May 19—JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — Richland Township residents Dave Jones and Mona D’Ambrosia are going away to Cookie College this weekend.

The event, hosted by the Wedding Cookie Table Community, is expected to draw approximately 1,200 people on Sunday afternoon to the Hilton Garden Inn Southpointe in Washington County.

Participants will learn about recipes, admire the skills of their fellow cookie enthusiasts, raise funds to benefit the Monongahela Area Historical Society and — of course — snack on plenty of the delicious desserts.

Jones will teach a class on how to make springerles, an intricate embossed cookie that he first discovered when his military career took him to Germany.

He will have participants use Play-Doh to simulate the process of forming the “cookies” in molds. They will then decorate actual cookies that he made in advance.

“One of the things I enjoy most is seeing the joy on people’s faces as they learn these new techniques, and they create something beautiful with their own hands,” said Jones, who also demonstrated at last year’s Cookie College. “It’s incredibly rewarding to be part of an experience and share my love of baking and demonstrating cookies to others.

“People come in and they’re like, ‘I could never do that,’ and then they say, ‘Yes, I can.’ It’s phenomenal.”

D’Ambrosia, owner of Mona’s Unique Boutique, will set up a decorative 36-foot-long cookie table, which have been common at western Pennsylvania weddings for many years.

Jones described D’Ambrosia’s display from the 2023 show as “something that you could have put on at Buckingham Palace. It was that gorgeous.”

Bakers will contribute 120 types of cookies. D’Ambrosia will use some of them to create her table, which will take about six hours to set up on Saturday in advance of the show.

“I think I probably go a little crazy on my tables compared to what most people do,” said D’Ambrosia, who recently had a cookie table design featured on NBC’s “Today” show. “That’s just my style. But there is absolutely no right or wrong way to decorate a cookie table. It’s really a sense of pride of seeing people enjoy what you do.”

D’Ambrosia and Jones actively participate in the Wedding Cookie Table Community group, which encourages members, from beginners to experts, to explore baking.

“It is a very positive group,” D’Ambrosia said. “Actually, there is no intolerance. If someone would happen to voice something that is not appropriate, condemning somebody, they’re gone.”

Both D’Ambrosia and Jones trace their interest in baking to their mothers.

“I remember as a kid when (my mother) would spend hours in the kitchen baking batches of cookies, not just for our family, but other people in the community,” Jones said.

“Maybe they had a loss in their family or there was a fire.

“She would quietly bake these cookies and then just show up at their house and say, ‘Here, this is for you.’

“As a kid, I got to go along with her, which was really cool.

“I got to witness this. And these people were like, ‘You didn’t have to do this.’ and she said, ‘You’re right. I didn’t have to. I wanted to.’

“That taught me that baking is not just about creating delicious treats. It’s about spreading joy and love and kindness through something as simple as a cookie.”

D’Ambrosia said she learned from her mother that baking is “a rite of passage.”

“You pass it along to others just to share love,” she said.