Karla Jones is the owner of Sweet Goods from the Woods ([email protected], and on Facebook and Instagram), a business offering homemade whoopie pies, brownies, cookies and other treats that she started earlier this year. Baking is a newfound passion for Jones, who admits that in the past it was not her strong suit. After the dealership she worked at for 19 years was sold, she wondered what was in store for her next. It was when she started volunteering at a farm stand bakery last year that she discovered her passion for baking and decided to go into the business by creating her own business. Sweet Goods from the Woods is a vendor of the New Boston Farmers Market, held on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the New Boston Town Common (on the corner of Route 13 and Meetinghouse Hill Road), through October.
What is your must-have kitchen item?
A timer.
What would you have for your last meal?
The ultimate coconut cake, and that’s at the Peninsula Grill in Charleston, South Carolina. I am a coconut fanatic and I would die for that cake. It’s delicious.
What is your favorite local restaurant?
Yoshimama [Japanese Fusion & Sushi Bar] in Nashua. They are wonderful there. … It’s just nice that he creates whatever he wants and it’s just a special feast.
What celebrity would you like to see trying something you baked?
My first thought was Robert De Niro and only because he looks like my dad.
What is your favorite item that you offer?
I don’t know if I have a favorite thing on my menu. I think my favorite thing … is just seeing the little bit of happiness on everybody’s face and just to watch their eyes light up.
What is the biggest food trend or baking trend in New Hampshire right now?
I see a lot of people doing the decorated sugar cookies. People are amazingly talented; some of them that I’ve seen are like [art] on a cookie. … Just amazing.
What is your favorite thing to make at home?
I’m a fish person so I love making blackened salmon … or tuna, or any kind of fish dish.
– Mya Blanchard
Old Fashioned Peanut Cookies
From the kitchen of Karla Jones of Sweet Goods From The Woods in New Boston
½ cup of (1 stick) unsalted butter
½ cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons Madagascar bourbon vanilla
½ teaspoon salt
2 large farm eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
1¼ cup low salted peanuts (ground)
In a large bowl, cream butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, baking powder, vanilla and salt. Beat in eggs, stir in flour and peanuts. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes, until lightly brown. Let cool
Featured photo: Karla Jones, owner of Sweet Goods from the Woods. Courtesy photo.