Mrs Hanes Moravian Cookie Bakery

Growing up five minutes away from this bakery, I never realized how special it was. Light, crispy, spicy ginger cookies made by hand right here since the 1960’s. The BEST! The ginger are my favorite, but I also really love the lemon and sugar. Now that we live out of town I try to stop by whenever we’re home. I brought some back for friends in Memphis, and they loved them, too. Definitely check Mrs Hanes out if you’re nearby!

This must see hidden treasure is located way out in the country in the town of Clemmons NC. You will enjoy the drive there. The cookies are still made by hand and there is a huge viewing window into the factory. Flavors include ginger, lemon, butterscotch, chocolate and some amazing black walnut ones. They are paper thin and literally melty in your mouth. Be sure to ask if any bags of «seconds» are available that day, irregularly shaped or broken cookies at a reduced price. Be warned… you can’t stop at eating one or even ten! Try to know what you want before you walk up to the counter. Yes you can order these online or even purchase them in some stores, but fresh from the factory can’t be beat!

Do I remember coming here as a kid? Did I used to be a Goat? How did I know that a Moravian Cookie Bakery was here? Opened in the 1960’s they told me!
This place is further out in the country than it looks on the Map! I saw Cows in a field! The area looks more Rural Residential and I would not have expected to find a Giant Bakery out here!
Huge! Quite and Operation! Open Kitchen allows you to watch and photograph (I did both) (from behind Glass of course) as the cutters (called «Artists» here) scrape their working boards, spread flour, roll the dough (I was shocked at the minimal amount of rolling — I guess not to «overwork» the dough), then with a Cookie Cutter, cut one-​at-​a-​time each cookie and place on the cookie sheet for baking!
Knowing my Girlfriend likes these more than a little I’m getting a tube of which Flavor? Lemon, Gingerbread, Walnut, Sugar, Butterscotch or Chocolate? I tasted all of them! Chocolate!

This is such a cool place. We picked up a brochure in our hotel, and made this a stop — something to do while killing time until the next BBQ gorging.
We got a little personalized tour — watched ladies roll out the dough and cut cookies, all by hand. The dough has to be rolled out very thin, and the cookies are baked for 10 or 11 minutes, resulting in nice, thin, crispy wafers. They mix dough in 500 – 700 pound increments, and it can be stored as long as a week, depending on the dough. Available in 6 delicious flavors, they have a special place in my heart for having black walnut flavor. Since black walnuts aren’t native to this area, nor are they native to Moravia, I don’t know where they would have come from, but they are awesome. And probably something most Americans have no taste for. BTW — the chocolate are also really really good.
Everyone is super friendly — they pulled someone off the hand production line to show us around on a Tuesday morning, and you can buy their wares in the little lobby area — you probably aren’t going to leave without some.

Unique bakery making Moravian cookies. These cookies were featured in Oprah’s top things of 2010 list. Fresh samples right out of the oven.