I Heart, You Heart, We All Heart I Heart Pies

When I phone Emily Kitlas of I Heart Pies at our pre-ordained interview hour, she’s in the middle of what she dubs “a very chocolatey day,” having just put the finishing touches on two orders; a chocolate cake with chocolate mousse and a chocolate flourless cake with chocolate glaze. It’s all in a day’s work for Kitlas and her burgeoning made-to-order pie, cake, tart and bar business which launched just before Thanksgiving three years ago after the sweet treat champion graduating from Le Cordon Bleu.

“Pies are the top,” Kitlas proclaims of her culinary obsession. “Pie and tarts are really what I love to eat myself. You can eat a piece of pie and just be happy. I love that.” Over the years, Kitlas has mastered a multitude of baked delights, from decedent Red Velvet Cake to the most addictive Meyer Lemon Bars imaginable, but asked if she has any personal favorites, she coos, “Apple crumb. Or pecan pie. Oh! A strawberry fig we do. I love it! That’s my favorite.”

But I can’t help but ask what she thinks of Hostess pies.

“What are Hostess Pies?” she asks, genuinely unsure, before laughing at my description of something that comes out of waxy paper from a 7-11. “No, no, no, no, no,” she cries. “I’ve never even had a McDonald’s apple pie! My mom made everything from scratch. I would come home every day and there would be a chocolate chip cookie batch or brownies, and she made it. I was a chubby little kid and I’m proud of it because she taught me so much [about] really good desserts.”

Specially for Easter, I-Heart-Pies has rolled out a dessert that will surely make a mama proud. It’s a Peeps Pie. That’s right, from those florescent chicks that stare you down from the aisles of Rite-Aid, Kitlas has devised a cloud like confection that could make the Easter Bunny green with envy.

She begins by melting Peeps in a double boiler, then folds the rendered golden marshmallow goodness in with whipped cream and bits of chocolate and pours it over graham cracker crust. “You’d think it’d be really rich but it’s fluffy and light,” Kitlas says. The one downside of the pie? Watching the Peeps meet their demise.

“It’s sad. You see the Peep eyes melting. I’m like, ‘I’m sorry I just killed you.’”

Fear not, those Peeps are in a much better place.

I Heart Pies is available through email special order only: orders@iheartpies.com

Large Pie: $20, Four Mini Pies: $10

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