LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Elizabeth Kizito has owned Kizito Cookies in the Highlands neighborhood of Louisville since 1989. Kizito said she uses the best ingredients to bake her cookies and other treats, but the story behind them makes them extra sweet.

“They are homemade. I put all the best ingredients in my cookies. I use real butter and real eggs, and I put a lot of love in it,” Kizito told Spectrum News 1 while making a batch of chocolate chip cookies.

Her cookies are mixed with a lot of history, too, which makes them even more flavorful.

“Because in Africa, my father had a bakery in Uganda, but he didn’t make cookies,” Kizito said. “And when somebody gave me some cookies, I fall in love with cookies, and I just had to make them for myself so I can have as many chocolate chips as I can eat!”

Some of the kitchen tools at her business are old, such as a commercial mixer that Kizito said was previously used in a school for almost 40 years. She added that Kizito Cookies purchased it 27 years ago. However, that’s still more modern compared to how Kizito baked growing up without an oven.

In 1975, Kizito came to the U.S. for college and eventually ended up a single mother in Louisville after a divorce. She was waiting tables and had no plans to start a business, but her customers helped change that.

“And I got encouragement from the customers. They say, ‘We like cookies,' and I said, 'Maybe I just sell my cookies on the street like people in Africa vend a lot of food on the street,'” Kizito said.

She sold her cookies in downtown Louisville, at offices and events, which were so popular that Kizito earned a nickname.

“And I have a big line and I sell my cookies, and I go somewhere else and they say, ‘Cookie Lady is here,’“ Kizito recalled.

One of the customers Kizito waited on works with her today, her husband Todd Bartlett. 

“So I heard her before I saw her, and I thought, ‘She sounds like an interesting person,’" Bartlett remembered.

Around the time they got married is when they opened Kizito Cookies in 1989.

“She was just tired of waiting tables, so that’s when she just sort of did it,” Bartlett said. “I never figured it was going to last more than a few months maybe, and it’s 33 or 35 years later or something like that, I lose track,” Bartlett laughed.

Kizito said their business makes at least 3,000 cookies a day, along with other sweet treats like biscotti and brownies. 

The baked goods are sold to customers in her shop and online. 

“She’s got an outgoing sunny personality, and I think it shows up in the work that she does. We just love the taste of everything. The ingredients are good,” said Louisville resident Gary Morris, who said he has been a customer for ten years. 

The cookies are also enjoyed by customers who set foot in other locations, such as Walgreens, Paul’s Fruit Market in Louisville and at Louisville Bats games, to name a few.

The business is Kizito Cookies, but Kizito calls this her American Dream. To get to this point, she credits home.

“Oh hardworking because my father always hardworking,” Kizito said. 

Kizito also likes to share her culture with customers by selling handicrafts she imports, such as baskets from Uganda. There are also a wide variety of items from other countries in Africa, from jewelry to masks, that are sold.

Kizito Cookies is located at 1398 Bardstown Road in Louisville, Ky. For store hours or online ordering, visit the website.