Flashback Friday: Cookie Book

Visitors to our headquarters line up to view a cookie display 

and get copies of our Cookie Book in 1938.

First introduced in 1928, when  We Energies was known as The Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light Co., the Cookie Book gained great popularity among our customers.

By the early 1930s, scores of holiday bakers took the trolleys to the Public Service Building in downtown Milwaukee to receive the complimentary recipe book, complete with helpful cooking and energy tips. Our Home Service Bureau would arrange displays of cookies, candies and fruitcake, and demonstrate how to use new kitchen appliances, which we sold in our retail store.

In the mid-1960s, winter displays adorned the windows of the Public Service Building to promote the cookie book distribution. The tradition ended in the early 1970s when rising costs led us to promote energy conservation rather than consumption.

The book made a comeback in 1984 and a couple new editions were printed in the 1990s and another in 2002. Since 2006, the book has been printed each year, restoring the annual tradition. Typically distributed in November, the Cookie Book is made available at more than two dozen locations across our service area.

This year, more than 200,000 books were printed. Get distribution details at our website where you also can view previous editions.

Recipes and cookie books