One scoop of pie or two? > Maine women invent Pie Cones, a fun way to eat with your hands

Frances Walker knows she’s designed something special, and she’s proud of what she’s done. You can hear it in her voice and see it in her eyes. “This is a Pie Cone,” she said, stuffing an odd-shaped pastry with apple fillng. “I think it’s the perfect food. It’s practical, it’s fun, and it tastes good.”

She’s right. It is practical. Pie you can eat without a plate, spoon or fork. It’s fun. The shape is something between an ice cream cone and an upside down mountain top. Is it good?

“People are surprised when I tell them I make Pie Cones,” Walker said, “but once they try it, they wonder why they didn’t think of the idea.”

If it weren’t for the Common Ground Fair in Windsor, Pie Cones might not yet exist.

“My partner, Hazel Littlefield, and I wanted to operate a food concession at the fair,” Walker explained. “We didn’t know what to do, but we learned no one sold pie there.”

The reasons were obvious. Pies are difficult to transport and fair-goers enjoy eating with their hands. They don’t want to have to stop, sit down with a plate, fork and napkin just to eat a piece of pie.

“The concept of the Pie Cone came to me immediately,” Walker said. “I wondered why no one had thought of it before.”

It didn’t take her long to figure out why Pie Cones had not yet been invented.

“The idea is simple,” she said, “but pie crust is not easy to work with. After awhile I realized it wasn’t as easy as it sounded.”

The cones crumbled, wouldn’t hold their shape and didn’t taste exactly like pie crust. Undaunted, Walker pressed forth.

“I love solving problems,” she said. “I’ve been doing it all my life. This was something I wasn’t going to give up on.”

Being a puppeteer by profession (Walker is Lionwitch Puppet Theater of Freedom), she is used to working with her hands and making something take shape from nothing.

After months of trying, Walker finally came up with the first viable Pie Cone. “Well, the first ones burnt and crumbled a bit,” she admitted, “but they held food long enough to be eaten.”

So off to last year’s Common Ground Fair went the partners. They had Pie Cones in one hand and fillings in the other. They offered blueberry pie, apple pie and strawberry pie, all topped with whipped cream.

“They sold like crazy,” Walker said, still surprised at the immediate acceptance of her Pie Cones. “I think people at the Common Ground Fair really understood the concept. It’s all natural food and there’s no harm to the environment. You don’t need plastic forks or paper plates. The people loved it.”

It was just about then that Walker and Littlefield realized someone could make money on Pie Cones — and decided it should be them. They made everything legal and Pie Cones Inc. was formed. They even trademarked their logo — a walking Pie Cone.

Then they got serious.

They took Pie Cones from fair to fair throughout Maine. They came up with new ideas. Pizza cones, chili cones, lobster cones, crabmeat cones, chicken pot pie cones. You name it, they probably put it in a Pie Cone. The cone for each product has a different taste. Desserts still go in pie-tasting cones, but chili goes in a taco-tasting cone, etc.

Most recently the women have come up with cannoli Pie Cones, chocolate cream pie Pie Cones and chocolate truffle Pie Cones. If you’re not content with whipped cream topping, you can request Cranberry Tiger ice cream.

“When we tell people, they look at us like we’re crazy,” Walker laughed. “Until they taste what we have.”

People liked Pie Cones so much that the women opened a store on Route 1 in Belfast in June. “It was a struggle,” Walker admits. “People didn’t understand what we were all about.”

Now the idea is catching on.

“We did the Blue Hill Fair recently and people were lining up to try a cone,” Walker said. “The best part was they had heard of us already.”

While Walker realizes there’s a bit of fad about Pie Cones, she’s convinced that they’re here to stay. The partners have bought some bakery machines, modified them and are turning out Pie Cones at a fairly regular clip.

The partners’ ultimate goal is to franchise Pie Cones. It’s ambitious, but not impossible. Walker and Littlefield are going to do further research and development this winter.

Meanwhile they’re serving Pie Cones every day on Route 1 — and coming up with new recipes almost as often.

John A. Johnson is a free-lance writer from North Edgecomb.