Hum: How far would you drive for the best blueberry muffins? Try Ashton

The prize-winning blueberry mufins at Ashton General Store at 8981 Flewellyn Rd in Ashton Photo by Tony Caldwell /Postmedia

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One of the best compliments that Krysta Roney has received for her blueberry muffins is a little morbid.

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“Someone told me that’s the last thing they want to eat before they die,” says Roney.

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Not to wish ill upon you, but if you go weak at the knees for exceptionally good blueberry muffins, you should seek out Roney’s wares at the Ashton General Store, in the village of the same name, 40 kilometres west of downtown Ottawa.

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These super-moist, cinnamon-streusel-topped delights teem with fresh blueberries and have been available inside the store’s showcase since Roney opened it in December 2022.

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Krysta Roney and her award-winning blueberry muffins at Ashton General Store at 8981 Flewellyn Rd. in Ashton. Photo by Tony Caldwell /Postmedia

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They took off immediately, she says, with customers placing pre-orders that force her to bake more than the usual two dozen she makes each morning before the store opens.

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Among her blueberry muffin devotees is a Montreal woman who makes a side trip to Ashton each time she visits Ottawa.

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Other fans include the judges at fairs held in nearby Carp, Richmond and Almonte. Roney enters her baked goods in the fair’s competitions and her blueberry muffins won first place in Almonte and Richmond and second in Carp, where, it should be said, Roney took home a first-place prize for her carrot cake.

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That’s why they’re proudly designated “prize-winning blueberry muffins” on the store’s chalkboard, while the ribbons are displayed in the showcase.

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The muffins freeze well, Roney adds. “I know that because people come and grab six or 12 of them and tell me they take them home and freeze them for the week,” she says.

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Not bad for a self-taught, almost lifelong baker. Roney says she developed her blueberry muffin by starting with a basic recipe and then tweaking and tweaking it “until I have them exactly how I like them.”

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Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Roney worked at the Ottawa-based e-commerce giant Shopify, where she coached clients to grow their businesses. Around the same time, she and her husband moved to Ashton, a village of several hundred people between Stittsville and Carleton Place on the westernmost edge of Ottawa. Turned off by remote working, Roney switched careers after hearing her neighbours talk fondly about Ashton’s historic general store that had closed in 2016.

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“Everybody just kept sharing how special it was and how much they missed it,” Roney says.

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When she and her husband saw that the property was for rent, they thought they might just as well take a look. “I phoned the landlord, we came in, and it was pretty much a done deal,” Roney says.

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Four years into running her store, how does she like it?

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“I love it. It feels like I’m living in a Hallmark movie,” she says.

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