that
icebox cookies, sufganiyot and even
Mexican wedding cookies went
flying off shelves.
“The teeny cookies, they go by
weight, we’d sell pounds of them at a
time,” she says. “We would do trays
after trays after trays, donuts, too —
all of it.”
During her days, they would
hand-pump the little cookies out and
add sprinkles manually. “It was a lot
of work, but we did what we could
do to take care of our customers
because they had to have their
cookies,” she says. “I really enjoyed
doing those cookies, the fondants;
it’s creative and always fun to do.”
A pastry school grad, Jacqui
Gretzinger of Novi led the Dec. 17
event. Having grown up with challah
from Diamond Bakery every Friday
night and having a long love for its
seven-layer cake, she says she was
excited to bring her skills to the
class.
“I wanted to bring joy to Jewish
people and Jewish kids who might
feel slighted because they don’t have
the whole Christmas experience,” she
says, explaining that as a Jewish kid
growing up the area, she was always
disappointed that there weren’t more
Chanukah offerings.
“I wanted people to be able to
come out and enjoy our Chanukah
season and bring home something
they’re proud of for when they have
their family over for Chanukah or
go to someone’s house and want to
bring something.”
The cookies were ready and
waiting to be decorated when the
class began so people could focus on
learning the step-by-step process of
decorating them, she says. There was
a choice of looks and techniques for
the decorators to explore. She also
provided recipes for sugar cookies,
how to make the frosting and gave
tips on storing the cookies as well.
It was a warm and delicious even-
ing for the dozen or so participants
who headed to Diamond Bakery
after-hours, she says. “Sugar cookie
decorating is fun.”
From the cookies to sufganiyot
to seven-layer cake, Dan Buckfire, a
current Diamond Bakery owner, says
he’s glad he’s helping to bring more
sweetness into the community.
It’s even more important given
everything going on in the world, he
says, adding the bakery will be open
from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Dec. 25.
“Chanukah is a festive, joyous
holiday and you have to celebrate the
good times,” he says. “Chanukah is
a holiday for children, a holiday for
celebration and a celebration of the
resilience of the Jews.”
Diamond Bakery offers a workshop on cookie decorating.
Chanukah
Cookies
KAREN SCHWARTZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER
CHANUKAH
Jacqui Gretzinger
led the cookie-
decorating class at
Diamond Bakery.
For Supporting The Zekelman Holocaust Center’s 40 th
Anniversary Benefit on November 10, 2024