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FAQ’s

The Estes Park Pie Shop & Bakery was founded in 2008 when Valerie and Rick Thompson fulfilled a life-long dream to own and operate a working Bakery and Pie Shop in Estes Park, Colorado. Having virtually grown up in Estes Park, the two had long dreamed of being a part of the thriving Estes Park community as business owners and community ambassadors. The shop is now housed in Lower Stanley Village next to the McDonald’s, with ample seating and parking. Call it luck or fate, one of the best pie and cinnamon roll bakers in the world, according to her completely unbiased brother-in-law, Valerie seemed destined for greatness as the woman behind the pie recipes now in use at the Estes Park Pie Shop & Bakery.

 

Shortly after, the bakery came into its own when her husband, Rick, took over in the area of breads and cookies. Inventor of the Brookie™ (part brownie part chocolate chip cookie, Rick constantly innovates new baked delicacies). There is little doubt among the residents of the town along with fans who travel from as far away as Cheyenne, Wyoming regularly and Florida annually, that it is hard to beat this duo when it comes to freshly baked perfect pies, mouth-watering cinnamon rolls, beautiful breads, and tantalizing treats including scones, cookies, and brownies.

 

Featuring the finest home made pies in Colorado!! Our specialty at Estes Park Pie Shop & Bakery is PIES!! Following is a list of the many varieties that we serve…

 

OLD FASHIONED FAVORITES:
Apple Cinnamon, Marionberry (Oregon Blackberry), Blueberry, Cherry, Pecan, Pumpkin, Strawberry/ Rhubarb, Triple Berry, Cherry Peach, Peach

 

APPLE BLENDS:
Apple Marionberry, Apple Blueberry, Apple Cherry, Apple Ginger Peach, Apple Raspberry, Apple Strawberry.

All pies are available in crumb topping, pastry topping or lattice pastry top.

All pies are 9″ in size and cut into 6 large slices, or 8 regular slices.

 

We also offer a wide and tantalizing assortment of fresh baked breads (french, whole grain and challah are our mainstays), sweet breads from zucchini to pumpkin cranberry, muffins, scones, brownies, cookies, and cakes for every occasion.

 

Try our house specialties – Fresh baked cinnamon rolls, Amazing Pecan Sticky Buns, and The Brookie™ (1/2 brownie, 1/2 cookie).

 

Sometimes you don’t feel like eating out, but after a long day of work who wants to cook?

We have Dinner-to-Go! These pre-baked meals include our coveted chicken pot pie in 9″ anddd 6″ sizes, lasagna, quiche, and pizza rustica. You’ll want to try them all.

 

Plus we deliver for a small fee all over Estes Park. Think of us when you need to cater a lunch or a party.

 

We ship anywhere in the continental USA!

 

Order your Holiday Pies early!

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Baking Classes

“What? Share our baking secrets?” Absolutely! We at the Estes Park Pie Shop & Bakery believe in sharing–maybe not all of our secrets, but definitely many of our tips especially for high-altitude baking.

 

We offer a variety of classes throughout the year to meet the needs of the residents of Estes Park and the surrounding communities. Of course, anyone from anywhere is welcome.

 

UPCOMING CLASSES!
KIDS COOKING is coming in April!

 

PIE MAKING – A repeat of our most popular class! April 9th! Contact us to register!

 

Pie Making – Learn to make fruit and cream pies, including our fabulous pie crust! Class is limited to 6 people. Each participant will take home a pie and recipies for fruit filling, crust, and crumble topping. Time: 2.5 hours; Fee: $35.

 

Cookie Making – Typically offered around the holidays, our cookie making basics shows you how to use 1 dough recipe and modify it for 12 different flavors. As well, the dough is suitable for rolled & cut cookies, drop cookies, shaped cookies or pressed cookies (in a cookie press). Each participant will take home a variety tray of cookies, along with recipes. Class is limited to 10 participants. Time: 2.5 hours; Fee: $35.

 

Bread Making – Making bread is not as hard as you think! Participants learn to proof yeast, learn what dough looks and feels like, and how to adjust baking times for high altitude. Class is limited to 6 participants. Time: 3 hours Fee $35.

