How Mini Pies Make Dessert Easier, Cheaper, And More Personal

What’s The Story Behind The Bakery’s Mini Pies?

Craving dessert without the leftover guilt? We sat down with Kisha Scroggins of Honey Bunch Bake Shop to explore how mini pies deliver big flavor, smart portions, and real-world convenience from a small, family-run bakery in Southwest Fort Worth. From the first glance—bows on top and flavors sorted in little fridges—you can tell these were built for busy lives and happy moments.

Kisha opens up about the family traditions behind her menu, especially the staples of sweet potato and pecan. She explains why classic pecan’s gooey center never worked for her palate and how she reengineered the texture while keeping the nutty, caramel depth that fans love. The surprise star is the crust: a buttery shortbread cookie with a hint of cinnamon that brings snap, aroma, and warmth to every bite. We also talk about the waves of demand—banana had a run, but coconut is the current favorite thanks to hand-whipped cream, real extract, and freshly toasted flakes.

Beyond flavor, we dig into the purpose driving the mini format. Pre-packaged, grab-and-go pies make it easy to treat yourself on a hard day, share with a friend, or build a party tray with multiple flavors. Minis solve real problems: no fridge full of leftovers, a clear boundary for portion control, and an accessible price point under six dollars in a tough economy. Kisha keeps operations simple because she balances baking with a full-time job and runs the shop with her kids, proving that honest craft and thoughtful design can thrive without fuss or pretense.

If you love food stories that mix tradition with a clever twist—and you’re curious how a shortbread crust can transform a classic—this conversation will make you hungry and hopeful. Subscribe for more behind-the-ovens storytelling, share this with a friend who loves pie, and leave a review to tell us which mini flavor you’re picking up next.

To learn more about Honey Bunch Bake Shop visit:
https://www.HoneyBunchBakeShop.com
Honey Bunch Bake Shop
6257 Granbury Rd
Fort Worth, TX 76133
817-751-8814

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome to Sweet Talk, the Honey Bunch Bake Shop Podcast, broadcasting straight from Southwest Fort Worth's favorite family-run bakery. Each episode we'll peek behind the ovens with owner and operator Keisha Scroggins and her crew, the folks baking up birthday cakes, holiday treats, and everyday sweets for the neighborhood. So settle in. Imagine the smell of warm cinnamon rolls. And get ready for some sweet talk from Honey Bunch Bake Shop.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

They may be small in size, but these pies carry big memories and even bigger flavor. Welcome everyone. I'm Frederick, co-host and producer here in the studio with Keisha Scrogans, owner and operator of the Honey Bunch Bake Shop. Keisha, how's it going today?

SPEAKER_02 0:52

I'm well. How are you?

Why Mini Pies Exist

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Excellent, excellent. Thanks. So let's talk about something special. What is the story behind the bakery's mini pies?

SPEAKER_02 1:03

So I'll give you a little background about my bakery. So it's set up for people to just come in quickly and grab what they want. Most items are already pre-packaged, and that is because my daughter works there. She has special needs, and so I don't want to have to worry about her packaging things up for people. So it's just designed for people to grab what they want and go. So I have a lot of items that are like small in the sense that, like, you know, um, you know, if you have a hard day at work or you just want to pick something up on the way home, you can just grab something sweet to take with you. Larger items, uh, those are things people have to order heads. So these are things that people may just you have a sweet tooth and you just want to grab it. So that's where the mini pies came from. You don't necessarily want a huge pie to take home, and then you eat a couple pieces and then you don't know what to do with the rest, or you've got to try to pawn it off on people. So if you've got a small one, it's big enough to share, but it's small enough that you're not gonna have a lot left over. You can get that craving taken care of and you're good to go.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

Wow, that's an amazing concept. You mentioned, like, you know, you created these mini pies because people have busy days and, you know, they don't want to have this huge leftover pie in their fridge. Um, are there any other inspirations that I guess inspired you to start making mini pies at Honey Bunch Bake Shop?

SPEAKER_02 2:25

Um, I don't know if there was anything specific, but again, just convenience. I think um I like, you know, being able just to pick up a little something. You don't necessarily want something huge. And then it also helps you with your portions. If you don't, I know for me personally, if there's something and uh that you eat and then there's just a lot, especially like a cake or cookie, and there's a lot left, like you find yourself just kind of going back, you get a little bit more, and then you go back and you get a little bit more. This helps you, you know, like you know what? No matter how much I eat, I'm not gonna eat more than this, you know, individual pie that I have. And then I don't have to worry about, you know, eating more than I expected to. You've just got your portion there, and then you can eat that and you know, go on with your days.

Family Traditions And Recipe Twists

SPEAKER_00 3:10

I'm so guilty of that, and I relate to what you said so much about going back to the fridge and everything. Like, I totally get that. So that being said, do these mini pies, do they, you know, connect to any family traditions or or personal memories?

