Dangerously Delicious Pies
Year-round favorite at Dangerously Delicious Pies
is the Baltimore Bomb, a vanilla custard single-crust
pie that has Baltimore’s Berger Cookies
folded into the custard.

created pies in three sizes: a standard
9-inch pie, a cupcake-sized mini-pie called
a “cuppie” and something called a “pie
bite,” which is the size of a mini-muffin,
complete with its own mini-crust. These
alternate sizes allow patrons to customize
their order and please everyone at their
holiday gathering. It also lets regular cus-
tomers try new flavors without the cost of
purchasing a whole pie.

All standard 9-inch pies are sold in the
glass pie plate in which they are baked. As
Allison Blakely shared, “the pie crust bakes
more evenly in glass and you can see when the
crust is fully baked, not soggy.” Additionally,
most of their pies were too heavy to sell or
serve in an aluminum pie plate. The cost of
the glass plates is factored into the cost of
the pies, which average between $35 and $37
each, but if customers return the pie plate at
a later date, they receive a $2 credit toward
their next purchase.

The Pie Sisters also offer savory pies,
including chicken pot pie made from
their mother’s recipe and quiches. All
pies, both sweet and savory, can be
ordered frozen and unbaked, so they
can be picked up in advance (in their
glass pie plates with baking instructions)
and baked fresh on the day needed. Pie
Sisters desserts can be found at wed-
dings and birthday parties and company
luncheons and on the dessert menus of
area restaurants as well as on the tables
of their regular customers.

The sisters’ two most popular pies are
their bourbon chocolate pecan and their
apple caramel crunch pies, Allison says,
but during the holiday season, pumpkin is
also a favorite. They also offer gluten-free
and lactose-free pies. piesisters.com
Deep Dish
Having reached her 25th anniversary of
teaching first grade for the Archdiocese of
Baltimore, Mary Wortman was searching
for something new, but she had no idea it
would be running a pie shop.

Dangerously Delicious Pies is a
Baltimore staple founded by Rodney “The
Pie Man” Henry, frontman to Baltimore
band Glenmont Popes. While touring with
his band, Henry would make pies for his
crew and sell them at the merchandise
table alongside the band’s wares. In 2012,
Wortman and her husband, John, decided
to take the plunge and purchase the Canton
location from Henry, who was on the
road a lot with his band and his frequent
appearances on the Food Network. Two
years later, the husband-wife duo opened
a second location under Henry’s license
agreement, a smaller, coffee- house-type of
shop in Hampden. Using all of Henry’s rec-
ipes, except for specials, which Wortman’s
head bakers have creative license to exper-
iment with, the Wortmans have found
success and learned a valuable lesson: “If
you have to learn quickly, you do.”
Originally, they both retained their
full-time jobs, but eventually, they
flung themselves full strength into the
pie-baking world, serving 9-inch deep-
dish pies, both savory and sweet, for
breakfast, lunch and dinner. It’s a fam-
ily affair, as son Johnny oversees the
Hampden location with co-manager
Carla Crisp. Mary doesn’t spend much
time in the kitchen, but John does a lot
of the baking, having traded the world of
instrument technology for the science
of oven temperatures.

The business’s year-round favorite is
the Baltimore Bomb, a vanilla custard sin-
gle-crust pie that has Baltimore’s Berger
Cookies folded into the custard, Mary
says. During the holidays, customers
go for the more traditional fare, with
pumpkin, sweet potato, pecan and apple
— either traditional apple or apple crumb
— being top choices.

The Wortmans must be doing something
right as People magazine recently featured
Dangerously Delicious Pies and their blue-
berry pancake pie as its Best Pie in the state
of Maryland. dangerouspiesbalt.com ■
Want to know how to make the perfect
pie crust? Check out Nic Romano’s
recipe on our website.

PIE: DANGEROUSLY DELICIOUS
20 Washington FAMILY NOVEMBER 2019