No Matter How You Slice It: Hightstown Pie Maker Chelsea Frost

Right off the bat, the question had to be asked: butter or lard? Every professional pie maker has a preference for their crust, and Chelsea Frost certainly does.

“Butter. It just gives more flavor,” she says. “I even-have a butter churn tattooed on my leg. I love butter that much.” This is Frost’s eighth Thanksgiving cutting butter into dough for pies as Pie Girl (@piegirlnj) and second as a full-time pie maker. Currently a one-woman operation, she has big dreams that she’s shaping as carefully as she does her fillings and dough. First up: She’s signed a lease to open a shop in 2023 at 117 W. Ward St. in Hightstown.

“The website and the T-shirts are in the making,” she says. “I can’t wait.”

Frost’s love of baking began in childhood, in South River. “I grew up at the kitchen table,” she says. “I was always cooking dinner with my mom. At Thanksgiving, we made 20 pumpkin pies for all of our family and neighbors. I had this huge bowl, and my job was to mix the pumpkin filling. “Twenty pies when I was little was crazy,” Frost laughs. “Twenty pies now, I could do that in my sleep!”

Restaurant work followed later, and one holiday season she agreed to take on the restaurant’s pie orders, baking 22 pies. “I was so stressed,” she says. “Last Thanksgiving, I made over 200 pies. My business has come a long way; every year it has grown exponentially.”

Frost chalks up Pie Girl’s success to several ingredients, including social media—“It’s magic; if Instagram didn’t exist, I don’t think I would be here”—but her fellow NJ small-business food owners are even more profound magic-makers.

“It’s the whole community-over-competition thing,” Frost says. “I have never thought of any bakery as my competition. I go to The Baker’s Grove in Shrewsbury because I love their food, and I post what I get. I go to E. Holland Sundries in Bradley Beach because [chef/ founder] Shannon Phillips is incredible and I love her. Why wouldn’t we support each other?”

E. Holland Sundries, Old Hights Brewing in Hightstown, and The Baker’s Grove have hosted Pie Girl pop-ups. The latter’s chef/owner, Matthew Rosenzweig, invites Frost on a monthly basis.

“I found Chelsea on social media and was intrigued by the fact that she uses local ingredients in her pies,” says Rosenzweig. “I met her last summer, when I was in the process of opening the shop and thinking about having people from the community do pop-ups. I thought she’d be a perfect fit to celebrate what we have in the Garden State.”

“Matt has been incredible,” Frost says. “The first time I was there, when we ended, he sent me a message saying, ‘That was the busiest weekend we’ve ever had.’ We were both surprised at how much it brought to both of us. Now he has people who have never been to the shop before, coming to pick up a pie, and saying, ‘Oh my gosh, what are all of these incredible pastries? I need them all!’”

“AS MUCH AS I LIKE TO THINK MY PIES ARE REALLY GOOD, THE INGREDIENTS I’M USING ARE REALLY GOOD. THE QUALITY OF WHAT YOU’RE USING MATTERS 100 PERCENT.” 

Pop-ups also give her the opportunity to engage with customers, something she treasures. “My favorite part is the people,” she says. “I love being there. I work behind the counter for the day: ‘Hi! Good morning, how are you? What can I get you? I’ll make you a box.’”

Along with filling bellies, Frost relishes the chance to reconnect customers with sweet moments from the past. “Pie is so comforting. Pie is rooted in tradition,” she says. “Someone recently ordered a pie and said, ‘My grandma used to make this peach-blueberry pie and I haven’t found one since. Can you make one?’ And I said, ‘Of course I can.’ After serving it to his family, he sent me a message saying, ‘We have all decided that this is the best pie we have ever had.’ Everyone is so grateful,” says Frost.

She recalls another Pie Girl fan who drove from Connecticut to New Jersey for a pie pickup—the day before Thanksgiving. He also builds bespoke knives, and she has since become a customer to him. “He made knives for me and they say ‘Pie Girl’ on the blade. I love them so much.”

The value of relationships plays out further in Frost’s commitment to sourcing locally. She cites farm-to-restaurant hub Harvest Drop in Windsor and Great Meadow Farm & Market in Lawrenceville as essential partners in her work, providing “everything for my pie fillings. All the fruits, the meats, some of the cheeses, and the vegetables for quiches. Cases of apples and cases of eggs.”

Harvest Drop delivers Frost’s pies with their products; Great Meadow sells them at their market. (She also delivers her Saturday-menu pies herself to local customers and to designated pickup areas.)

“Supporting local growers is important to me,” she continues. “It tastes better. Produce is picked ripe, so peaches taste like peaches. As much as I like to think my pies are really good, the ingredients I’m using are really good. The quality of what you’re using matters 100 percent.”

Sourcing locally also means what’s ripe on any given day informs what Frost bakes. “A huge part of innovation is what’s available,” she says. “Once I figure that out, the menu practically makes itself. It’s actually harder in the summer because there’s so much to choose from. But it’s fun when it’s more limited because you have to get more creative.”

Speaking of innovation, Frost’s two boys, Atlas (9) and Mobius (7), recently surprised her with an idea for a pie, which they all made together and put on the Pie Girl menu. The half-chocolate, half-golden Oreo cookie crumb crust was filled with cream cheese and Oreos and topped with rainbow sprinkles, more cookie crumbs, and a chocolate drizzle.

“We called it ‘Cool Kid Pie’ and it sold like mad,” she says. “Thirty in one day. They were beautiful and so much fun. I can’t wait for them to invent another one.”

The last ingredient that makes up Pie Girl is genuine excitement. “This is my livelihood; it’s not a side hustle,” Frost says. “This is what I need. I can live my life and make pie? How cool is that?”

What’s the best part of this work?
Feeding people.

What’s the most challenging part of this work?
Not sleeping, but I think that translates to time management!

Favorite pie to make: In the summer, Sweet Jersey Corn Custard pie. Sometimes when I get the bag of corn, it’s still warm from the sun.

Favorite pie to eat: Salted Honey Lavender. When you take a bite, it’s exactly what your mouth wants, and you didn’t even know it.

Indispensable kitchen tool: My rolling pin!

What inspires you most about this work?
Not only does it make me happy, but it makes so many people happy.