Actress has local cookies delivered to LA
Allison Janney shares themwith her TVcrew.
One thing is for certain, Hollywood actress Allison Janney has great taste in cookies and roles.
The Hollywood A-lister and through-and-through Daytonian is a big fan of the sand tartsmade at Ashley’s Pastry Shop in Oakwood.
Janney was in Dayton at the end of September for her induction into the Dayton Walk of Fame.
She told us that she treats her crew on the CBS sitcom “Mom” to her favorite cookies, Ashley’s sand tarts.
“For a wh i l e , they thought that I had baked them. I say ‘no, they are from my favorite bakery in Dayton, Ohio,’ ” the Oakwood-raised star said. “They are absolutely delicious. They are like a delicious snickerdoodle with a meringue on top. They are soft and moist and chewy and so good. My mother used to have them in the house when I was growing up. They remind me of my childhood.”
Theresa Hammons of Ashley’s said sand tarts were an Oakwood favorite when she and her husband, Greg, opened Ashley’s at 21 Park Ave. 35 years ago.
Ashley’s building was constructed 90 years ago.
“There’s always been a bakery in this location,” Hammons said, noting that the location had housed Oakwood Bakery and Ross Bakery before.
Customers insisted that they make sand tarts like their predecessors.
“Youwould have thought we weren’t making white bread,” Hammonsrecalled. “People were up in arms.”
With ingredients that include honey, ginger, cinnamon and brown sugar, sand tart as Janney explained are topped with meringue and more cinnamon.
The cookies are 75 cents each or $9.95 per dozen.
Hammons said generations of Oakwood kids grewup eating them.
Hammons said she and her family and staff are happy to be able to help people reconnect to parts of their lives.
“We ship them all over the country,” she said. “They want a piece of home.”
Well-known for her role of Dayton native C.J. Cregg on the TV drama “West Wing,” Janney has had roles in the movies “The Help,” “Drop Dead Gorgeous,” “Hairspray,” “American Beauty,” “The Girl on the Train,” “The Hours,” “Finding Nemo,” “Big Night” and “Juno.”