Blessed Country Bakehouse Serving Homemade Treats

Special to The Messenger

HOUSTON COUNTY – If you visited Crockett during the recent July Fourth celebrations, you might have noticed a booth selling cinnamon rolls and other tasty treats. The culprit – 14-year-old Avery Smajstrla, along with plenty of help from mom Rebecca and her three sisters. 

Smajstrla learned to bake at an early age and found she enjoyed following the recipes, and even doing a little experimenting on her own. 

“This morning, I made some honey bread, and it didn’t call for it, but I put apples and pistachios and cashews in it. It was really good,” Smajstrla said. 

The Messenger first met the young baker at the Crockett Lions Club Rodeo this year, where she was one of the Rodeo Queen Contestants. She wasn’t sure if baking would be her lifelong calling, but with growing popularity and some big orders coming up, the work is bringing in some extra money for the young lady, while tempting Houston County’s sweet tooth. 

Apart from the crowd-pleasing cinnamon rolls, Smajstrla does scones, biscuits with many variations, granola, bread and cookies. Smajstrla said there’s no real secret to baking, knowing how to follow a recipe and having good tasters will usually get the job done. 

The sweets are all made in Smajstrla’s kitchen, the old fashioned way. She does a lot of breakfast breads, like banana bread and zucchini bread – although there is another variety on the menu this year – squash bread. 

“We are doing more squash because we got a lot of it his year,” Smajstrla said. “We have a little garden where we grow it. Zucchini is starting to come up, though.”

If you’re tired of store-bought treats and need some sweets baked at home and can support a local enterprise, find Smajstrla at one of the local festivals, or find Blessed Country Bakehouse on Facebook®. 

Be warned, though. Sources tell The Messenger the stuff can be addictive…

Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]