Colleen Thompson, owner of Colleen’s Cookies and Caife Caife, doesn’t shop for holiday presents for her friends and family—and that’s fine with them. “I give them cookies, because if you give them something else, I always get the proverbial, ‘I thought I would get cookies. Where’s the cookies?’” she says. “I have a friend in Tennessee who just randomly calls and says, ‘Send me some cookies,’ and then he hangs up. I’m like, Oo-kay.”
Thompson hails from a line of foodies; her grandmothers were bakers, and her family owns the famed Charco Broiler in Fort Collins, Colo. She and her husband, Mike, moved to St. Louis 19 years ago for his job at Rawlings Sporting Goods Company.
Thompson’s preferred spot is her kitchen at home in Chesterfield, specifically the oversize island where she can spread out all her ingredients—and where there’s plenty of room for guests. Here, Leigh Harris, Cecilia Mathlcuatzi, and Katie Fleming help out.
“That is part of the fun of it, just having everyone there, being part of the creation process, even if it is just stirring and chatting and having a glass of wine,” she says. “Since I don’t have any family here, having your friends in there participating with you makes it a little like home.”
