The aroma of fresh-baked cookies hovered like a sweetened halo in the main hall at Immaculate Conception Church in Denham Springs on a recent March morning.
Meanwhile, a small army of more than 70 volunteers bustled between the hall and kitchen, turning more than 250 pounds of flour, 250 pounds of sugar, 100 pounds of confectioners’ sugar and 20 pounds of brown sugar into more than 1,000 fig cookies that will be part of the church’s St. Joseph’s altar.
A process that began at 7 a.m. on March 3 was wrapping up by early afternoon, the cookies baked, stored in cans and placed in a cool environment, waiting to be displayed on the altar in the Main Hall.
Overseeing the controlled chaos was Rosie Moak, diminutive in statue but big in heart with a great love for St. Joseph. For the past 12 years she has directed the process, from the baking of the cookies, culling old previous recipes that she has turned into a large St. Joseph’s Altar cookbook; to determining which ones will be iced…