Cookies are one of those foods fraught with nostalgia--few people can think of freshly baked cookies without sweet memories of the mom, dad, grandma, or neighbor who baked them. And that is the idea behind Bainbridge Island-based My Kids' Cookies, a retail bakery run by Barbara Reininger, who, according to their website,

began baking these fabulous cookies when her children were young. Having a love of chocolate chip cookies, but not able to eat them all, she began to give them away to friends. Her children wanted to share with their friends too, so they created the cookie raffle. They'd pick a friends name and off they'd go to deliver ‘just because’ cookies. More than one of the happy beneficiaries suggested that Barbara begin selling her cookies and the rest is My Kids' Cookies history. Barbara used to bake cookies to get her kids to do their homework. Now she's baking cookies to pay for college.

But not only is the story sweet--so are the cookies. Since they opened in 2007, they have branched out from the chocolate chip, peanut butter and oatmeal varieties to offer a number of other delicious cookies and sweets as well: milk chocolate peanut butter delights and gorgeous slabs of buttery shortbread, as well as some non-cookie goods like brownies, pumpkin muffins and cupcakes--many of which can also be shipped nationwide.

Perhaps the best thing about My Kids' Cookies is that while they have grown, they've still remained very true to their humble beginnings: simple, unfussy, but very good treats that would taste just as good today as they would have after school when you were little. Oh, and they've maintained a great sense of humor, too.

My Kids' Cookies retail bakery is located at 9723 Coppertop Loop NE, #202, Bainbridge Island, WA; a variety of their baked goods can be shipped and are available for purchase online at mykidscookies.com; if you want yet more, you can keep in contact via their blog, Facebook, or Twitter.