Victory Love and Cookies Takes Over Previous Denver Bread Company Space

What was meant to be a couple dozen one-off treats baked for Kristy Greenwood Bortz’s fundraiser, turned out to be the inspiration for her very own cookie baking business — Victory Love and Cookies

In 2006, Kristy was diagnosed with breast cancer and had trouble acknowledging the word that turned her life upside down—cancer. While her friends wanted to create a fundraiser in her honor, she agreed under one condition. That c-word was replaced by a more impactful one — victory. And so, the Kristy Greenwood’s Victory Fund inspired her to start her own business and carry the love and victory into her baking. 

“I always wanted to have my own business and I’ve always been addicted to cookies. After getting sick I realized I needed to do what I love,” Greenwood Bortz said. 

Prior to starting this new venture, Kristy worked for 10 years as a baker. She baked and managed The Denver Bread Company with owner and now husband, Greg Bortz. After a two-year retirement to heal her mind and body, Kristy started selling cookies at the counter of her old stomping grounds, The Denver Bread Company in September 2008.

As years flew by, Kristy maintained her passion for baking and increased staffing to now offer both in-person and online shopping. Especially during the holiday season, a lot of the larger orders tend to be corporate gifts shipped locally and across the nation. 

Her national notoriety came to fruition after Victory Love and Cookies was featured on a Unique Sweets segment of the Cooking Channel along with Food Network. 

Though Victory Love and Cookies and The Denver Bread Company have been connected for years, sharing counter space, Greenwood Bortz took over the space completely in March 2022 as her husband, Greg, retired. 

What used to be rows of bread loaves, are now replaced by intriguing flavored cookies from Cowboy Joe ($16.60 for six) and Grant’s Chocolate Chunk ($16.50 for eight) to Lemon Lucy ($18.50 for 10) and Diablo ($16.50 for six) — made with bittersweet chocolate, cayenne pepper, cinnamon and hand cracked black pepper. 

Photo Courtesy of Victory Love and Cookies

As family is such an important part of Greenwood Bortz’s life, it’s also baked into her desserts. The Cowboy Joe cookie is inspired largely by her uncle Joe who always kept a smile on her face. This cookie is a sweet and salty lover’s dream with organic rolled oats, semisweet chocolate, toasted pecans and rolled in cornflakes before baking. 

“These recipes are my own but inspired by my family. The Cowboy Joe is a good example, it’s made with everything he loves besides cigarettes and beer,” Greenwood Bortz said. 

Grant’s Chocolate Chunk is inspired by her youngest son who adores a good chocolate chip cookie. While this familial treat has been done before, Greenwood Bortz has enhanced it with browned butter for a nutty flavor and topped it with speckles of sea salt. 

As for the Lemon Lucy, these scalloped-shaped cookies are made with almond paste, lemon oil, fresh lemon zest and juice. This recipe landed Greenwood Bortz with a feature in 5280 Magazine’s The Cookbook

Even though taking over the space fully at The Denver Bread Company means saying goodbye to one of Colorado’s staples (aside from monthly pop-ups), this brings new opportunities for Victory Love and Cookies to expand and offer an ever-morphing menu — looking towards adding local coffee vendors. 

“The community has been great over the years. People show up in droves for the bread pop-ups. And people that normally only came in for bread, now come in for cookies. We’re really growing into a bigger version of ourselves,” Greenwood Bortz said. 

Victory Love & Cookies is located at 3200 Irving St., Denver. It is open Monday through Thursday from 10 to 5 p.m, Friday and Sunday from 10 to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 9 to 5 p.m.