Toothpicks at Sweetie Pies

When you make close to 500 pies per week, in 30 varieties, keeping track of which is which can be a real challenge. So Sweetie Pies, a shop in Door County, Wisconsin devised a 'toothpick code' that helps them remember what they've made. A strawberry pie gets two, red-topped toothpicks, while strawberry-rhubarb gets one red and one green toothpick. Two yellow-topped toothpicks plus one green equals an apple-blackberry combination and two yellow + two red equals a peach-cherry pie.

Opened in 1995, Sweetie Pies uses cane sugar, unbleached and un-bromated flour, and a combination of butter and shortening. They also make no-sugar-added and Splenda pies. A crew of seven or eight creates every pie from scratch, except for an occasional whirl in a food processor. But sometimes the crew expands when visitors make a reservation to help with production for a day.

After they return home, guest bakers can still enjoy Sweetie Pies. The shop ships frozen/raw pies anywhere in the U.S., from Florida or Texas to Alaska. Imagine - freshly baked pie directly from your oven - without any of the work!