My Story

Born in Israel, I was drawn to the kitchen from the age of 15 – my mom was an excellent cook and baker, and I was intrigued by the enticing aromas always emitting from her kitchen.

I remember asking her to teach me how to make something – anything! - and after browsing through her extensive cookbook collection, she pulled out a recipe for honey cookies, and walked me through how to make them. From that moment I was hooked!

Cookies were followed by a variety of other sweet and savoury dishes, and with every new dish she instilled in me the love of creating magic in the kitchen. Step by step she taught me the fundamental techniques - how to get the right balance of flavours, how to achieve an optimal texture, and of course, how to experiment and have fun! I can still sometimes hear her quietly giving me advice in my ear.

I continued baking and experimenting as I grew older, and when my kids were born, cookies were the one thing I always loved to have on hand  – there’s something comforting about knowing a jar full of cookies is waiting when you need a sweet treat! My boys would take turns requesting the cookie flavour for that week, and give their (always unfiltered!) opinion about what they did or didn’t like.

Oogi is short for Oogiyah – which means cookie in Hebrew. With Oogi, I hope to introduce some of the wonderful flavours from Israel to Auckland, together with a few classics that are my kids’ favourites!

I make sure to only use ingredients that are of the highest quality – New Zealand butter, Whittakers Chocolate, freshly roasted nuts, pure vanilla bean paste; no preservatives, no artificial colourants or flavourants.

I hope you enjoy my cookies as much as I enjoy creating them.