Meet Your Neighbor: Jahns carries on grandmother's tradition of making great cookies
FREMONT - Becky Jahns doesn’t remember much about her grandmother, Vicky Overmyer, who died when Jahns was just 4 years old. But she has clear images that tie her to the woman who shared her passion for baking.
“I remember barely anything, but I remember being in her kitchen. She was always in her kitchen,” said Jahns, who is now 19.
Jahns recalls that her grandmother strung a rope above her sink, where she tied the many ribbons she had won for her baked goods at the Sandusky County Fair. One of them was a Best of Show Baking ribbon Overmyer won for her Amish Sugar Cookies. Today, Jahns makes Amish Sugar Cookies using her grandmother’s recipe and sells them at Joni’s Boutique in downtown Fremont.
Wide variety on sale at Vicky's Blue Ribbon Cookies
Amish Sugar Cookies are just one of the many varieties of cookies Jahns bakes through her business, Vicky’s Blue Ribbon Cookies, which are sold exclusively at Joni’s Boutique. Other varieties include chocolate chip, M&M, birthday cake, lemon cake batter, peanut butter, Reese’s Pieces and snickerdoodle.
“The Amish Sugar Cookies sell the best,” she said.
Although Jahns has been baking for years, there was a time when she couldn’t get her grandmother’s sugar cookies quite right. The cookies she made tasted like her grandmother’s, but they didn’t have the same soft and chewy texture. Her aunt, Jenny Joseph, had the recipe down pat.
“Last year, I asked my aunt if, for my Christmas present, we could make them together,” Jahns said.
Joseph lives in Overmyer’s former home next-door to Jahns, so Jahns learned to properly make her grandmother’s award-winning sugar cookies in the same kitchen where she so often watched Overmyer bake cookies amongst her dangling county fair ribbons.
“It was nice for us to spend time together there,” Jahns said.
Boutique owner invited young baker to sell her products in store
When Joni Hasselbach asked Jahns to start selling her cookies in her shop, Joni’s Boutique, she helped Jahns propel toward her dream of owning a bakery, a goal she has held since she was a student at Fremont Middle School. Jahns is selling her cookies at the shop, plans to offer online ordering in the near future, and hopes to one day open her own bakery.
“I’ve always loved baking since I was little, and I decided when I was in middle school that I wanted to open a bakery one day. Seven years later, that’s still my dream,” Jahns said. “When Joni opened this shop, she wanted to help women in business, so she asked me if I would sell my cookies here. I’ve been baking my whole life, but I launched my business when Joni opened in October.”
Like her grandmother, Jahns has won awards for her baking.
“I won ribbons for my 4-H cookie projects at the Sandusky County Fair, and I went to the State Fair with my cake decorating,” she said.
And now she has her grandmother’s Amish Sugar Cookie perfected and is winning customers like her grandmother won ribbons.
“I’ve sold hundreds of cookies,” she said. “I always think of my grandmother when I bake them.”
Contact correspondent Sheri Trusty at sheritrusty4@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Meet Your Neighbor: Jahns carries on grandmother's cookies tradition
