Po-tay-to, Po-tah-to, Ya-may-to, Ya-mah-to
At The Table With: Tiffany Lewis—Founder, Owner and Chief Cookie Officer at Cookies With Tiffany
Name: Tiffany Lewis
Instagram Profile: cookieswithtiffany
Favorite Sur La Table items: KitchenAid® Stand Mixer, Bench Scraper, Fish Spatula and Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Bean Paste!
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“We’re not just selling cookies, we’re selling joy. We’re selling cheer and we’re also bringing people together. We’re forming a community. How rewarding is it that I get to do that?”
That’s how professional baker, cookie connoisseur and former Sur La Table culinary instructor, Tiffany Lewis, describes her company’s mission.
In 2010, Tiffany left her job in the corporate world and headed to California, where she studied at the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Pasadena.
After a stint working with celebrity chefs like Curtis Stone and Giada De Laurentiis, serving as the Culinary Director for the critically acclaimed Newport Beach Wine and Food Festival and the Pacific
Wine and Food Classic, starting her cooking blog, The Table Together, teaching cooking classes at Sur La Table Corona Del Mar store (for over 3 years) and later, working as a sales associate in the Pike Place Market location, and then losing her job as COO of a local culinary company due to the Pandemic in 2020, Lewis decided it was time to pursue her passion.
“Being told to separate and socially distance ourselves from one another, was the exact moment I realized what needed to be done.”
What started as a way to connect with coworkers at a new job relocation to Ohio in the middle of winter in 2008 has since turned into a way of life for Lewis. Cookies with Tiffany, started in August 2020, quickly took the city and nation by storm shipping cookies both near and far in an effort to bring people (safely) together. All through the nostalgia of a cookie.
Since then, Cookies with Tiffany has shipped cookies to every state nationwide, opened their first brick-and-mortar bakeshop in 2022–aptly named Cookies With Tiffany–in the heart of Seattle’s Madrona neighborhood, has appeared on numerous shows like New Day NW, Seattle Refined and Fox Studio 13 and even just finished their second season at T-Mobile Park for every Mariner’s game.
“Baking (cookies) on lonely weekends after a job transfer to Ohio helped me build my new community. I started this idea of ‘cookies for a handshake’ where I sent out an email to my entire team offering a cookie in exchange for an introduction. It’s amazing what happens when you offer someone a cookie. The smile, the pure joy that radiates, the immediate connection.
This experience is what led me to leave my job in corporate marketing for culinary school and officially pursue my mission of bringing people around the table together through food.”
In fact, the idea of “bringing people around the table together through food,” is not only at the core of every one of Tiffany’s cookie recipes, but of herself, as well.
“The very idea of gathering, with food at the center, was the founding principal of both culinary ventures. From there, classic dishes like roast chicken, casseroles, a version of my now, famous chocolate chip cookie, and of course, my mom’s famous Key Lime Pie, were made and shared around a table that comfortably sat up to 20.
Food and coming together has always been at the forefront of our home. The idea of pulling up another chair and welcoming all in is always at the core of what I do.”
Tiffany’s love of sharing a meal with others is something she’s carried with her since childhood. In fact, she keeps family at the forefront of everything she does.
“Our family ate dinner together every night after school. Growing up in the kitchen and around the table with my family taught me the importance of community and the connection we all deeply valued around a shared meal, together. This is the genuine reason I named my cooking blog The Table Together, to pay tribute to my family memories and bring this feeling of connection to others through food.”
And it’s that feeling of connection that is the secret ingredient Tiffany bakes into each and every one of her cookies.
“Our mission says it best—spreading joy and cheer through the nostalgia of a cookie. Our goal is to spread joy one cookie at a time. We are so grateful for the community we have grown, regularly receiving validation from customers walking through the door, posting on social media, or appearances on local Fox Studio 13, that we are truly living out our mission of spreading joy through the nostalgia of a cookie.”
Nowadays, Tiffany’s cookies do more than spread joy and cheer. In fact, they might just be the hardest working cookies around.
After her mom was diagnosed with—and successfully treated for—early-stage breast cancer at Seattle’s own Swedish Cancer Institute, Tiffany knew
her cookies could do more than bring a smile to people’s faces. They might even help save a few lives.
“Personally, this cause is close to my heart as my mom was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer through her annual screening and was successfully treated at Swedish.
Our mission is to use the comfort and nostalgia of a cookie to start conversations about the life-saving importance of screening for our moms, sisters, aunts, uncles, friends and daughters.”
For Breast Cancer Awareness month, 100% of proceeds from their Pink cookie – sold locally in Seattle – go directly to supporting Swedish’s mobile mammography program. These units travel to underserved communities across Washington and are key to helping detect and treat breast cancer early, which, as Lewis tells us, made all the difference when it came to her mom’s diagnosis. Following October and Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Tiffany is dedicated to continuing her partnership with Swedish on an ongoing basis through donating a percentage of every seasonal cookie sold every month.
“Swedish’s efforts to bring these mobile units into neighborhoods and communities that may not have the access, means or time for screening are breaking down these barriers and making screening possible.
Early screening does save lives, as it did for my mom, and I fully support this cause!”
Hungry for more? You can help Tiffany support this cause—and enjoy a decadent, gooey treat—by ordering your own box of cookies delivered right to your door!
Or, if you’re in the Seattle area, you can get a taste of Tiffany’s cookies-with-a-mission by popping into her Madrona bakeshop, at her weekly downtown Seattle pop-up in the US Bank building (Tuesday and Wednesdays) or at one of Seattle’s many farmers markets, including Ballard, Mercer Island and Issaquah! For all her weekly and monthly whereabouts, make sure you subscribe to her newsletter, The Crumb.
Plus, check out her food blog, The Table Together, where she shares recipes, cooking and entertaining tips and tricks she’s learned along the way.
*Photo Credit (in order, from top): Jenna Fernandez, Theodora Teodosiadis, Jenna Fernandez, Jocelyn R.C., Jenna Fernandez
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