 

Sweet Bread Making – Learn how to avoid the typical pitfalls and havoc wreaked by high altitude sweet bread baking. Participants will make 4 kinds of sweet bread and each participant will take home at least 1 loaf. Class is limited to 6 participants. Time: 2.5 hours; Fee $35.

 

Please check back often for dates, times, and fees for upcoming classes, or become a fan on Facebook and get automatic alerts.

Pie Making Help Guide

Crust Issues:
My dough cracks or falls apart when I try to roll it out!

The dough is most likely too dry or it could be too cold. The dough should feel soft and pliable, not unyielding. If it is crumbly, it’s too dry. Add cold water, a few drops at a time, but avoid over mixing. Handling your dough too much will make it tough, so try to knead in the water gently. If it’s cracking around the edges only, it’s probably just too cold. Let it sit on the counter for a 1/2 hour or so to warm up.

I can’t get my pie crust off the counter, or it sticks to the rolling pin.

Try flouring the surface of the board adequately and flouring your rolling pin. You might also try chilling the dough before rolling as well. You can also roll the dough out between sheets of waxed paper.

My crust isn’t flaky!

For soggy crust, you can lightly brush the bottom crust with beaten egg white before pouring in your filling. This forms a seal over the crust to prevent it from getting soggy. If the crust is tough and not flaky (but also not soggy), then the issue is likely that you overworked the dough when you mixed it, or that the dough got very warm so the fats melded together.

My crust isn’t getting brown!

Many crusts contain vegetable shortening which won’t brown until it is cooked for a very long time. To prevent burning your pie to get a brown crust, brush the top of the pie with milk, or with egg wash made from 1 beaten egg + 1 Tbl water.

I pre-baked my pie crust, and it shrunk!

Keep the dough refrigerated before rolling it out and be sure not to stretch or pull the dough when forming it to the pan. Use a fork to poke the dough all the way around on the sides and bottom. This will allow the steam to escape so the crust doesn’t puff up. As soon as you take the crust out of the oven, use an oven mit to push down any dome-like shape in the middle.

Fillings
My fruit pie is a watery mess and won’t set up.

Be sure you’re using enough thickening agent. Typically fruit pies that are baked in the shell use either flour, corn starch, or quick cooking tapioca as a thickener (or a combination of 2 or all three). Fruit is full of water naturally, so these thickeners combine with the natural fruit juice to make the ‘syrup’ for the pie. The other option is to cook your filling on the stove and then pour it into an unbaked pie shell. Be sure the pie has cooled completely before you slice it–the filling needs time to set properly.

How can I tell when my custard pie/pumpkin pie/pecan pie is done?

We like to use what we call the “jiggle test”. Cook your pies on a cookie sheet. Typically these kinds of pies bake for about an hour. After 1 hour, jiggle the cookie sheet while looking at the middle of the pie. If it looks like liquid with a skin on top – add 15 minutes. If it looks like firm jello – you’re done!

SWEET BREADS

Help! My banana bread (or other sweet bread) sunk in the middle – it’s like a moon crater! What did I do wrong?

This is one of the trickiest parts of high altitude baking. Unfortunately, there is no magic formula for adjusting for altitude. Because the air pressure is greater at altitude, the leavening (baking powder or soda) in your bread reacts more quickly – rising up very fast while baking. The center isn’t baked fast enough, so the bread rises quickly, then the structure of the bread can’t support itself, so it sinks. There are a few things you can do – you just have to play around with it and through trial and error you’ll get it fixed! First, add about 1/4 cup more flour, and cut the leavening (baking powder or soda) by 25 – 30%. Try a combination of adjusting those two things and eventually you’ll get it!

I baked my famous chocolate chip cookies and they turned out like 5″ pancakes! What can I do to make them “regular cookies”?

My suggestion would be to add extra flour – especially if your cookies have a lot of butter in them (or if butter is the only fat). Adding about 1/2 – 1 extra cup of flour per batch should do the trick!

