Maxwell’s Market stocks a seasonal treat sweetened with a grandmother’s love

When Lynn Allen reports for shifts at Maxwell’s Market, she’s met with the same reaction.

“Maw Maw’s here!” regular employees exclaim.

Allen’s only the grandmother of owner Matthew Landry, but since she’s been stopping by to help out around the holidays, her dear nickname has stuck with staff at the shop. It’s even embroidered on her Maxwell’s-Market-branded polo, which serves as her store uniform.

“I’m part of the crew now,” Allen says with a smile.

Each year, Allen makes the trek from her Northshore home to the Corporate Boulevard store in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving and Christmas to perform a very important job—pumping out peanut butter pies for the holidays.

Armed with an arsenal of commercial-size Jif peanut butter cans, whipped cream, powdered sugar and pie shells, Allen whips up her signature dessert at Landry’s request. The shop owner grew up with the chilled treat as the bookend to holiday dinners and family celebrations. It became his favorite dessert, so much so that when he was a child, he vowed to Allen that he would one day open a restaurant and sell her pies.

Though he might not be in the restaurant business, he’s still making good on his promise, inviting Allen to the market to share her tasty tradition with Baton Rouge shoppers. Since she first started making pies for Maxwell’s, Landry has upped her setup with handmade signage that declares her kitchen area is “Maw Maw’s Pie Department” and an industrial mixer that allows Allen to whip up around 18 to 20 pies at a time.

Allen discovered the chilled treat while working at New Orleans’ Mercy Hospital. The cafeteria dessert was a lunchtime favorite, and a co-worker secured the large-volume recipe from the kitchen staff.

“We worked [the recipe] down to make two pies so I could make them for the holidays and stuff, and now we had to blow it back up again,” Allen says.

Since Allen and Landry started the sweet operation at Maxwell’s in 2023, Landry says the process has become more streamlined. Allen makes sure each customer gets the same amount of peanut butter goodness by measuring out filling for each pie. It’s even become a family affair with Landry’s mom and cousin popping by to assist with the pie-making process.

“There was no point on this earth that I thought when I was rocking this little boy that I was going to pretty much work for him,” Allen says. “It just brings you so much joy to do it. I can’t tell you how much I love being involved, and, in the meantime, I feel like I’m helping [my grandson].”

After each pie is complete, it’s placed in a to-go container and wrapped in plastic. Before going to the cold case or getting added to a customer’s holiday catering order, it also gets a special label showing off the product’s name, price and main ingredient: Maw Maw’s love.

Allen preps for her trip to the shop each year by making sure her holiday shopping is done and presents are wrapped ahead of time.

“Once I get up here to make pies, I’m making pies,” she says.

Outside of the holidays, Allen remains on standby in case Landry calls with an out-of-season order. And while the recipe is easy and could be mastered by other employees, Allen takes pride in her job. Plus, Landry says if she didn’t make the pies, they would be missing that No. 1 ingredient—Maw Maw’s love, of course.

“The fact that I have my Maw Maw here making pies–I love it,” Landry says. “I’m so happy that she’s still here doing it. And it legitimately is fun for both of us.”

Since the peanut butter pies have become a yearly signature item for the shop, Landry says they’ve sold over 400 of them. But for this grandmother/grandson duo, it’s not about profit. Instead, it’s all about sharing a slice of a beloved family tradition with others while getting in some extra quality time. And that’s just as sweet as what’s inside those graham cracker shells.

Secure a pie by calling the store at 225-216-0030 or stopping in when they get stocked in the cold case close to Thanksgiving and Christmas. Maxwell’s Market is at 7620 Corporate Blvd.

This article was originally published in the November 2026 issue of 225 Magazine.