If you went to a Cincinnati Public School and remember eating a slice of sugary-sweet chess pie with your lunch, here's a deal for you:

        You can now buy Cincinnati Public Schools' chess pie and other baked goods direct from the food service department's bake shop.

        But if you want chess pie for the holiday table, act fast.

Susan Foster of Mount Washington makes cherry pies at Cincinnati Public Schools' bake shop. (Glenn Hartong photo) | ZOOM |

        The 10-person baking team was swamped with orders at Thanksgiving, and word is out that people can purchase the made-from-scratch goods at the nonprofit kitchen.

        And at $6 a pie, it's a real steal.

        “Not being a business, we haven't always promoted what we do,” said Rita Knueven, food service administrator. “Not many people know they can come here and buy what we make. We just want to provide a better service.”

        And so the bake shop is going public.

        Cincinnati was one of the first school districts in the country to offer lunch to students, starting in 1898. About 40 years ago, the bake shop, where goods are baked and packaged in individual servings for sale at schools, came along.

        It's been busy ever since.

        Bakers produce 2,136,000 from-scratch cookies every school year, plus 250,000 brownies and cakes and 35,600 pies.

        In one day, the bake shop will make 300 pies and between 14,000 and 20,000 cookies.

BAKE SHOP PRICES

To place an order, call the bake shop at 369-4611 and leave your name, phone number and order.     Choices include chocolate chip, peanut butter, peanut butter-chocolate chip, oatmeal and sugar cookies; the CPS cookie; chess, derby, apple, apple strudel, apricot, blueberry, cherry, berry, lemon crunch, peach, pumpkin and sweet potato pies; brownies; cheesecake; carrot, yellow and chocolate cakes.     All pies, $6.     Mini cakes, $3.     Cookies: $2.50 for small box; 25 cents for two cookies; 50 cents for five.     CPS cookies: $1 for two; $5 for a box of 12.     Individual servings of:     Cheesecake, $1.     Brownies, all other cakes, 75 cents.

        The bake shop can't do retail sales. As a school food provider, the department receives government commodity foods. State and federal regulations prevent the shop from making a profit.

        In the 40 years the bake shop's been around, new items have been created. Some, like last year's peanut butter pie, were not so popular. Others, like the CPS cookie, are gaining a following.

        CPS cookies are large and contain peanut butter, chocolate chips, nuts and other secret ingredients. They sell two for $1.

        “We wanted the kids to have a known cookie, like Busken Bakery has the smiley face cookies,” said Barbara Swanson, bake shop manager.

        Longtime favorites like chess pie and chocolate chip cookies are always best sellers, Ms. Swanson said.

        “People who went here years ago remember,” she said.

        The bake shop is a high-tech place.

        An electric hopper drops mounds of cookie dough, mixed by D'Wayne Merdity, in just the right size onto a baking sheet. If the cookies come out too big, they won't fit into their plastic packaging.

        On another side of the room, Susan Foster makes cherry pies, scooping big piles of cherries out of a large vat and into rows of pie shells.

        They're put in a double-cart oven, which allows large metal carts with shelves full of pies to bake them all at once.

        During a reporter's visit, Ronda Warren made a few hundred chess pies.

        She shared the ingredients - butter, sugar, egg yolks, corn meal, salt, nutmeg, tapioca powder, water and powdered milk - and the secret.

        “Key to a good chess pie?” Ms. Warren said, “It's good mixing.”
       

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