My yeast bread didn’t rise – what do I do with this brick?
“Brick bread” as we call it at the bakery can have many causes. First, you should always proof your yeast when baking yeast bread. This is a step where you put the yeast in a few Tbl of warm water (then subtracting that amount of water from the recipe total so you are still using the same total volume amount of water or milk). In a small bowl, stir the water, yeast, and 1 tsp sugar. Let it sit 15 minutes. If the yeast mix gets milky and foamy – you’ve done it right. Add it to the recipe during the ‘add the yeast’ step and keep on truckin’! Sometimes, the yeast is old and won’t react properly, or sometimes you get carried away with water that is too hot and kills the yeast. This step will prevent that.

Secondly – don’t over mix. This is a common problem when using a bread machine. Bread dough should be elastic and stretchy. You can cut back on the amount of flour you’re using if your bread is stiff. (Wheat and multigrain will be stiffer than white, but it should still be stretchy).

Thirdly – watch your rising. Let the bread loaves rise during the rising stage until it crests the top of the loaf pan. If you let it rise too long, the structure isn’t supported and it will fall (with a loud noise, slam of the oven door, etc.) Then – you get a brick!

Lastly – don’t over knead. Kneading is basically to remove air bubbles and to smooth out the bread and work it into a pliable state. The more you knead, the more flour you are adding which can make bread stiff and dense.

Good luck!

Ship me a pie!

• At the Estes Park Pie Shop & Bakery we make all kinds of baked goods from our world-famous pies to the finest quality breads. Our menu is constantly growing, and we have been known to make new, one-of-a-kind things for special orders for any customer. We’ll even bake your family recipe so you can enjoy the traditions of home while you’re on vacation!
  OLD FASHIONED FAVORITES:
• Apple
• Blackberry
• Blueberry
• Cherry
• Pecan
• Chocolate Pecan
• Pumpkin
• Strawberry/Rhubarb
• Triple Berry (Blackberry, Raspberry, Strawberry)
• Four Berry (Blackberry, Raspberry, Strawberry, Blueberry)
• Cherry Peach
• Peach
• Apple Peach Praline 
• Rhubarb
• Blueberry Peach
• Strawberry Peach
• Blackberry Peach
• Caramel Apple Pecan
• Blueberry Cherry
• Cherry Rhubarb
• Cherry Mango
• Cherry Blackberry
• Cherry Blueberry
• Blackberry Rhubarb
• Blueberry Rhubarb
• Strawberry Mango
• Blackberry Mango
• Raspberry Mango
• Fall Harvest (Apple, Rhubarb, Peaches)
• Mango Ginger
• Cherry Raspberry
• Blueberry Raspberry
• Rhubarb Custard
• APPLE BLENDS
• Apple Blackberry
• Apple Blueberry
• Apple Cherry
• Apply Ginger Peach
• Apple Raspberry
• Apple Strawberry
•  CREAM & COLD PIES
• Coconut Cream
• Banana Cream
• Chocolate Cream
• German Chocolate
• Banana Coconut Cream
• Chocolate Banana
• Chocolate Peanut Butter
• Chocolate Strawberry
• Peanut Butter
• Key Lime
• Blueberry Key Lime
• Raspberry Key Lime
• Lemon Cream (or Meringue)
• Cookies & Cream
• Chocolate Silk
• S’Mores Pie
• Cherry Cream Cheese
• Blueberry Cream Cheese
• Raspberry Cream Cheese
• Apricot Cream Cheese
• Black Forest Pie
• Vienna Chocolate
• Samoa Pie
• Pecan Sandie
• Mocha Decadence
• Vanilla Custard
• Chess
• Lemon Chess
• Shoo Fly Pie
• SPECIALTY CEREAL PIES
• Lucky Charms
• Apple Cinnamon Toast Crunch
• Fruity Pebbles

GLUTEN FREE OFFERINGS

Any fruit pie can be made gluten free, but only with crumble topping.

Cream pies can also be made gluten free except Coconut, Banana, Chocolate cream, Vienna Chocolate and Chocolate Peanut Butter. Gluten free pies will incur a $5 additional charge.

Mix and match any fruit you like to create your own combination!
All fruit pies are available in our signature crumb topping. Pastry or lattice pastry top available for an additional charge. Sugar free pies available to order (fruit only) at no additional charge.
All pies are 9″ in size and will serve 6-8 slices.