LA GRANGE, N.C. (WNCT) — Traditions are often continued through food. A new bakery in La Grange, Grounded and Baked, is preserving memories with baked goods made with recipes that have been passed down through generations.

Brad Mitchell, owner of Grounded and Baked, said baked sweets from Norma Vinson, his grandmother, were part of his family’s history. He enjoyed the pre-holiday ritual of selecting his favorite treat from her fresh-baked stash and requesting his favorite cake each year for his birthday.

“She would put them in her back room because it was a cool room,” Mitchell said. “You would go in there right before Christmas and it smelled like a bakery in it. And she would let me pick out one thing out of all the trays that she had,” said Mitchell.

He took a special interest in her recipes a few years ago and asked her to teach him how to make them.

“Her recipes are old-school recipes. They have ingredients but not really,” said Mitchell.

They set up camp and baked recipe after recipe so he could learn more about how she made her desserts.

“We sat in her kitchen and we went through every single recipe and made ’em one after the other,” Mitchell said. “She would tell me what I was missing or the extra love that she put in that was not on the recipe.”

Vinson said she was glad her grandson took an interest in her recipes and was able to open a bakery with them.

“I’m so proud of my grandson, I don’t know what to do. I really am. He has taken over all my recipes and just gone with ’em,” said Vinson.

Mitchell continued to practice using Vinson’s recipes and eventually other people began requesting them. He said that he jokingly mentioned that it could turn into a business over dinner one night.

“She said ‘Oh, I think you should,'” said Mitchell.

According to Mitchell, the name of the bakery hints that the recipes are “Grounded” in tradition and “Baked” with love.

On their first day of business, the bakery sold out of nearly all of their desserts and had to bring in reinforcements. What they planned to sell on their second day of business was being placed on the shelves by 11:30 a.m. Mitchell said that they opened at 7 a.m. and within a few hours they were already running low.

Grounded and Baked is located at 106 W Railroad Street in La Grange.