GREAT FALLS — Rogue Brownies (link) is a brownie business that operates out of a community kitchen in Great Falls - but there's a lot more to the story than just chocolate.
WATCH:
Jenny Watson has been making brownies for years. It’s a slight twist on an old family recipe.
Watson, co-owner of Rogue Brownies, explained, “The way we do it kind of, I believe, helps it stay a little bit more moist and fudgy because that's the best kind”
The business has now grown out of her personal kitchen, and she uses the community kitchen in town to supply brownies across the country. It was a big step, but for Watson, that was the point.
Watson said, “This is very much a 'stop being afraid, push the boundaries.'”
Watson wanted to find a more direct way to care for her kids, one of who has severe disabilities.
She said, “He needs more. I’m like, ‘okay’, so that's when I went back to school to get my master's degree, and, I finished that a year ago. And this is a part of that more.”
Karyl Vassilaros, Watson’s sister and co-owner of Rogue Brownies, said, “She needed something, a business that would allow her to be able to be there for all of his needs.”
While Watson bakes, Vassilaros manages the website and other technological aspects.
Vassilaros said, “I don't know how she keeps going with all of the pressures and all of the demands and everything. She still finds these ways to connect with community.”
It is a relationship neither sister takes for granted.
Vassilaros said, “Running a business with my sister with Jenny is just amazing.”
Watson concurred: “Oh, it is so much fun. I couldn't do it without her.”
The sisters’ fortitude is what inspired the Rogue Brownies name.
Vassilaros said, “We want to get a community of people that are willing to start questioning their own narrative and have a different experience, a different experience with brownies.”
And it allows Watson to continue to offer more of herself to others.
Watson said, “It pretty much mainly provides me a better way to give more to him instead of just the bare necessities, so to speak.”
The brownies also have 24 karat gold on them, because, as Watson explains, “I wanted to provide something fun and something where people can feel special - something that people can afford. An extravagant thing.”
Watson hopes that her brownies not only taste good but inspire people who are thinking about doing more in life to take that next step.
