The history of the We Energies Cookie Book
Pecan fingers, snickerdoodles, butterscotch bars and more.
Wisconsin residents have been making Christmas treats published in the annual We Energies Cookie Book for nearly a hundred years.
Every year, the company compiles recipes submitted by residents in a book celebrating themes like military service and hometown favorites.
Picking up a copy of the book has become a Christmas tradition in many Wisconsin households. Some longtime Wisconsinites collect copies for years, passing them down through generations.
The We Energies Cookie Book was introduced in 1928, back when the company was known as the Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light Co.
The book was sent to customers to promote the company’s appliances. Through the 1930s, the book grew in popularity and was distributed at the Public Service Building in downtown Milwaukee.
The book has gone through temporary changes over the years. During World War II, the 1942 edition had 14 recipes for wartime cookies, featuring cookie low in shortening and sugar to accommodate for rationing ingredients during the war.
After the 1973 book, the company stopped publishing the book until 1984 due to rising energy costs. The book was published in 1991, 1998, 2002 and restored to its annual printing tradition in 2006. You can find each cookie book digitally archived at we-energies.com/recipes/archive.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: The history of the Wisconsin We Energies Cookie Book
