Crazy Pleasures
The best commercially baked Italian cookies that I have ever tasted anywhere, bar none, were purchased at the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Italian Festival over these past several summers. Joyce's Cookies operated a huge stand at the festival that was usually mobbed by people with fists full of money lined up to buy these wonderful confections. They weren't cheap, and neither were the ingredients. You could tell by the flavor and texture that no corners were cut in baking these outstanding cookies. I am cookie freak at Christmas time. This year I told my wife, instead of getting our cookies at the place we normally patronize (good, but not great), we should buy some Joyce's Cookies instead. The hunt was on. The only thing I knew about Joyce's Cookies was that it was based in McKees Rocks, PA. This is an old mill town along the Ohio River, about 5 miles from Pittsburgh. You get to it by taking PA Route 51 off of I 79. It is the back way into Pittsburgh. I call