Women's Guild Bake Sale Benefits OLG

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Most people know how to bake chocolate chip cookies in their kitchen. So it’s the “hard stuff to make” that the ladies of the Women’s Guild spent all day baking to help raise money for the parish and school.

“They don’t want the chocolate chips,” said guild member Dee Calabria, whose cream filling recipe for the homemade lady locks is all the rage. “They want the hard stuff to make. They can do the chocolate chip cookies at home.”

Christmas carols played in the background all day Monday as about a dozen women crammed into the kitchen while wrapping dough around clothespins to make the lady locks. A few steps away in the school cafeteria, another dozen women made pizzelles and other baked goods.

“This is a very active parish, I’ll tell ya,” said Norma Yorke, a member of the guild for 50 years, as she poured batter into the griddle.

In all the women’s guild baked 1,440 of both the lady locks and pizzelles over a 12-hour period at the church. They’ll sell all of them and more during a fundraising bake sale on Dec. 10 and 11 in Keefer Hall below the church. Parishioners can also donate their own baked goods to benefit the church.

“The bake sale makes quite a bit of money for the parish,” member Betty Durr said. “People love the lady locks. They’re the favorites and very work intensive, so we make them for (the parishioners).”

The bake sale has been happening for years, but it was 1998 when the ladies decided to join together to plan an all-day baking session. Bobbie Kelly, who has been a member for 30 years, said they used to bake apple pies after Thanksgiving and sell them for the bake sale. But the baked items they now make are much harder, although it’s not as obvious for those who are on the receiving end of the sugary treats.

“It’s a lot of work,” Kelly said. “I wanted them to see how much work goes into it.”

They now have a lot of fun gabbing, but also learn a few recipes in the assembly line-style production process.

“People come out for it,” said Erin King, alluding to some women who want to learn new dessert recipes. “I think people come in just to see how they’re made.”