Blue Ridge -- One day Blue Ridge may have to erect another sign at the city limits; this one would proudly proclaim "Home of the World's Best Fried Pies."
That's what people are already saying about Sweetie Pies Fried Pies.
Sweetie Pies Fried Pies is the brainchild of Karen Riley and just how good are these pies, you ask?
"So far I've had two marriage proposals and one 'will you be my mom?'" Riley says with a laugh.
Now, that's home cooking!
Actually, Mrs. Riley is happily married and her family can often be found working shoulder-to-shoulder in Karen's Kitchen ~ Home of Sweetie Pies Fried Pies located inside Branscome's grocery store in Blue Ridge.
Husband, Steve, is a Lt. for McKinney Police Department. Their daughter, Jordan, 21, is the dough specialist and the couple’s son, Cason, 15, "bag and tags" the pies. Karen Riley worked 17 years as a police officer and a DA investigator, and that experience left her with many friends in the area. The Riley family isn’t just turning out great pies; this is a business model and a great learning experience. This is developing a product, customer service, branding and marketing – everything it takes to carve out a niche and create your own business.
Like any good Texas story, this one has a chapter about chuck wagons.
Riley started making fried pies while looking for a Dutch oven dessert to make at a chuck wagon competition. Not just any fried pie would cut the mustard for this discerning cook, either.
There were taste tests with friends and recipe adjustments. Then more taste tests. Riley went through eight different dough recipes until she hit the culinary jackpot -- a crispy golden crust that flakes off into layers with every bite. Sweetie Pies Fried Pies was born in that instant.
At first, Riley began selling her fried pies at the farmers market in Leonard and found they were selling like, well, hotcakes, only faster! Then friends started to call and ask Riley to hold their pies back because they didn't want to get up so early for the market.
"The 'save me a pie' orders got to be so big that I quit selling at the market and just started taking orders," recalls Riley.
They say if you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door. Evidently, that goes double for fried pies. Word got out about Sweetie Pies Fried Pies and soon Riley was delivering dozens of pies to McKinney Police Department, various Collin County offices and small businesses in downtown McKinney.
Last May on Memorial Day weekend, the pie orders came flooding in. Forty-two dozen pies later, Riley told her husband, once she got enough strength back to talk, that she wouldn't dare do it again until she had a bigger kitchen.
"So, here we are in a bigger kitchen!" Riley says of her new location inside Branscome's grocery store in Blue Ridge.
Sweetie Pies Fried Pies come in seven delicious flavors: Apricot, Apple, Peach, Buttermilk, Chocolate cream, Coconut cream and Lemon, and -- nowhere but Texas -- Sawdust.
This popular deli is open Monday through Wednesday 7:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m., Thursday and Friday 7:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m., and Saturday from 8:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. Sweetie Pies Fried Pies is closed on Sunday.
To place an order, email karenriley@verizon.net or call 972-821-1508.
Most deliveries must be for several pies, but Riley tries to be as flexible as possible, so give her a shout and talk it out. There might be another small order nearby to make delivery feasible.
And what does Riley enjoy most about her job?
"What I really like is the reaction from people who are eating them for the first time and knowing that my pies have made them happy," she says.