SPEAKER_02 3:25

Um, so for me, just being in, you know, in an African-American family, like sweet potato is is one, um, pecan is another one. I will say that my pecan pie is a little different. So when I was um younger, like I never ate it because I um the gooey texture in the middle was something that I was not a fan of. So um my pie is not a traditional pecan pie. You don't get the gooeiness that you typically get in a regular. There's nothing wrong with that, it just wasn't my preference. Um, so um, so I get the flavor, I get the nutty pecan, and I get all of that, but I I have just a little bit of a different texture. Also, um the crust is different. So I don't use traditional pie crust, I use shortbread cookies. So I love shortbread cookies. It's a butter cookie, it's very flaky. So I use my shortbread cookie recipe, I add some cinnamon, and that's the pie crust that I use. Um, and it's just it gives it a little bit more flavor, it's a little bit sweeter, it's thicker than a regular pie crust. Um, and then to me, that just kind of sets it off.

Customer Reactions And Variety

SPEAKER_00 4:32

That is amazing that you know, uh your backstory influences the products that you serve at Honey Bunch Bake Shop because it's a testament to how you bring your personality and your own background to your products. So that being said, um how do customers usually respond when they see mini pies for the first time?

SPEAKER_02 4:51

So um, I mean, I get a little bit of everything. I get a little bit of, oh my gosh, these are so cute. You know, they're little small pies, and then you'll get the is this it? Is it like where are the big ones? You know, so you get a little bit of everything. Um I do think sometimes, again, you know, if people don't know what to expect, sometimes people do expect um things to be more traditional. So I I think sometimes people just you know make assumptions, which we all do. Um, so sometimes you're like, oh, okay, it wasn't what I expected. I just expected a traditional pie. So I try to put my own little flair onto things. Um, so just to make things a little bit different so that you're not getting the same thing you get anywhere else. So um, again, like with the crust. So sometimes people are like, oh, I didn't, you know, I some people really love it. Some people are like, oh, I was caught off guard. There's a cookie on the bottom of this pie instead of a traditional crust. So um, you know, I get a little bit of everything, but a lot of people really like the crust. A lot of people like the small ones. Sometimes, even if they're having an event, if they get several small ones, they can have a lot of different flavors. Um, and people can choose what they want rather than getting one big pie, and then you have someone there who either is allergic to nuts or doesn't like, you know, XYZ. So um, I've seen some people uh use that as a way to just get a variety of things as well.

SPEAKER_00 6:12

Amazing, amazing. Variety is the spice of life, and uh with that in mind, uh, the whole variety and everything, what flavors have become the most popular among your mini pie selection?

SPEAKER_02 6:26

Things kind of go in waves, it's very strange. Like for a while, like everybody wanted banana, uh, couldn't get enough banana. So lately it's been coconut, amazingly enough. Um, so and I I make the coconut whipped cream, I make it by hand um with like coconut extra. I toast the coconut myself. So yeah, it's a lot of parts. So right now it's coconut.

Flavor Trends: Coconut Takes Off

Simple Style, Simple Packaging

SPEAKER_00 6:51

Coconut sounds amazing right now, and that's so awesome that you make that from scratch. Um, so if you can share, how do mini pies fit into the bakery's overall mission and style?

SPEAKER_02 7:04

So um our style is very low-key. We're very simple. I try to keep things simple. That's just how uh I operate. Well, number one, it's out of necessity as well. So I primarily bake, you know, most things. My my son, my middle son, he does help. Um, but I do most of the things uh myself. So um we keep it simple just because um I still work full time. So I work and then I bake when I'm off of work. So we keep things simple. Our packaging is simple, and so the mini pies fit into that. It's just um they're just little individual pies. We do put little bows on there, but other than that, like everything's very simple. We have little fridges around where we separate the different flavors out into the little fridges, but everything is pretty low-key. We're not very pretentious, we're very simple. We just want people to come in, grab what they want, and they don't have to spend a lot of time, you know, a lot of fuss. We just like people to we we try to make it easy.

Accessibility, Price, And Sharing

SPEAKER_00 8:03

Making it easy is the way to go. So you kind of touched on this earlier about uh why you started making mini pies, you know, um people don't have to have leftovers in the fridge and that stuff. But do you see mini pies as a way to make desserts more accessible or shareable? And do you want to expand on that?

SPEAKER_02 8:21

Uh I think so. And I think price points, especially these days, that's important as well. Um, so like a mini pie, and it's enough for two people. So it's less than$6 right now at our bakery. And it's difficult, you know. Just the, you know, groceries are very expensive. And um a bakery as small as mine, I don't get the benefit of buying in bulk because I I can't. So I um there are places you can buy in bulk, but you have to buy so much that I wouldn't have anywhere to put it or it would expire before I could use it. So um, so it just um helps with the ease of just making things, not having too much left over. You don't have to spend a lot to get a little treat. You can just have something for yourself and maybe someone else. And then, you know, you're not having to worry about, you know, paying for an entire pie that you may not even eat. So I think just with the economy the the way it is, um, it'll just save you some time and some money.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

Gotcha. Well, thank you so much for sharing the heartwarming story behind your mini pies and for everyone tuning in. Thank you so much for joining this journey, and we'll see everyone next time.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

You've been listening to Sweet Talk from Honey Bunch Bake Shop. Sweet on the outside, heart in the oven. Treat yourself and stop by at 6257 Granberry Road in the Hewland Square Shopping Center, or visit Honeybunch Bakeshop.com. Until next time, stay sweet, Fort Worth.