Tag Archives: pies

The Little Bakery with a Big Heart

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Is there anything more perfect than pies and picture books? Meet the amazing Jenn Carson, owner of LiLLiPiES bakery! I first met Jenn when she was doing farmers markets and delivering her amazing baked goods to my favorite local coffee shop. Long time blog readers might also remember that Jenn as the architect of this truly astounding Strega Nona house that was part of our 2013 Gingerbread Cottage Challenge.

jens cakes and pastriesOver the years, Jenn’s business has grown exponentially, culminating in a fantastic bakery that also serves delicious breakfasts. And now…she’s a children’s author! It took absolutely no convincing for me to photograph her happy busy eatery, and chat with her about this heartwarming story of baking and family.

Hi Jenn! Tell us a little about yourself!

Hi Dana! I am Head Baker and owner of LiLLiPiES bakery in Princeton. I also teach Artisanal Bread Baking at Mercer County Community College’s Hospitality program. My husband, Ken, and I have three adult children as well as a sweet doggy named Lucy.

You already have an amazing cookbook…what inspired you to write a picture book as well?

I have a background in elementary education and have always seen the importance and beauty in parents baking with their children. Plus, I had a blast collaborating with Sofia for the original cookbook and wanted to work with her again.

Tell us a little about the lovely family that fills the pages of this story…

Pie For My Birthday is a true story of our son, Sean’s 6th birthday. It’s a story about listening to each other, patience, cooperation, and teamwork. In the end, our family worked together to make little pies for Sean’s class.

These days, Sean (that little kindergarten boy in the book) works as a project manager here in New Jersey. James, (the impish little brother in the book) is a civil engineer working in Brooklyn. Sara, (the teeny baby sister in the book) is a college student, majoring in Music and Business. Ken (the Dad) is a Pharmaceutical Chemist who focuses on cancer therapies. We still enjoy cooking together very much.

What was it like to work with the illustrator, Sofia Schreiber?

Working with Sofia was absolutely wonderful. She actually knows my kids and Ken quite well and was able to show their personalities in her paintings for the book. Watching her progression week to week brought me to tears quite often. She is really an amazing talent.

Ok, so this is technically not a question, but we were SO excited to see a donut recipe in the back of the book. Your donuts are LEGEND!

Haha! Glad you enjoy them. I started making them for farmers markets. One farmers market had their opening day on National Donut Day. I thought it would be fun to bake my cake recipes in donut pans, so that customers could try our cake. When the next week came around and the donuts were not offered, I got quite a few requests to bring them back. They’ve been on the menu ever since.

If you were send one message to the little future bakers who read this book, what would it be?

Bake on!

Cooking with Mousie

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cooking with mousieLet this Sous Chef Souris help you make delicious pies! Your miniature kitchen has everything you need for creative baking – mixing bowls, wooden spoons, cutting board, rolling pin, pie pans, fresh felt ingredients, and, of course, matching chef hats!

We read Tiny Pie, written by Mark Bailey and Michael Oatman. Illustrated by Edward Hemingway (Running Press Kids, 2013). It’s past her bedtime, but little Ellie the elephant is hungry. She’s too short to reach the kitchen counters or open the fridge, but she can peep through that interesting mouse hole in the wall. There, she discovers a mouse cooking show in progress inside, complete with cameras and studio audience. It’s tiny pies, big flavor, for Ellie and her new mouse friends!

You’ll need:

  • 2 small boxes (more on box specifics below)
  • 1 cooking show sign template, printed on 8.5″ x 11″ white card stock
  • 4-5 clear plastic sample cups
  • A piece of tagboard or brown poster board
  • Small pieces of brown and red felt
  • 4-5 blue mini pom-poms
  • 1 drinking straw
  • 1 snippet of bubble tea straw (approximately 2″)
  • 2 miniature aluminum pie tins
  • 2 paper muffin cups
  • 1 toilet paper tube
  • Grey and white construction paper
  • 1 pink mini pom-pom
  • White poster board
  • 1 white facial tissue
  • 1 piece of white tissue paper
  • Scissors and tape for construction
  • Markers for decorating
  • Hot glue

cooking counter

The cooking counter consists of 2 parts. Part 1 is a 6″ craft box work counter (that’s where the sign template goes – don’t forget to add your name to the sign!). Part 2 is the oven. We used a 4.5″ “White Cupcake Box” from Oriental Trading Company ($5 a dozen) as our oven. Why? That cute little window in the top! It makes a perfect oven door. Add a 2″ bit of drinking straw as an oven handle, and you’re ready to bake!

Inside the oven, we fashioned a little shelf out of tagboard (poster board works too), and and added some red mirror board heating elements:

inside ovenOn top of the cooking counter is some patterned paper, as well as 4 clear plastic sample cups. 3 of the cups were stocked with pie fillings: red felt apple slices, brown felt chocolate, and mini pom-poms blueberries. The 4th cup is the mixing bowl.

To give the mouse chef a little boost, we had to add a tagboard “stool” to the back of the cooking counter. You can see it in the photo below, along with some twisteez wire hooks we added to the sides to hang your utensils (you can also use paper clips).

back of cooking counter

Here are more kitchen goodies:

kitchen utensilsThe cutting board and wooden spoons are tagboard. The knife is a little piece of silver mirror board with a black masking tape handle. Those two white circles are polyester batting “pie dough” for the mixing bowl, and the rolling pin is a 2.25″ snippet of bubble tea straw with a 3″ piece of drinking straw threaded into it.

The pies are mini aluminum pie pans with a circle of fabric batting dough tucked in the bottom. Top if off with some felt or pom-pom ingredients. The crust is a trimmed-down muffin baking cup top.

the pieThe toilet paper tube mouse is sporting a chef hat made from construction paper and a bunched up facial tissue.

mouse chefYour chef hat is made out of cardboard and white tissue paper. Instructions for making it can be found in this post. It only occurs to me now, looking at the photo. This chef hat TOTALLY needs a pair of grey construction paper mouse ears.

chef hat for mouse chef story time When the kitchens were finished and the chefs were ready, we brought out our camera equipment (learn how to construct it here) and filmed a number of pie-themed cooking shows. Chocolate appeared to be the pie flavor of the day. And with good reason, amiright? Nom nom.

cooking show