RICHMOND, Ky. — These sweets went straight from grandma’s cookbook to an in-home bakery. Brown Girl Sugar is Latoya Vaughn's bakery that focuses on baking old-fashioned baked goods in honor of her family. 

Latoya Vaughn said baking runs in her blood.

“I use a lot of my grandmother's recipes and so I remember watching her cook," she said. "I didn't like to cook when I was younger and I had to be in the kitchen, but the older [I got], I remembered some of those things that she used to do."

Things like using real ingredients and avoiding synthetics are her secret to success.

In following her grandmother's footsteps, Vaughn started her own in-home bakery, creating baked goods with a Kentucky twist.

“I've just taken that in there, and put a little twist on it. She didn't really make anything with bourbon in it but we're in Kentucky, so I figured with a lot of the deserts and the cobblers the cookies and brownies, we add some bourbon, we call it just a little infusion,” Vaughn said. 

Vaughn started Brown Girl Sugar last year during the COVID-19 pandemic. She was looking for ways to give back to her community in a positive way while staying safe at home. 

“I just remember my grandparents praying all the time, and with my belief and so with every dessert we make, we just pray that the person has peace, and that God's will, whatever that is, will be done, when they eat and enjoy because we want these desserts to put people in a good place," Vaughn said.

She hopes to put a smile on everyone's face with her sweets. Using her grandmother's cookbook, Vaughn said her secret is to keep the recipes simple.

“I'm not one of those fancy cooks. I like doing the old fashioned type stuff, so I sift in flour, doing this in preparation to either make a cake and make a cobbler or make your crust or anything like that," she said. "And it was just one of those things that I didn't want to advertise as ... I’m doing a down to home that your grandmother, your great grandmother's used to make. It has real butter, real sugar, brown sugar, flour,” Vaughn said. 

Although it may not be the healthiest, Vaughn said it'll at least put a smile on your face.