Ruther’s Sweetie Pies serves up sweet treats in Blowers Township
News | Published on January 28, 2025 at 5:39pm GMT+0000 | Author: Tucker Henderson
0Specialty bake shop puts unique twists on sweet treats
By Matthew Johnson
Reporter
All things sweet are pre-ordered made at a small, but growing family custom bake shop in the Blowers Township countryside between Sebeka and New York Mills.
Carrie Ruther, with the help of her husband Justin Ruther, have established Ruther’s Sweetie Pies LLC, which offers a creative custom menu including sweet and savory pies, breads, cookies, cakes and pastries all made fresh on their small family farm. The business, which launched out of their farm home in November of 2020, began with orders of custom made pies just in time for Thanksgiving.
“Since we started with pies, originally we thought pies were going to be the main thing that we sold,” Carrie said. “So, with our last name, we wanted a cute name to signify that we were selling pies.”
They have decided to keep the name as the bake shop’s identity, even though they’ve expanded into the other sweet baked goods besides the pies that keep customers coming back for more. Carrie, originally from Blackduck, previously worked as a baker in the Brainerd lakes area.
The marriage to Justin, who is from Perham and works for Bongards, brought her to rural Sebeka.
“His sister-in-law set us up 10-years-ago,” saidCarrie as she smiled up at her taller husband/willing helper in their new bake shop located just east of their house.
“I do a lot of the packaging,” Justin said.
They broke ground for the bake shop in August of 2023 and all the large baking equipment was finally moved from the house into the shop in February 2024. Justin used to be Ruther’s Sweetie Pies head taste tester, but he recently relinquished that title to their 2 ½-year-old son, Jacob. Justin’s okay with being runner up to Jacob, however, in the taste testing department, as he’s the first to admit that there’s plenty of sweetness to go around. This includes those scrumptious little mini pies they call “pie bites.”
“You can’t stop at just three,” he admitted just as a local reporter was biting into one of those tasty, freshly baked, fruit-filled morsels. A napkin was forthcoming to help catch the juicy filling.
Justin does retain, however, his status as Ruther’s Sweetie Pies’ “biggest cheerleader” and cookie decorator extraordinaire, said Carrie.
“He’s an excellent helper who helps relieve a lot of the stress” that goes along with having a family-owned business, she said.
By far the busiest time for Ruther’s Sweetie Pies is during the wedding season that cranks up in May. Carrie said the business caters two to three area weddings per weekend, on average, during that season serving a total of about 50 weddings throughout the summer. She has also learned the finer art of traditional cake decorating, learning how to create the more challenging and intricate piping details seen more on wedding cakes from 30-50 years ago.
The following promotional material has been written concerning Carrie honing these baking skills: “As her passion grew so did her skills and love for the complexity of cake design and sugar cookie decorating, keeping the small home-made feel without losing beauty.”
Overall, business generally slows down by early November and like so many other local families the Ruther family takes time to enjoy deer hunting. The pie orders from that first November going into Thanksgiving created a number of relationships and repeat customers began placing birthday cake orders for their loved ones, etc.
Many orders are placed for other special occasions, as well, including anniversaries, graduation parties and the like. Whatever the occasion and whatever the particular tastes and styles, Ruther’s Sweetie Pies continuously strives to custom make “all things sweet” exactly to order.
Most inquiries concerning potential orders are made through the business website www.rutherssweetiepies.com that was established in January of 2023. Prices are also listed on the website.
More information can be found on the company Facebook page, as well, including the most up to date pictures. Carrie can also be reached at (218) 239-0207 or email her at rutherssweetiepies@gmail.com.