Whenever we think of family gatherings, they almost always happen over food, those favorite family recipes. For Eileen Pawlicki, one of those favorite recipes came from her mother. It was a recipe for carrot muffins with a cream cheese frosting. During the COVID pandemic of 2020, Pawlicki handed out her muffins to neighbors on the sidewalk … and when neighbors raved, an idea was born for Love Muffins.
“My mom would make the carrot cake occasionally, and we would all look forward to it,” Pawlicki says. “My dad was really into his desserts, and that was just something that was always in our home—our baking. And my mom, seeing her share that love of baking and connecting with other people, I grew up with that.”
Pawlicki created a cookbook for her sisters of her mother’s recipes. Featured in the cookbook was the carrot cake recipe Pawlicki had kept in her cupboard for years. She baked the recipe for her own daughters and family as well as neighbors and friends. When the 2020 pandemic began and people were told to keep their distance from each other, Pawlicki found that offering carrot cake muffins on the sidewalk to passersby was the ideal way to connect with others who were feeling isolated.
“What was nice about what I offered was that people could, during times of stress and isolation, enjoy an individual treat and not need to spend a lot of money on a whole cake or a dozen muffins. The convenience of it was nice.”
Her muffins quickly grew a following, and Pawlicki began to think about making a business of her baking. Love Muffins was born in October 2020. She began in a shared kitchen, baking orders that came off a website, but eventually outgrew that and saw a need for a building. New flavors have been added to the ever-popular carrot cake.
Love Muffins are currently available under the Mouse’s Cookiez roof, located at 6650 S. Westnedge Avenue in Portage, Michigan, and at select grocery stores in the area.
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