Made In Chicago: Lady Di's Bakery
CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- 20 years ago, Diane Devroe was going through a divorce.
She had three children -- 14, 11 and 6. And at one point, her checking account was almost empty.
"I had two dollars and 40 cents left in the bank."
But she knew how to bake. So, she made cakes and cookies. And worked a lot.
"My hours at that point were from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m."
She says she slept three hours a day.
"I cried countless -- oh, I cried so much. And I really just felt guilty because I was a hands-on mom before that, and I just felt like I wasn't giving my kids the proper attention that I should have."
But her kids helped. And now one of her sons has teamed up with her to run the business, Lady Di's Bakery, which specializes in butter cookies: the kind the Public School lunchroom ladies used to make.
"Mine's the lunchroom cookie, the real deal. And that's what people tell me when they get them. They say, 'Oh, it takes me back to grammar school. It takes me back to high school.' And everybody goes to telling a story," Devroe said.
"And there's just such an awesome taste to this cookie. There's no way you're not going to like it," she added.
The cookies are made in four shades: light, medium, dark and dark-dark, "because people are asking for them to be almost burnt. And I'm like, really?"
Lady's Di's products can be found all over Chicago, as well as many locations out of state. They service restaurants, gas stations and convenience stores with their famous cookies.