There’s always room for pie, especially when that pie comes on a stick! Meet Jess Filippi of Hello Sweetie Pies. Based in Southern California, Filippi is the head baker and pie maker extraordinaire behind Hello Sweetie Pies. “I had been baking for years and dabbled with selling our hand pies and cookies, but Hello Sweetie Pies really started when I made my first pie pop in April of 2015. I was eight months pregnant and made 20 of them for our very first market,” she recalled. Filippi knew she was on to something tasty, but her husband was initially doubtful. “I mentioned that I wanted to try to put them on a stick and my husband said there was no way they would stay on the stick and probably would not be that popular. Now he says all the time that he is so glad he was wrong,” she laughed.
Hello Sweetie Pies offers small shoppers bite-sized portions of classic desserts and no fork is required. “Our most popular flavor year round is Apple. It’s just a classic. Strawberry and Blueberry are very popular year round too,” Filippi explained. “In the fall, we can barely keep Pumpkin in stock. We roast fresh pumpkins and make our own puree on-site, so it’s a lot of work to get that filling. We have to limit it because it’s so popular! I personally love Strawberry Peach. It is the perfect mix of summery and sweet flavors for me. It’s seasonal from July through September and I look forward to it every year.” Sounds like pastry perfection.
While the pie pops are the obvious star of Hello Sweetie Pies, I would be remiss if I did not mention the shop’s cookies. “We are kept quite busy with our pie pops, but our cookies are our best kept secret,” Filippi exclaimed. “If you know, you know, and if you don’t know…well then you should try them and join the club!” Also, no pie problem if you reside outside of California. Hello Sweetie Pies ships boxes of pie pops all over the country every week. I ordered a specialty box to serve over Thanksgiving last year and they were a huge hit. “Over holidays like Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, we send hundreds out in gift boxes,” said Filippi. “We regularly cater weddings and corporate events as well.”
Baking brings Filippi a joy you can literally taste with every bite. “I love taking a brand new crust from the fridge and rolling it out for the first time. It’s always so fresh and clean, like freshly fallen snow. Rolling it out before cutting into it always gives me that small moment of zen while I’m up late baking every night.” And, in these zenful moments, Filippi still marvels at everything she has built – and baked – from scratch. “We are a family run business and our customers love to connect with all of us. We love to share lots of what we do on our Instagram stories and recommend things to do and other shops that we know and love,” she shared. “Five years ago, I could not have imagined us here. It wasn’t even a concept to me. It went from co-workers saying things like, ‘You should have a bakery!’ to actually having one! I never would have believed it possible.”
Order a box of pie pops for your next get-together (or just keep them for yourself!) and drool over all the deliciousness from Hello Sweetie Pies on its website and Facebook page here.
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