Question: When a Kallah (bride-to-be) visits her future in-laws' home for the first time before marriage, it is customary to bring a gift. Common options include fine wine, flowers, or home-baked cookies. Some Kallahs bring a combination of the above and some Kallahs bring all three. Regarding, the home-baked cookies, is the Kallah permitted to bring home-baked cookies that someone else baked, or would this violate the prohibition of Geneivas Da’as (deception)?
Answer: This is a fascinating question that, believe it or not, may depend upon the complexity of the cookie recipe.
The Sefer Titain Emes L'Yaakov (p. 314) cites the Rashbam's commentary on Bava Basra 81b, from which we can infer that it may be permitted under certain circumstances.
The relevant Talmudic discussion involves a case where an owner hired a messenger to take the owner's Bikurim (first fruits) to Jerusalem. The messenger transported the Bikurim part of the way but died before completing the mission, so the owner had to personally complete the journey to Jerusalem himself and offer the Bikurim.
The Gemara explains that in such a case, the owner cannot recite the traditional passage when offering the Bikurim because the text of the passage implies that the same person must both transport and offer the Bikurim. Rav Ashi clarifies that even though the owner did transport and offer the Bikurim in this case, since the messenger also transported the Bikurim part of the way before dying, reciting the passage by the owner would have "the appearance of falsehood," since it may imply that the owner was the only one who transported the Bikurim.
However, the Rashbam notes that the Gemara implies that there would be no issue of the owner reciting the traditional passage, in a case of where the messenger was charged with transporting and offering the Bikurim and had completed his mission. In such a case, the owner could still recite the passage (which essentially states "Hashem, I have fulfilled my obligation to take the Bikurim to Jerusalem") even though his messenger did the actual transportation. This would appear to be analogous to your question about the Kallah bringing home-baked cookies that she did not personally bake – and following the analogy, just like the owner in the above referenced case is able to make the declaration, so too the Kallah would be permitted to present the cookies that someone else baked.
However, there is an important caveat. The Sefer Titain Emes L'Yaakov states that this is permitted only when ordinary baking skills are involved. If the cookie recipe is complex and requires significant cooking prowess, then the Kallah presenting the cookies as her own would violate the prohibition against deception (Genaivas Daas), as her future in-laws (and husband) might assume that the Kallah possesses baking skills that she does not actually have.
