Brooke Benedict portions out cookie dough onto a baking sheet in her kitchen on Saturday, Jan. 7, 2023. Benedict creates and sells homemade baked goods for her business, BAB's Bakes, out of her apartment in La Grande. 

LA GRANDE — Baking has been Brooke Benedict’s passion, and now it’s her business as well. Benedict, who grew up in Union, has been baking as a hobby as long as she can remember. When her tasty muffins and gooey rolls became such a hit with her family and friends, her dad suggested she start selling them.

At first she felt modestly hesitant, but last August she got some ideas from Facebook where other bakers were selling their goods all the time.

“I’ve actually purchased from local people who sell their baked goods, so I thought I’d give it a try, and it’s worked out very well,” Benedict said. “I started out with my huckleberry muffins.”

She named her business BAB’s Bakes, referring to the initials of her name. It’s a sole proprietorship, and her La Grande home kitchen is the center of her operation.

Her offerings have gradually expanded as people started inquiring about cakes and bakery products for holiday parties. Some of Benedict’s popular orders were for her sugar cookies, her huckleberry muffins and her muffin-sized pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

“Depending on the kind of cookies, I do a dozen sugar cookies for $24,” she said. “The price per cookie depends on whether it’s a decorated cookie or just frosted.”

She has her own packaging, a pastry box with her logo on it. She hand delivers all her orders on the day of baking so they are fresh. This means that she must get up at 5 a.m. to get certain orders done, especially her pumpkin cinnamon rolls.

When it comes to expanding her business she said, “I’d have to grow a lot more to have a store, but right now it’s easily maintained at my house.”

She has a growing customer base and routine deliveries to employees at local banks and quite a few business offices in La Grande.

Benedict, a 2011 graduate of Eastern Oregon University, has an anthropology sociology degree, and she works full time at in-home caregiving for the mentally disabled.

“I do my baking with any extra time that I have, so I’m pretty busy,” she said. “I usually try my new recipes out on my co-workers to get their opinions before I start selling them.”

When creating new baked goods, she starts with a base recipe and then makes it her own.

“I also use my grandma Diana Davis’ old recipes like her fudge recipe and people really liked it,” Benedict said. “Everyone in my family admits, ‘You can hardly replicate the things my grandma makes because it’s always so good.’ Growing up she was the one who made things everyone gravitated toward and wanted every year.”

Benedict’s present baking occupation is largely credited to the influence of two important women in her life.

“That’s how I got into baking, honestly, watching my grandma and mom bake over the years, and it became something I really loved doing,” she said. “Everything is made from scratch, no pre-packaged ingredients. I don’t use shortcuts, and I use high-end quality ingredients.”

To see what BAB’s Bakes has to offer, and to place an order, go to www.babsbakeslagrande.com, visit the Facebook page (www.facebook.com/babsbakeslagrande) or call 541-805-5656.