about jean june

Hey, I’m Lauren!

No, not Jean or June — but I wouldn’t be here without them, figuratively and also literally because Patti June and Velma Jean are my grandmothers. Patti Velma doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.

Scratch-made desserts have long been a symbol of love in my family. My nearly compulsive baking habit has grown from my favorite manifestation of showing someone I care to a full-fledged livelihood when I decided to go to pastry school in Chicago.

After stints in Chicago and Kansas City bakeries — plus some restaurant marketing and food writing along the way — I decided to start Jean June with encouragement from friends and family who have been generously taste-testing my menu items for years.

I’m excited to bake for you so you can show someone (even if that someone is yourself) you were thinking of them.

two women in front of a dime store

Patti June Lilly (right) looking cute as heck in front of Horton’s 5 & 10 Store, her family’s shop in Lamar, Missouri. Her banana bread and chocolate sheet cake are the stuff of legend.

 
black and white image of three well-dressed women walking; center women in military garb.

S. Sgt. Velma Jean Quick (center), a fierce and fabulous WWII veteran and mother of eight who always kept a freezer stocked with cookies.