LilaLue Sweets — named after Ashley Bouknight’s grandmother Lila and her Uncle Lue — is the story of three generations of strong black women growing up in the South using food and drink to unite a community, support a family, and share the legacy of resilient women.
Ashley’s grandmother Lila was born in 1917 in Columbia, South Carolina. She married and had 5 children, but her husband died young, leaving her to work and raise the kids on her own. She became a live-in maid during the weekdays and came home to her family on the weekends where she sold moonshine whiskey during prohibition. (Rumor has it that she was arrested once.) While working as a maid, Lila taught herself to cook and later became the University of South Carolina’s cafeteria cook and baker. She would carry trays of extra food home to her kids and neighbors after a long day of cooking for the students.
Lila’s daughter Sarah took on the mantle of baking for the family. Sarah baked for her siblings, children, and friends. She never used a recipe and would tell her kids — especially her daughter Ashley — “You just have to stand here and watch me” to learn. One year, Ashley secretly entered her mom's cakes into the state fair...and they won, of course.
Sarah never charged for her food — she would barter and swap cakes for a pan of macaroni or a gallon of iced tea. Sometimes friends would donate ingredients. At Christmas, she prepared several meals to share with other families in her community.
All of this had a huge influence on Ashley who baked constantly in high school and recreated her mom and grandmother’s beloved recipes. Ashley explains, “baking is my love language, and it connects me to my family.”
So, bake she did. When Ashley’s wife brought homemade cookies to work years ago, the cookies were so adored that she came home with several orders. So, Ashley got to work creating family recipes (approved by her mom), developing a business name that honors her family, and adding a bit of whiskey in homage to her grandmother Lila. Ashley explains with pride, “LilaLue Sweets is a brand based on my family. The whiskey creates a subtle unique flavor, but it’s more of a reminder to me of my family heritage when I add it.”
Today, Ashley cooks out of her home kitchen, often with her daughter Ava, perpetuating that family legacy. Her cookies, brownies, and cakes are creative, humble, and delicious. So aptly, LilaLue Sweets is growing, prodding Ashley to find a commercial kitchen and grow the business. Presently, it’s her part-time gig, while she works days at the American Association for State and Local History as a historian and curator. For a woman who honors her heritage down to the last drop (of whiskey), that seems perfectly fitting.
To order Ashley’s sweets, visit her at lilaluesweets.com. Follow her on Instagram at @lilaluesweets.
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