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Food coverage is supported by a generous donation from Susan and Moses Libitzky.

When Mark Gold and Karen Nathanson first wrote the business plan for Gold Rush Cookie Company, their bakery in Nevada City, California, they included the goal of kosher certification. But they began their baking in a shared kitchen, as do many fledgling food businesses, so it wasn’t possible.

Now, after more than four years, they have their own bakery in downtown Grass Valley, and it’s certified kosher dairy by Rabbi Nochum Yusewitz of the local Chabad.

Though Gold and Nathanson don’t keep kosher themselves, the couple felt strongly about having a kosher business.

“The Jewish community here is really growing,” Nathanson said. “We have a pretty significant Chabad community here, and we wanted to support the Jewish community that we’re part of and help grow the community here.”

While the bakery is known mostly for its cookies, there are also two traditional flavors of babka, chocolate and cinnamon. A quip printed on the package of the cinnamon variety calls it “the lesser babka,” a reference to the classic Seinfeld episode “The Dinner Party.” 

They also use a smattering of Yiddish, calling their pastry “Bubbe’s Babka,” and their single-serving babka at the Grass Valley farmers market “a bissel babka.” 

Nathanson grew up in Castro Valley and belonged to San Leandro’s Temple Beth Sholom. Gold grew up Orthodox in Miami and sometimes tagged along as his uncle, a mashgiach (kosher supervisor), did his rounds.

The bakery, which opened in July, is closed on Saturdays. The business is kosher dairy. It does not offer challah yet, though Gold and Nathanson hope to do so once they get a second oven for parve items. They also plan to roll out rugelach and black-and-white cookies. They currently offer borekas, but their big sellers are cookies and breakfast pastries like cinnamon buns.

As the only kosher business for miles, they draw kosher-keeping tourists who are passing through, but Gold said being kosher is an added bonus for a small number of people who live in the area.

“I see it as a value-added extra for the people for whom it’s really important,” he said. “For them, they come here because it’s kosher. But for everyone else, we’re just a really good bakery, and that’s what helps us make us even more successful. Most of our customers don’t care about our kosher status, and that’s OK.”

Gold Rush Cookie Company is at 104 E. Main St. in Grass Valley.

During a “White Women for Kamala” Zoom call that took place not long after President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race on July 21, Laurie Leiber thought about dough. Not just how she could help raise some for Kamala Harris, the new Democratic presidential candidate, but how she could use her love of baking to do so.

Leiber, an Oakland resident, has been featured in this column before. She has dubbed herself the “Bagel Fairy” and has long taught students how to make their own “amazing” bagels in her Rockridge kitchen. Now she’s offering “Challah for Kamala” classes. All participants must donate a minimum of $108 (the amount has been rising in $18 increments since she started); a forwarded receipt allows participants to register for an upcoming class. Remaining classes before the Nov. 5 election are on Oct. 1, 8 and 30.