One of Laurie's earliest memories is sitting in her grandmother’s kitchen pantry, on her stool, playing store. She would be baking bread or cookies and Laurie was her go-to girl for ingredients.
“Find me the cinnamon,” she’d say, and Laurie would diligently read every label, thinking she had everything anyone could every dream of in her pantry to make the most delicious of baked goods.
Looking back, her pantry was more of a small closet, and comprised of only a handful of staple ingredients, but this is because her most important ingredient was her love of baking, which she instilled in Laurie from her first moments of finding the ingredients until she was old enough to help her knead the dough or cut out the cookies.
Laurie's grandmother taught her to measure the ingredients by the palm of her hand and to ‘feel’ the dough for what else it might need or when it was ready. She was the most confident baker Laurie has ever met, and, you could say, she was always happiest when she had flour on her hands; as is Laurie.
Her second influence was her dad.
He passed away in 2017, but not before he instilled in me that kindness, hard work and giving your time to your neighborhood and community are the most important qualities a person can have. Laurie's dad opened his own cookie company in 1988 as Paul’s Cookies, after a successful few years selling them out of their home and at the local farmers’ market.
This was a very exciting time for Laurie's family, and they were all so proud of her dad, who not only was the Cookie Man, but a full-time firefighter with the Fredericton Fire Department. He unfortunately closed the company a few years later, but continued to work and donate much of his time to volunteering in the community.
While she misses her dad every day, she knows he would be very proud to see his daughter using his very own ‘famous’ chocolate chip cookie recipe to this day.
Fast forward a few decades, and Laurie is married with 3 beautiful boys. Her husband, Josh, and children Benjamin, Nicholas and Alexander have kept her very busy for the past 14 years and they are very proud of their wife and mom for going for her dream.
When Nicholas was one, he had a very severe anaphylactic reaction. After visiting an allergist and several skin tests later, he was diagnosed with a severe egg allergy. This interrupted Laurie's baking skills, but she was up for the challenge!
After a few failed tests, her grandmother once again reminded her to feel the recipe and go back to the basics. So, after a few more failed tests, she figured it out and her family was eating delicious home-baked goodies again!
The second challenge came when Alexander had a severe reaction around two years of age. Again, back to the allergist and it was determined he was allergic to almost all tree nuts and peanuts. This was a much easier diagnosis to handle, a few tweaks were made and they are now a completely egg-free and nut-free home!
Laurie's home is a safe haven for her children, and they can grab food out of the cupboard, out of the refrigerator and off the cooling rack without fear. However, going out to restaurants is a whole different ball game, and as anyone with a food allergy will tell you, it’s terrifying! Laurie's children have been to very few restaurants and they have had to call in advance and speak with the chef before they felt comfortable.
Well, let’s face it, it’s never comfortable with a food allergy to trust someone else.
This is exactly why Laurie began baking for other people in her home.
She provided egg-free and nut-free desserts, and specialty cakes so people who have food allergies can know they can trust baked goods that were safe for them and their family.
"It’s been such an honor providing people with that same comfort that my children feel in their own home. It’s not easy having an allergy, but this takes some of the stress away and there’s nothing better than a child who has a food allergy to go to a birthday party and is able to eat the same cake as all the other children."
And this is exactly why Laurie is so excited to bring her home a little closer to you, at Laurie's Bakeshop!
It’s a safe place for anyone, allergies or not, to come and enjoy a little slice of heaven, or a famous Paul’s cookie.
Life is too short to not eat dessert first!
