Dorothy Glover
July 30, 2007
Horace Scott
August 1, 2007
The business card for Ruby’s Sweets (693 Corporate Dr., Suite 101 in Houma) shows a deep-red background with a delectable strawberry suspended on the right, a teardrop of liquid chocolate dripping from its underside.
The really sad thing is Ruby’s Sweets does not carry chocolate-dipped strawberries, except on special occasions like Mother’s Day, said owner Wendy Poindexter.
But the shop does sell a host of other heavenly sweets, including pecan candy, pralines, chocolate fudge, peanut butter candy, sweet potato cookies, chocolate fudge brownies, teacakes, coconut candy, praline cookies and sweet potato pies.
All the sweets are made on the premises.
Ruby’s had been located in the Southland Mall for a year before moving to the Corporate Drive site in April.
In the mall, to her surprise, Poindexter said she felt restricted.
“They wanted everything in writing,” she said. “If someone was already selling cappuccino, then we couldn’t sell it.”
“If people request cappuccino here, on Corporate Drive, we’ll do it,” she said.
“You would think in the mall we would be busy everyday, but now we’re doing better,” Poindexter said.
Though the shop also sells Community Coffee, the aroma of freshly-baked candy is what brings in the customers.
Poindexter said that Ruby’s pecan candy is her best seller, but the teacakes sell at a crisp pace, too.
The difference between Ruby’s pecan candy and its pralines (which also contain pecans) is that, in making the two sweets, the pecan candy uses evaporated milk while the pralines use syrup. The praline cookie is the same as a praline, except that it contains flour.
For many places in the New Orleans area, she said, what passes off as pralines is really pecan candy.
Poindexter said that the dough Ruby’s uses to make teacakes is the same dough used for Ruby’s sweet potato pie.
The shop’s sweet potato cookies, pies and turnovers contain real sweet potatoes.
She said that Ruby’s teacakes, praline cookies and sweet potato cookies are different from what one would find at other sweet shops.
“People have tried others, but not these,” she said.
The person behind this cornucopia of delights is the shop’s namesake, Ruby, Poindexter’s mother.
That’s right, Ruby – unlike a few other makers of sweet treats like Betty Crocker and Mrs. Butterworth – is a real person.
She started out making her sugary recipes at home for her daughters and friends, before deciding to go into business with Poindexter and another daughter, shop manager Nadyne Washington.
“(Ruby) would send out her candies as a kindness,” said Poindexter, who previously worked as an operations administrator for Equinox Capital Management. At Equinox, her boss was LSU great Bob Petit, who works as a financial consultant.
Ruby, 63, and Poindexter do the baking, though Ruby does not work every day.
“She hadn’t worked in 40 years,” Poindexter said. “These are her recipes. She makes sure everything is done right.”
Washington quit her job in Florida to work with Ruby’s Sweets.
“She just learned like I did,” Poindexter said. “Like me, she learned the recipes from mom.”
Ruby’s has party trays, gift boxes and gift baskets available. Operating hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The shop makes most of its candy in a self-stirring kettle pot. Ruby’s also has a cooling table to make the hot-baked candy easier to cut. PVC pipes running under the table provides the cooled air, which helps to harden the goodies.
“When you walk in, you smell them,” Poindexter said.
Ruby Sweets sells a host of heavenly sweets, including pecan candy, pralines, chocolate fudge, peanut butter candy, sweet potato cookies, chocolate fudge brownies, teacakes, coconut candy, praline cookies and sweet potato pies. Pictured are manager Nadyne Washington, namesake Ruby Poindexter and owner Wendy Poindexter. * Staff photo by MIKE BROSSETTE
