Iris Monroe shows off a pecan pie at the Blue Elephant Restaurant on Wickenden Street in Providence. She is currently taking orders for holiday pies for home use that can be picked up at the restaurant.

The Providence Journal / Bob Thayer

Iris Monroe considers that her Cutie Pies business got started in a Providence dog park earlier this year, but its roots go deeper.

A fourth-generation baker, Monroe learned to cook with her great-grandmother Grant in New Orleans, where Monroe was born. She moved to Providence in 2003, but it wasn’t until she returned home from visiting her mother in Florida last winter carrying a suitcase with 50 pounds of key limes that the pie baker in her was reborn.

She started zesting the limes to make a classic key lime pie when nature called to her dog. Off they went to the dog park where she ran into her friend and fellow dog owner, Jesse. He asked her what smelled so wonderful and she knew it was the aroma from the fresh limes. She told him what she was making and he offered her $20 to make him a pie, too. With all her Southern hospitality, she said she would happily just make him a pie. But he wouldn’t let her do that, what with the cost of ingredients, and she delivered him a pie.

The next time he saw Monroe, he gave her a list of 25 people who wanted to each buy a key lime pie. Thank goodness she brought back all those fresh limes, was her first thought. Her second was this: “That’s a pretty nice profit,” — and she made all the pies and delivered them.

“Then I sat down and started listing all the different pies I knew how to make and I stopped at 400,” she said.

And so her Pie of the Week campaign was born and her customer base became established as was her Web presence at www.cutiepiepies.blog spot.com.

“I think if I have 1,000 patrons, I can make a living and hire others,” she said. “Because what is better than pie?”

Now Cutie Pies isn’t just the company name. It’s also the name of her mini tart-style pies that look like popovers and are just the right size for the many people who don’t want to have a full-size pie in the house. She also makes bite-size pies which are just enough for a satisfying taste. Those who need gluten-free, sugar-free or vegan pies can order them that way.

Crust is part of Monroe’s story. She makes more than a dozen different kinds, from a pretzel crust (for her margarita pie) to a chocolate one. She has a cinnamon variety, almond sliver, ginger, vanilla or coffee. Those coffee crusts go best with her mocha pies. She loves making cream pies this time of year.

For Thanksgiving, the flavors have turned to savory Sweet Potato Pie, her Naughty Pumpkin Pie, which is spiked with brandy and has candied pecans on top, a traditional pumpkin and a classic pecan, a Maple Walnut Pie and her fancy Apple Ribbon Pie.

As she thinks more about the holidays, she plans to make a New Year Pie of espresso chocolate chip to serve before sending guests home from the eve bash.

Monroe has a professional kitchen for her baking at the Blue Elephant on Wickenden Street in Providence. Owner Joshua Selle supports her business and she bakes her Cutie Pies for his dessert menu, two varieties a week. She’s taken on interns from the Genesis Center and expects to hire one to join her and partner Sean Shea in making the pies. She and Shea are a couple and he says his contribution to the business is handing her tools.

She is a one-woman force with boundless energy. She spent the summer working two of the city’s farmers’ markets selling her fruit pies in season before moving to her cream pies and nut pies.

With Thanksgiving, she’s only making full-size versions. Pick-up for orders will be at the Blue Elephant from Monday through Thanksgiving morning. She has orders for 200 pies but is prepared to make 1,500, because when people start talking pie, they have to have one. The holiday pies sell for between $20 and $25.

It’s her goal to use local ingredients whenever possible and fair-trade ones as well. She only sells pies on the day they are made, though all will last seven days.

She said it’s still a bit unbelievable that this whole business started just last winter and now she feels like she has pie friends all around Rhode Island.

“To have strangers like my pie is to be really blessed by the community,” she said.

Eventually, she’d like to open a pie shop where people can sit down and take a load off and have coffee and feel part of the neighborhood. It’s not out of the realm of possibility. Look how she started.

“This whole business was built on $20,” she said, satisfied that the world is a better place with a warm pie.

Details: Cutie Pies can be ordered by Nov. 17 at the company office at (401) 331-2414; at Blue Elephant (401) 383-8149; or by e-mail at cutiepiepies@cox.net.

gciampa@projo.com