Julie Ezkenazi’s family has been with Felix and Norton since 1985
Montreal based Felix and Norton Cookies has long been synonymous with tender, delicious cookies. So when looking for what makes the best cookies, who better to ask than Julie Ezkenazi the daughter of the brands founders. If you want to know what makes the best cookies, where to go to sate your sweet tooth, and what it’s like making cookies for a living you won’t want to miss our Q&A.
TTB: So can you explain your parents role founding Felix and Norton? What was it like growing up?
Julie:I have technically been involved since I was a kid – taste testing and whatnot. However, I only started to really work for them when I was 16. My parents no longer own the stores that you see in the major shopping malls (editors note: although they did found the chain in 1985). Those are now owned and operated by Sweet Factory/La Bonbonniere. My parents still own the name and the rights to the recipes. This has allowed them to put their products (like their cakes and ready-to-bake frozen cookie dough) in grocery stores. It has also allowed them to create our mobile bakery/cookie truck, which we’ve had since 2008. My very first job was on that truck.
TTB: What was that like?
Julie: When I work on the truck, it’s typically in the summer when we are stationed at the Quai Jacques Cartier in the Old Port of Montreal, 7 days a week/ A typical day starts with taking the cookie dough out of the freezer that is in the truck, baking a full tray (28 cookies) of each flavour, making a large pot of coffee, and cleaning and restocking the truck. On a regular day with good weather, we probably go through approximately 4 trays of each flavour, and there are 6 flavours, so 672 cookies?
TTB: That’s a lot, do you like to bake in your own time at all?
Julie: I do very much like to bake on my own time! I don’t make cookies very often though, unless they’re flavours that Felix & Norton does not have, like Peanut Butter. I mostly bake cupcakes, soufflés, or brownies when I bake for leisure.I think cookies might still be my favourite baked good. I have to say, I’ve become somewhat of a cookie snob.
TTB: So what makes the best cookie then?
Julie: I can tell when ingredient quality is poor, or when they’re made with margarine or oils instead of butter. They key is good 
ingredients. Felix & Norton cookies don’t use any ingredients that you wouldn’t use at home, it’s just the quality of the ingredients is great. The key is to use a lot of butter! And really good quality chocolate – in large amounts of course. When you buy cookies at fast food restaurants, they are often made with palm oil and the chocolate contains very little (if any) cocoa butter. The chocolate is often made from palm or vegetable oil as well. That’s why it just doesn’t taste as good or gourmet, but it’s cheap.
TTB: Is that your secret?
Julie: I swear it’s the large amount of butter and good quality belgian chocolate. It’s also good to have a convection oven, and to take them out when they’re only golden around the edges and let them cool on the tray where they’ll continue to bake. That makes them crispy on the outside but soft on the inside.
TTB: You sure know your cookies, is there anywhere in town you’d recommend for sweets?
Julie: There’s a place on de Maisonneuve between Peel & Guy-Concordia called Suite 88. You can buy their chocolate there, but they also have a menu of things you can sit down and eat, such as gelato, biscotti chocolate fondue, waffles covered in chocolate, etc. My favourite thing to get there is their hot chocolate. It’s literally drinking melted chocolate (but they add milk or cream).
TTB: Well that about wraps it up, thank you so much for your time! Anything you want to say to sweet lovers out there?
Julie: I would say that indulgence should not always have a gluttonous(?) connotation to it, and that when you indulge, you should make it worth it by having something of good quality.
TTB: Good advice, thank you for your time Julie!
The Treat Beat 