We recently connected with Tiffany Lujan and have shared our conversation below.

Tiffany, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

My mom taught me the skill & patience of making pie. I remember standing in our kitchen as a teenager and I would get so frustrated by the dough. It wasn’t rolling out right, or it was sticky…and her most famous quote to me was “be patient little tree”. I was probably one of the most impatient little trees there ever was! She would occasionally come to my rescue but most of the time, she would just tell me “add a little more flour” or “try this or that” and I had to learn! Pie dough isn’t always easy to work with. You don’t want to add too much flour or it becomes stiff and unworkable so there is an art to learning to make it just right. I didn’t learn the “art” side of it until 2020 when I wanted my pie dough to be what stood out in my pies. When I started my business in 2018, I only sold Concord grape pies and I used frozen store bought crust. As my business started expanding I wanted my pies to be all made from scratch – nothing store bought at all so I experimented with many crust recipes until I found the perfect one. Then I practiced and watched you tube tutorials and Instagram reels on how to decorate a pie crust and make it “pretty”. It was so much fun!

All of this was also an outlet for me when my littlest kids were toddlers and I felt consumed by motherhood and dealing with a little postpartum depression. I needed something that I enjoyed and made me happy aside from being a Mom. So when the littles went to sleep at night, I broke out the flour, turned on some Helen Nugent tutorials on Instagram and played with pie dough. I didn’t have fancy pie decorating toys at first so I used my kids play dough toys (this was just practice, don’t worry, I didn’t sell these pies!) However, I have one play dough roller that I still use to this day – it is mine and not used for play dough anymore! It’s one of my favorites! After all this self taught learning, I shared some of these skills and taught a few pie baking classes last year! It was a blast and can’t wait to do it again!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I have had customers reach out to me before who have been turned down by other bakers who wouldn’t make a specific pie for them, I think that what sets me apart is the fact that I will make whatever you want – or I will give it my best shot! I had a customer who wanted buttermilk pies for her wedding and she could not find a baker to do it for her. The Cleveland Pie Festival referred her to me, and I was happy to make buttermilk pies for her wedding! I had never even heard of a buttermilk pie before but that didn’t stop me from learning and researching all the recipes for this pie and deciding on the best one for that bride & her family.

During the 2020 shut down, we had a customer reach out to me and ask if I could somehow make individually wrapped pie for a big event she was hosting and our famous pie pops were born! It took practice to get them perfect but we eventually had the perfect method to bake our PIE ON A STICK! These little pies really set us apart and they are so adorable. Customers love the cute factor and that it’s PIE on a STICK. We have over 30 flavors and counting – from chocolate ganache, caramel apple, brown sugar peach, Concord grape, cherry cinnamon pecan, S’mores, lemon curd, orange marmalade, and even egg nog custard for Christmas! You name your flavor, I’ll put it in a pie pop!

Another thing that sets us apart – our pie crust – it’s legit. I have had so many customers say “it’s the crust!” “I don’t even like pie crust but I like yours!” I love that our pie crust makes eyes pop when they try it!

And if I didn’t mention our Concord grape pies, I would be failing myself…our Concord grape is what started my business. This is the pie I grew up making with my mom and sister. We picked our grapes from our backyard and made as many pie filings as it would provide. Now, our family takes an hour trip to Geneva, Ohio to pick around 500lbs of Concord grapes every fall. Our family gathers around the table and we process each grape by hand and make them into grape pie fillings. We have two freezers to hold these fillings in. Concord grape pie is one of the most tedious pies ever made, there’s no fast way to make it. It’s as old fashioned as it gets, but we have it!

Our pies are always filled with real fruit – no fillers or gel, no food dyes – it’s the real deal ya’ll!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I would have to say overcoming fear to be who I am genuinely & unashamedly meant to be. People assume that being a business owner means I am this fearful, outgoing, confident person. On the contrary, I am the biggest awkward introvert there is and I love being alone.

When I started my business in 2018, I did it in secret because I was afraid of what people would say. It then took off and obviously wasn’t a secret anymore!

When I have to do media events, news shows, etc, I have to work myself up for weeks. My favorite books to pump myself up are “You are a badass: How to stop doubting your greatness and start living an awesome life” by Jen Sincero. And “Do it Scared” by Ruth Soukup. I play these books on audio and it helps me get out of my head and motivates me to think big and own my greatness, if you will. I feel like this sounds silly (remember I said I’m awkward!) but I can’t be the only one out there so I hope this helps someone else struggling with that fear of stepping out and being GREAT! You can do it!!

When I wanted to open my own farmstand, I again, struggled with fear. I am literally opening a farmstand for people to come to MY HOME. I kept thinking what if no one comes, what if no one likes it, what if it just sits out there and people don’t respond. I pushed through every single “what if” thought with an “I don’t even care, I’m doing it” thought. Let me just say, the “Cutie Pie Farmstand” has been the best thing ever. My dad helped me build it (he did most of it), but then I painted and made it pretty and I am completely obsessed with how it turned out. Our community has supported my farmstand in a way that I never expected. It has been such a blessing. I love getting to know so many of our neighbors whom I would have never met if we didn’t roll that farmstand out! I definitely promote it all over social media, which is another thing that you should never be afraid of doing but for some reason we think over sharing our business will be bad….nah, share away girl, that’s your baby, your passion – tell the whole world about it!

My biggest advice is to just push through your fear…turn your fear into your motivation. Fear can cripple us if we let it, it can hold you back from blooming into who you are unashamedly meant to be. Be great and don’t hide or apologize for it!

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Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tiffanyscutiepies.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tiffanyscutiepies?igsh=MWNtNzlhaHY1eDJybg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/tiffanyscutiepies?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Image Credits

Angie Renee Photo