Illegal Sweets, An Anonymous Baker’s Story

It is a real thing that home baking is illegal in Kentucky, and if found out you will be shut down by the health department. If you do not comply they will fine you. In some states like Wisconsin, they will put you in jail. Who knew cookies could be illegal contraband?

Today we feature the story of a lady who has wished to remain anonymous. This is her story in her own words.

“In 2015 our daughter was diagnosed with Autism; she was non-verbal, non-responsive to basic early intervention, and communicating at the level of a 9-month-old. We live in Kentucky where most families of children with Autism must choose between living in poverty so they can get access to Medicaid, or do whatever it takes to come up with the cash for the therapies their children need. The only therapy center we found came at a cost of over $31,000 for the year. Even with the generosity of friends and family and two full-time jobs we weren’t going to be able to make it.

Around that same time I made my first set of custom decorated cookies for my daughter’s birthday (a talent I had previously only shared with my sister) and posted them on Instagram. I had an inbox full of requests to purchase cookies within a few days. The rest is basically history but by the grace of God I made the rest of the money we needed for that tuition!

Fast forward to today; I am still working my normal 9-5 job but I also take a few custom cookie orders each month and crank out as many as I can during popular holidays. In June I did my first wedding order of over 200 cookies. That order alone paid for a full month of Speech therapy. The beauty of being a home-based baker is that I can be working at something I love and still be available to drop everything to tend to my family. Im not trying to make a million dollars selling cookies out of my kitchen; I just want to be allowed to work all day and turn around and work half the night while my girls are sleeping if I so choose. A Cottage Food Law in Kentucky would afford many of us the opportunity to bridge an income gap when and where we need it most. We are talented, smart, creative, driven citizens of the commonwealth who are WILLING TO WORK. All we are asking is for it to become legal to make WORK out of what we love.”

By: Anonymous Home Baker from Kentucky

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