East St. Louis baker started at a church table and wound up with O’Fallon storefront
From a church table to Vine Street Market, and now a brick-and-mortar shop, Harriett’s Sweet Treats has built a loyal clientele with made-from-scratch Southern desserts and soft chewy cookies.
Lachelle Stevenson is the baker, and her sister Rochelle Garrett handles the business side of their fledgling O’Fallon company named for their maternal grandmother, Harriett Stevenson, affectionately known as “Big Mama.”
The grand opening at 622 E. State St., took place on Nov. 2, but Harriett’s Sweet Treats held a soft opening during October. The cozy shop is open Thursdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 4 to 6 p.m. The location is the former Juice Heal Thrive location and is adjacent to Maxson Plumbing.
Stevenson followed in her grandmother’s footsteps by making her specialty desserts for family holidays and special occasions — peach cobbler, German chocolate cake, and banana pudding among them.
“She worked in the dietary department at Francis Touchette (Regional) Hospital — she was used to cooking a lot of food,” Stevenson said.
That’s one of the reasons she settled on the tagline: “Love makes the perfect cookie.”
Big Mama’s recipes were the starting point, and Lachelle has added modern twists on classic cookies and made popular Southern desserts her own. Everything is house-made and without preservatives.
She crafts banana pudding portions, with vanilla wafers, fresh banana slices, vanilla pudding, and whipped cream, that are offered every Thursday.
She likes to do something ‘extra’ – she bakes white cake and tops it with either homemade caramel frosting or fresh lemon glaze, and crumbles Oreo cookies into her brownies.
She will try different cookies to offer as a special, adding to her “over the top” gourmet line like S’mores with a marshmallow baked inside, or last summer’s Strawberry Pop Tarts. Seasonal flavors like pumpkin spice and apple crisp are now available.
Her most popular is the Pecan Chocolate Chip, and she offers a gluten-free snickerdoodle and chocolate chip cookies, and a vegan chocolate chip.
“Baking started as therapy,” Stevenson said. “I needed something to do, and baking is what I know how to do.”
For holiday boxes, over the course of five days, she scooped 1,520 cookies.
“I can’t scoop like a machine, making them perfect. So I call them ‘perfectly imperfect’,” she said.
Stevenson grew up in East St. Louis, moved to Tacoma, Washington in high school, then joined the U.S. Air Force after attending community college, serving five years as a maintenance scheduler. She now lives in O’Fallon and feels welcome, she said.
“Everybody’s so friendly,” she said.
Stevenson said they will continue to set up shop at the Vine Street Market and is participating in the Thanksgiving Market on Saturday, Nov. 18, from 9 a.m. to noon at the O’Fallon Station.
While holiday cookie boxes, with up to four different kinds of cookies, had to be ordered earlier, she said she will have some boxes ready to go Saturday at the market.
Coincidentally, that’s the last day to order pies and cakes for your Thanksgiving family tables, she said. Her specialty pie that started it all – sweet potato, will be available, as are pecan pie, German chocolate cake, and banana pudding and caramel cake in 9 by 13 in. pans.
“This year let’s leave those store-bought pies and cakes at the store. We’d love to bring a slice of happiness to your family table,” she said.
As a military veteran, it is important to her to support charity efforts. She is partnering with the American Legion Auxiliary Post 2007 Auxiliary to gather items for local veterans. Feel free to bring in any of the following items: Puzzles, books, playing cards, personal care items, socks, coloring books, and more.
She accepts special orders with advance notice and can provide catering. For more information or to place an order, email: hstbakery@yahoo.com, call 618-206-8167, or message her on the Harriett’s Facebook page.
