Did you know that North Carolina has 62 state symbols? What if we made it 63 by having a state cookie? What cookie you might ask? Mrs. Hanes’ Moravian cookie of course!

The Foltz family came to North Carolina around 1753 from Eastern Europe, where they settled on a plot of land now known as Clemmons. They were Protestant Moravians who made the traditional Moravian cookie, a super thin, crisp, delightful cookie that melts in your mouth! Bertha Foltz and her daughter, Evva made cookies together on a wood stove each year around Christmas time, to bring in more money for the family. In 1960, Evva Foltz Hanes took over the cookie-making business for her mother, when her mother could no longer continue making the cookies herself. The business continued to grow into what is now a cookie-making factory in Clemmons, North Carolina. 

The factory employs anywhere from 50 to 100 people throughout the year depending on the seasons. The “Artist in Aprons”, as Mrs. Evva lovingly called them, rolls the dough into a one-eighth-of-inch layer before cutting them into different shapes. Each cookie is rolled and cut by hand, just as Evva and her mother did so many years ago. The flavors however have expanded from simply the ginger snap to now, sugar, chocolate, butterscotch, lemon, and black walnut, the cookies are all still the traditional one-eighth of an inch thin, rolled by hand, and baked with the same love as the original ginger snap. Mrs. Hanes’ cookie is so beloved it was even featured as one of Oprah Winfrey’s favorite things! 

Evva has passed on the business to her children, grandchildren, and eventually to her great-grandchildren, making the “Artist in Aprons” part of a ninth-generation family business that has sustained very little change over the past 200 years. The bakers make approximately ten million cookies by hand in a given year, shipping them to all fifty states and even internationally, bringing money back to the local economy in Clemmons, North Carolina. They began guided tours of the factory in 1990 to teach children from the local schools about the history of the Moravian settlers and the cookies they brought with them. The tours and factory now bring in over 6,000 people a year to Clemmons to learn about the rich history of the local community and state. 

As you can see Mrs. Hanes’ thin Moravian-style cookies are a great asset in maintaining our state's economy, history, and culture. This is why the traditional Moravian Cookie brought over from Eastern Europe over 200 years ago by the Foltz family, is still baked today, and should be our new state cookie! Not to mention it sure is tasty! 

Sincerely,

Mrs. Liz Clodfelter’s Fourth Grade Class

Friedberg Elementary School

Davidson County, North Carolina