Every Saturday and Sunday at 11 a.m., a wooden box mounted on a catalpa tree outside Liz Tierney's Bucktown home fills with roughly 100 homemade cookies, and they are usually gone within five minutes. Neighbors sometimes form lines down the street waiting for a taste, drawn by chocolate chip and sprinkle cookies that Tierney bakes and hands out for free.
Tierney, who lives in Chicago's Bucktown neighborhood, decided to start making homemade cookies for her community after being laid off from her job, according to NBC Chicago. She had baked since she was young, watching Martha Stewart's show every Sunday morning, and had already been baking cookies for clients at meetings and trade shows before turning her attention to her own block. She began placing her cookies in Little Free Libraries near her home, and the effort eventually grew into her tree-mounted bakehouse box, which she now promotes on Instagram under the handle Batch Cookie Co.
The box itself has an origin story that predates the cookies. As Block Club Chicago reported, Tierney installed the wooden bakehouse structure on the catalpa tree outside her home in July 2026, and neighbors initially mistook it for a standard book exchange, dropping off used books before her weekend cookie drops began. The station's report also noted that the box is monitored by security cameras and that Tierney individually seals each cookie in plastic packaging to keep the baked goods protected from outdoor pests.
Neighbors Say the Cookies Built Real Community
For the people living around Tierney's block, the giveaways have become more than a sweet treat. Neighbor Dalia Schreiber said the cookie giveaways brought the community together and added that neighbors are proud of Liz. Another neighbor, Gary Sullivan, said the cookie giveaways are a charming and positive influence on the community.
Tierney said she has noticed the shift herself, now greeting people on walks whom she previously did not know. She said she is meeting neighbors she had never spoken to before and connecting with people more deeply than she expected when she started. Bringing joy through a cookie, she said, is a beautiful thing.
How Chicago Regulates Home-Baked Treats
Home baking operations like Tierney's fall under Illinois' cottage food rules. Under the state's Home-to-Market Act, Public Act 102-0633, cottage food regulations permit home-based bakers to sell non-potentially hazardous baked goods directly to consumers with no annual revenue cap, according to Illinois Extension. Operators based within Chicago city limits must register directly with the Chicago Department of Public Health and earn a Certified Food Protection Manager credential, rather than registering through Cook County's suburban health department.
State rules also require packaged home-baked items distributed to the public to carry detailed labels listing ingredients and allergens, along with a disclaimer noting the food was prepared in a home kitchen not subject to public health inspection, per the Illinois Department of Public Health. Public health guidance on outdoor food-sharing setups, published by Nonprofit Quarterly, similarly cautions that sealed packaging and regular monitoring are needed to protect items left outdoors from temperature swings and environmental exposure.
Part of a Bigger, Nationwide Trend
Tierney's bakehouse box fits into a broader movement of neighbors converting outdoor book-sharing structures into food-sharing ones. The concept of turning Little Free Libraries into Little Free Pantries or Little Free Bakeries began in Arkansas in May 2016 and has since spread to all 50 states as a neighborhood mutual-aid model, according to Family Handyman.
In Bucktown, a historic and highly walkable Northwest Side neighborhood known for its tree-lined residential streets and commercial corridors along Damen and Milwaukee avenues, that model has translated into an unlikely Saturday morning ritual. Tierney said the positive energy she gets back from the giveaways feels like it comes back to her tenfold, and that she has simply chosen to put something positive into the world.
