The secret recipe of St. Lawrence University’s pub cookie, and its enlarged size connects students and alumni of all ages. With finals week around the corner, pub cookies will be in high demand to satisfy each student’s late-night cravings.
For Katie Reid ’22, the experience of eating a pub cookie is incomparable to any other treat. “It shoots you into this realm of like nothing before,” she says with a smile. Reid says that they told her that if the tour alone had not convinced her to come, then the pub cookie certainly would.
Assistant Director of Admissions Chris Felix believes that indulging in a pub cookie elicits a feeling of nostalgia. “Everyone’s grandmas made chocolate chip cookies, and we want St. Lawrence to feel like home, so there’s no better way to do that,” he says. As a graduate of St. Lawrence University himself, Felix always keeps at least five cookies in his freezer for when his friends from school come to visit. “It’s one of those traditions, like the candlelight ceremony,” he says.
St. Lawrence University’s Visitation Coordinator Darlene Gonyeau says that each time a student prospect comes back from their tours they are given a pub cookie. “They look at it as a nice token. It’s been a tradition for years,” she says. Gonyeau is in charge of placing the cookie order every day at admissions. “On an average we order 30 cookies each day. On the busy weeks, when students are off on vacation, we probably order about 120 cookies,” she states.
Tali Makovsky ’21 loves how unique the pub cookie is to St. Lawrence. “They have their own recipe that they keep a secret,” she says. Makovsky’s boyfriend, a graduate of St. Lawrence who currently works with alumni, always asks her to bring cookies for them. “It’s a big legacy for those cookies up here,” she says.
Northstar Café worker Wendy doesn’t really understand why people obsess over the chocolatey goodness but still understands its importance. “It’s just a regular chocolate chip cookie. Maybe it’s the size that makes it special,” she says.
Some scoff at the size of the cookie, but Makovsky believes that it’s part of the beauty. “They represent the American idea of consumerism. The bigger the better,” she says with a laugh. Although the original creator of the pub cookie, Linda Dixson has retired, Gonyea says that St. Lawrence’s bakers make them fresh each Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and have
been trying to get the Dixson’s original consistency right again.
Maggie Green ’22 looks forward to the pub cookie weekly. “It’s my once a week special,” she states. Green can hardly wait for her first pub cookie of the fall semester. Reid says that although this cookie is simple it has so much more meaning than that. “It’s what defines St. Lawrence for me,” she says.