Think of your favorite dessert. Go ahead, envision it until just the mental picture makes your senses of taste and smell flare a little.
Natasha Ballew wants to turn the dessert you daydream of into a cookie.
The Columbia native behind Family Tree Cookie Company said she takes delight in considering her favorite desserts and others’ beloved treats, then transferring the flavor palate into cookie varieties such as cosmic brownie, bourbon peach crumble, pumpkin spice latte cheesecake, and red velvet brownie chunk.
Since launching her business early this year, Ballew’s creations have graced booths and satisfied appetites at back-to-school events, children’s camps and weddings.
Last month, Family Tree appeared at the inaugural Zipper Craft and Art Festival in Columbia’s Arcade District, and later this month will have a presence at the Centralia Pumpkin Festival.
A truly sweet Family Tree
Ballew, who works full-time as a nurse, descends from a long line of bakers; the sort, she said, to wave off recipes and act as culinary matchmakers — mingling ingredients that sound like they’d be good together until they realize their chemistry.
She long envisioned starting her own food truck. Inspired by street food and other more casual fare, she anticipated a fusion focus, where multiple cultures and cuisines meet to surprise the palate.
Around the demands of her day job, she found herself baking often for family and friends, co-workers and patients. Feeding others is “what makes my soul happy,” Ballew said.
After baking an array of desserts around the past Super Bowl, Ballew’s daughter nudged her to start her own business. It was her daughter, she said, who conceived the Family Tree name and drew its logo.
Now Ballew comes home each evening after working in a clinic and does something sweet. Monday through Friday, she prepares homemade toppings and fillings: red velvet brownies, pumpkin space latte creamer to be turned into a cheesecake filling, salted caramel apple pie filling to stuff churro cookies.
She then devotes Sundays to dough prep for the approximately 100-200 cookies she bakes a week.
Dreaming in desserts
Ballew finds inspiration almost everywhere. A notebook sits by her bedside, as she sometimes quite literally dreams in flavors, she said. Or she will walk a festival grounds and spy something that becomes her next offering.
She typically creates three to four new cookie varieties a month, she said, and keeps those on her permanent menu. Seasonal offerings rotate in and out with the availability of local ingredients. Ballew’s bourbon peach crumble cookies, for example, will last until she runs through a supply of peach preserves made from the fruit of Boonville’s Peach Tree Farm.
The creativity keeps coming. Ballew recently moved creamed cinnamon honey from possibility to reality. And soon, she plans to widely offer dessert boards — only available at special events so far — which feature her cookies, homemade truffles and candy, “muddy buddy” mix and more.
Family Tree Cookie Company dough should also be available soon in edible form, she said, shaped into an offering like cake pops.
Community starts in the kitchen
If creativity drives Ballew’s work, community sustains it. She cherishes chances to visit local farmers and artisans, enfolding the fruits of their labors. She invests the word “local” with meaning, recalling the heaviest days of the COVID-19 pandemic when small businesses came to feed her and her nurse colleagues. She wants to keep the loop of mutual kindness going.
To that end, she links hands with several local women-owned businesses — including Four Leaf Laser Co., County Line and Design Company, photographer and marketing specialist Kate Pani, and a local egg farmer. They all rely on each other’s products and services. To support one is to support them all, Ballew said.
“I am so fortunate to have these women in my life,” she said in a follow-up email, “we support each other creatively, sharing resources, knowledge and celebrating in all the wins, big and small. I cannot imagine doing this without them.”
Typical Family Tree orders can be turned around in about 24-48 hours, Ballew said, while special events or larger requests require a couple weeks. She plans to launch a dedicated website soon. For now, customers can find Family Tree Cookie Company on Facebook and Instagram.
Aarik Danielsen is the features and culture editor for the Tribune. Contact him at adanielsen@columbiatribune.com or by calling 573-815-1731. He’s on Twitter @aarikdanielsen.
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