Chicago’s Tiniest Bakery Is Attached To A Tree In Bucktown — And Full Of Free Cookies 9%
By Quinn Myers28%
8/3/2026, 5:55:27 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 20 faulty reasoning types, including Confirmation Bias, Availability Heuristic, and Pessimism Bias, with Optimism Bias as the most egregious example at 8.3% saturation with 107 hits. Analysis detected 774 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,283 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 20.5% and a BS Rank of 9% (24,004 of 26,282 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 91.30% of the article peer group.
BUCKTOWN — Hours after Liz Tierney installed what appeared to be a Little Free Library on her block last month, someone, naturally, placed a few used books inside.
But the small wooden box, which Tierney and her partner affixed to a catalpa tree near their home, isn’t meant to store dog-eared paperbacks or self-help guides.
Instead, it’s a public repository for Tierney’s confectionary creations, which she stocks with cookies every Saturday and Sunday for neighbors walking down the 2000 block of West Churchill Street to enjoy.
Since launching the bakehouse ahead of July’s Bucktown Garden Walk , Tierney has offered a range of rotating flavors, from sprinkle cookies to chocolate chip to a pecan, toffee and oat recipe.
She’s now baking around 100 cookies every weekend, which have unsurprisingly become a big hit: they typically run out after a few hours of eager passersby scooping them up.
And the best part?
The cookies — only one per person, please — are completely free.
“My hope was that people would walk by our street on the way to other places and come across this little joyful, whimsical library of cookies — not a library, a bakehouse — and be charmed by it,” Tierney said in an interview last week.
“And it would bring them a smile, and it would bring them joy, and of course, the cookies would be free.”
Batch Bakehouse creator Liz Tierney on July 30, 2026.
Credit: Quinn Myers/Block Club Chicago
For Tierney, 43, baking is a multi-generational family tradition that was passed down from her grandmother, who herself was a professional baker.
As a kid, Tierney particularly loved Martha Stewart, whose shows and recipes proved to be a big influence on her.
“I used to wake up on Sunday mornings and watch the Martha Stewart show, and then look through her magazines.
I had all of her cookbooks, and so I was baking when I was 10, cakes and all kinds of different things,” she said.
“Everybody always said, ‘that’s what you should do for a living,’ and it just didn’t seem like a feasible opportunity.”
After college, Tierney pursued a career in advertising, but she kept baking for friends and parties.
She’s lived in Bucktown since 2012 and has often brought cookies to neighbors as a way to make connections or support them during tough times.
For years, she kept hearing the same thing from family and friends who loved her baked goods.
“People were always like, ‘You should do something with this,'” she said.
An opportunity to bake more presented itself in 2024, when Tierney was laid off from her job at a B2B publication.
She suddenly had a lot of time on her hands, and soon came up with the idea of installing a free community bakehouse near her home.
After a false start last summer, Tierney knew she wanted to make it happen this year.
The annual Bucktown Garden Walk, which sees thousands of people strolling around the neighborhood every July, seemed like the perfect time to go for it.
“I’ve always wanted to do this.
I obviously now, without a job, have more time on my hands, and things are bleak in the world,” she said.
“And with the garden walk coming up, I had this idea.
I said to my partner: “What if we made a little library, but put cookies in it?”
Liz Tierney tapes up a menu for her Batch Bakehouse, which she stocks with free cookies every weekend.
Credit: Quinn Myers/Block Club Chicago
After that, the little free bakery — which Tierney has dubbed Batch Bakehouse — came together quickly.
She ordered the physical “library” online, added a fresh coat of paint and letters and attached it to a catalpa tree about midway down Churchill Street between Hoyne and Damen avenues.
The cookies proved to be an immediate hit with neighbors and Tierney soon fell into a weekly rhythm.
Every Thursday, she announces a menu of cookies for the weekend with a handwritten sign on the bakehouse and an Instagram post.
Then at 11 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday, Tierney stocks the bakehouse with anywhere from 40 to 60 cookies, all of which she bakes fresh that same morning.
Her only real guideline has been asking people to take just one cookie at a time, on the honor system.
So far, most neighbors have been good sports about it.
This past weekend was Tierney’s fourth cookie drop of the summer.
Each one is labeled with its ingredients and a notice that it was produced in a home kitchen that’s not subject to a public health inspection.
And while she’s reused a few favorite recipes, Tierney is trying to bring in new flavors as much as possible.
“The sprinkles are a repeat because I had a couple people tell me that they missed it, but they really wanted it,” she said.
“So I’m repeating classics and favorites, but in general, I’m trying to keep it fresh and new.”
Liz Tierney’s cookies in the Batch Bakehouse on July 30, 2026.
Credit: Quinn Myers/Block Club Chicago
The Batch Bakehouse on the 2000 block of West Churchill Street in Bucktown on July 30, 2026.
Credit: Quinn Myers/Block Club Chicago
Giving away the cookies isn’t the only endeavor Tierney has launched over the past month.
She’s currently in the process of registering the operation through the city so she can sell cookies baked in her home kitchen, ideally for parties or other get-togethers.
Her initial menu offers most options for $36 per dozen, with some specialty flavors going for $40.
Tierney said her goal with the “for sale” portion of the project isn’t to become a full-fledged business.
Instead, she just wants to break even so she can continue to afford all the sugar, flour and butter that her free cookie library demands.
“I would love to be able to bake enough cookies for people who need them for classes, their kids’ class or a work event or a party they’re having, whatever it is, that I can do the bakehouse and keep it free,” Tierney said.
“Obviously, it’s not sustainable to bake 100 cookies every week for your neighbors in perpetuity.
I would love to live in that world, but it’s just not feasible.”
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So, how long can Tierney keep this going?
Right now, she’s committed to the weekly schedule through at least the fall.
After that, the operation may become a bit more sporadic, although Tierney said she’d like to do cookie drops around Hanukkah, Christmas and other holidays.
“Then maybe take some time off when it’s negative-10 and no one’s walking by,” Tierney said.
“Or [I’ll] surprise people, because we still have to walk our dogs.”
Something keeping Tierney motivated has been the overwhelmingly positive response her cookies have received.
One kid even left a thank you note with a hand-drawn smiley face that’s now taped up in her kitchen.
The cookies are a simple “analog” way for Tierney to connect with her neighbors, and for neighbors to connect with each other, she said — an increasingly rare and valuable exchange in a world dominated by screens and social media.
“I just wanted people to experience joy, and that is, I think, what we’ve accomplished with the bakehouse,” Tierney said.
“It makes me really happy.”
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