Groundhog cookies a Washington tradition
Joe Vucic Jr., owner of Joe’s Bakery in Washington, uses black icing for the eyes of the groundhog-shaped butter cookies.
Joe Vucic Jr., owner of Joe’s Bakery in Washington, rolls dough for groundhog-shaped butter cookies as Ashley Kennedy gets the cookies ready for baking.
Joe Vucic Jr., owner of Joe’s Bakery in Washington, is shown in February 2015 with dozens of groundhog-shaped butter cookies.
Joe Vucic Jr., owner of Joe’s Bakery in Washington, displays a finished groundhog-shaped butter cookie.
Suzie York, now deceased, hosted Groundhog Day parties in Washington every year. She had a collection of groundhog cookie cutters and gave one to Joe's Bakery in the 1990s. It is still in use.
Punxsutawney has its Phil, but Washington has Joe’s. The bakery on North Main Street churns out an army of edible groundhogs each winter, and they sell by the hundreds of dozens.
Joe’s Bakery started selling the woodchuck-shaped butter cookies in the ’90s, and they have become a staple between mid-January and Groundhog Day, which is today.
“We always had a different cookie for each holiday,” said owner Joe Vucic Jr. “I’d take my Christmas cookie dough recipe, and then for Valentine’s Day we’d make hearts, St. Patrick’s Day shamrocks, stars for Memorial Day, eggs for Easter and footballs for football season.”
But if the Steelers weren’t in the playoffs, the bakery had nothing seasonal to sell during the doldrums of winter between Christmas and Valentine’s Day. That is, until a customer brought in a groundhog-shaped cookie cutter.
Some people ask Vucic if it’s a muskrat or squirrel, but the mix-up doesn’t phase him.
“I tell them, ‘It’s a city groundhog. It’s skinny,'” he said.
The cookie cutter has small details and, coupled with the groundhog’s thin neck, can be tricky to use. After the groundhogs emerge from the dough, the tops are coated with water and dipped into confectioners sugar, which Vucic dyes dark brown.
“And when you lift them back up, you have to be careful,” said bakery manager Tracy Calhoun. “because sometimes, if there’s a crack in the neck when you put it on the sheet … his neck breaks off.”
As a finishing touch, a dab of black icing lets the groundhog see his shadow – or not.
Employees have mastered the technique, partly because they sell more than 3,000 groundhog cookies per season. They still use the original cutter, which was a gift from Suzie York, a regular customer who lived in the area. She had it custom-made from a picture she found in a coloring book.
York, now deceased, loved everything groundhog-themed and hosted an annual Groundhog Day party. Her daughter, Mimi York, said her mother would serve up ribs Punxsutawney, snow-capped noodles, “six more weeks of winter” asparagus and a “hint of spring” salad. For dessert, a groundhog cookie from Joe’s Bakery was placed in ice cream, and hot chocolate was strategically drizzled to mark the spot where Phil saw his shadow.
“Groundhog Day was one of my mom’s absolute favorite holidays,” York said. “She loved it because it was in the middle of winter when there were no other holidays nearby, at a time when everyone needs a little sun from cabin fever.”
Vucic said the groundhog cookies have helped him in times of need – especially on Feb. 2. 2007, when he had to close the bakery for two months as he underwent surgery to remove a tumor “as big as an egg” that was pressing against his brain. He said sales from the groundhog cookies helped tide the business over until he recovered.
“Groundhog Day – I like it in a way because it’s brought me a lot of luck,” he said. “It’s brought me money in January when sometimes the weather is bad, business is bad, so it helps my income. But it also throws a little bit of pizzazz out at the people. They say, ‘You gotta go to Joe’s.'”