Julie Brown (left) and Kelsey Van Dyke (right) stand next to their new business Sweet Pea's Patisserie. The trailer is located next to Fat Hippie, off of Highway 83 in downtown Seeley Lake.
The four different cookies Sweet Pea's Patisserie sells. Upper row from left to right is peanut butter and huckleberry cheesecake. Lower row from left to right is sugar and chocolate chip.
SEELEY LAKE- For years, Julie Brown has baked cookies from old recipes her grandma used. Now, Brown and her daughter Kelsey Van Dyke are baking up those recipes for Seeley Lake patrons.
"My mom has always been notorious for her cookies," Van Dyke said. "We've always kind of had this idea in our heads to start a little cookie cart at some point. We moved to Montana last year and decided that it would be kind of the perfect time to start."
On June 10, Brown and Van Dyke opened their first cookie-selling business "Sweet Pea's Patisserie" near Fat Hippie on Highway 83 in downtown Seeley Lake. Stationed in a refurbished horse trailer, the duo sells four different flavors of cookies every Friday and Saturday from 12- 5 p.m.
The flavors include peanut butter, sugar, chocolate chip and huckleberry cheesecake. Brown said she bakes four dozen batches of each flavor every day. Van Dyke does most of the decorating both in and out of the trailer.
"We are the perfect combination," Brown said. "I love to bake and she loves to make the cookies look pretty."
Each jumbo cookie costs $4. Customers can also buy packs of four cookies for $15, packs of six for $20 and packs of 12 for $35.
"I think people are surprised when they look at the price and then they look at the cookie," Brown said. "They're like, oh, wow, those are big cookies. And I try to tell them I've measured it out and each cookie is about three regular cookies."
Brown said there are no special recipes for her cookies. Both the sugar and peanut butter cookies are based on recipes her mom taught her growing up. Chocolate chip, which Brown said is among the patrons' favorite flavors, is a classic recipe she tweaked over the years.
Cheesecake is a more recent flavor they changed after coming to Montana
"The cheesecake one was just kind of a fun idea," Brown said. " We started it as a raspberry cheesecake but then we decided to try it with local huckleberry jam and it was so much better."
The duo moved from a small town on the coast of Oregon last year. Van Dyke said they have family in Kalispell and after her husband got a job offer in Missoula, they decided to take the leap from Oregon to Montana.
Brown said she hopes Sweet Pea's Patisserie will help them meet people and support the community through fundraising events and more. They also cater for private events, which she said they will likely do when winter rolls around. Both Brown and Van Dyke said they're excited about the summer and the excitement it will bring.
"I'm excited to get to know the community and everybody around here," Brown said. "We want to help out in any way we can."
To learn more about Sweet Pea's Patisserie or to place an order visit https://sweetpeaspatisserie.com. You can also find them on instagram @sweetpeaspatisserie
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