Finding a roadside fruit or veggie stand when you are travelling in the summer is like scoring a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.
The town of Massey, west of Sudbury, offers a super sticky and sweet stand that should have you hitting the brakes, or even making a special trip up Highway 17.
Tricia’s Baked Goods is located in a dressed up ice fishing hut on the highway, just east of Massey.
Tricia’s is named for Tricia Brown, who is originally from Massey and spent more than a decade as an educational assistant.
But in 2018, life changed for her and her family.
“My daughter was ill and not able to attend school for an extended period of time. I found myself baking more and more to relieve the stress,” Brown said.
“The output was more than anyone under one roof could handle and I started gifting it to local friends and business owners in town.”
Eventually, a woman she met at the local pharmacy convinced Bown the proceeds of her stress-relief activity should have a home at the Massey farmer’s market. In no time, she was selling out twice a week.
“Health unit staff wanted me to work out of a certified kitchen and I was not renovating our home kitchen, so I got creative and worked with them to convert the ice fishing hut my father-in-law built us,” Brown said.
“At one point, my husband was worried I was masterminding a chipstand on the property,” she joked.
The shack opened during summer 2020, using coolers to keep her handmade butter tarts, cheesecakes and croissants chilled.
Brown’s two standout offerings are the flaky-crusted, jam-packed, elbow-licking-good butter tarts and the extra gooey cinnamon buns with added caramel and icing.
Last year, Bown placed second in the Ontario Butter Tart Festival in Midland for her butter tarts.
Every Saturday, she tries to make extra butter tart cheesecakes. Brown said she bakes butter tarts into a cheesecake and tops it with pecans, whipping cream and caramel.
The butter-tart maven attributes her baking success to her family ties.
“My grandmother Moffatt was a phenomenal baker and we had a strong connection. From her I learned how to make homemade bread and pie crusts. She made all the desserts for a local restaurant back in the 1980s and ’90s and my mom was a food teacher,” she said.
Tricia’s Baked Goods is located at 1992 Highway 17 East, about three kilometres before Massey when coming from Sudbury.
The shack is open Saturdays from 12-5 p.m. and is situated on the same property as the Brown family’s Scottish Highland cattle.
Brown warns customers to come early as there is always a line-up 45 minutes before opening.
If sold out, Tricia urges customers to visit the Riverview Variety on Sagamok First Nation and Gambles Highway Variety in Spanish for more of her baking.
To read more about the family business along with its offerings, visit TriciaBakes.com.
Anastasia Rioux is a writer in Greater Sudbury. Let’s Eat! is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.
