If you’ve followed Minnevangelist for any length of time, you know we’re crazzzzy about pie. (Blame it on co-founder Ashlea Halpern‘s Southern upbringing.)
We’ve sung the praises of fruity, creamy, coconutty slices from Vikings and Goddesses, Hot Hands Pie, Birchwood Cafe, Fruit & Grain (a hand pie legend!), Revival, Hi-Lo Diner, and Pie & Mighty.
We’ve eaten pie on the North Shore (Duluth Grill, Betty’s Pies in Two Harbors), along the Root River Trail (Aroma Pie Shoppe in Whalan), and on the Wisconsin side of the Great River Road (Stockholm Pie and General Store, Smiling Pelican Bakeshop in Maiden Rock). We’re not even above driving 40 minutes to Minnesota’s Largest Candy Store in Jordan for hot-baked apple pie or an hour to Braham, a.k.a. the “Homemade Pie Capital of Minnesota,” for its annual Pie Day festivities. (Alas, this year’s events were cancelled due to Covid-19.)
That said, one of our favorite summer pies comes from Martha’s Eats & Treats in Dundas, 45 miles south of Minneapolis. Self-taught baker Martha Schuetzle does magical things with butter, sugar, and juicy-ripe fruit in this humble little cafe. It’s open just two days a week (Friday and Saturday, from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.), and yes, it’s worth playing WFH hooky.
Pictured up top is Schuetzle’s unbeatable blueberry pie. She also earns raves for her peach pie, rhubarb crumb cake, pecan rolls, ginger molasses cookies, bacon-cheddar scones, and French-y gibassier (a galette made with candied orange peel and anise seed). The menu is always changing, but her customers’ loyalty never wanes.
If you want to make a day trip out of visiting, stop at Hot Sam’s Antiques & Foto Park in Lakeville en route for junkyard thrifting and a wacky Instagram photo session ($10 per vehicle for up to three people with cell phones); throw back some patio beers at church-turned-brewery Chapel Brewing, also in Dundas; or plan your getaway for a Friday afternoon so that you can picnic with wood-fired pizza at Red Barn Farm in Northfield (reservations required) and later catch a drive-in movie or concert film at the Drive-in at Elko Speedway in Elko New Market. Friday Pie Day forever! 🥧❤️
Martha’s Eats & Treats
236 Railway St. N., Dundas, MN; 507-645-2984.
