It all started with an oatmeal cookie — big batches of them, to be exact. In the 1970s, Eleni's mom, Jeanie, would bake her famous recipe for all the kids in their northern California neighborhood. Little did Eleni know that, decades later, those cookies would lead her out of the New York corporate world and into baking bliss. She dedicated herself to perfecting her mom's recipe and sold the cult cookies out of her apartment. New Yorkers being New Yorkers, they demanded more. So she opened a bakery in the then-brand-new Chelsea Market and became famous for her whimsical, hand-iced designs — quickly dubbed “conversation cookies.”

Today, in addition to her dazzling designs, Eleni revisits her childhood with a line of classic cookies made from the best, all-natural ingredients that draw big kids from blocks away.