A batch of leftover pie dough scraps turned into a full-blown baking business for Lauren Marinoff, who now sells palm-size, 3½-inch pies in flavors from tart Granny Smith apple to key lime and chocolate cream out of an East Boston commercial kitchen. Marinoff is the baker behind Big Little Pies, a company she started after realizing she didn't have to toss the extra dough left over from full-size pies.
According to The Boston Globe, Marinoff got the idea for mini pies while traveling for work on an airplane, where she recalled advice from cookbook author and baker Erin Jeanne McDowell about saving leftover dough scraps and baking them into mini tarts. “That became the beginning for me,” Marinoff said, per the Globe's account. She started experimenting in her East Boston kitchen, and as Edible Boston reports, she spent the next few months furiously making tiny pies in that same tiny kitchen before taking the concept public.
From Porchfest Sellout to Full-Time Baker
Marinoff launched Big Little Pies publicly at Somerville Porchfest in 2024, and the response was immediate: “We sold out in an hour,” she said, according to Edible Boston's report. Soon after, per the same account, she quit her consulting position to pursue baking full-time, eventually becoming fully licensed and permitted by May 2024 after three months in CommonWealth Kitchen's business incubator program.
Big Little Pies now bakes out of CommonWealth Kitchen, located at 187 Webster St. in East Boston. The company builds each pie from scratch, starting with an all-butter crust, mixing in real-fruit fillings, and topping it off with a sweet crumble, according to Big Little Pies' own site. Marinoff has said customers tend to eat the pies straight from their hand, without a fork, per the Globe's reporting.
A Menu That Rotates With the Seasons
The standard lineup includes apple made with tart Granny Smith apples, blueberry, sour cherry, strawberry rhubarb, chocolate cream, and key lime, with strawberry rhubarb standing out as the company's best seller, according to Big Little Pies' menu page. Seasonal rotations have brought in blackberry peach and fluffernutter, the business notes, adding that it also makes specialty flavors for custom orders. A dozen-pie box features four different flavors and costs $60, per the Globe.
Marinoff sells her pies at seasonal farmers markets across Greater Boston in addition to catering and pop-up events, Edible Boston reports. Markets have included stops in Newton, Framingham, Andover, Braintree, Somerville's Union Square, and SoWa in Boston. At the Framingham Farmers Market's opening day in June 2024, MetroWest Daily News photographed Marinoff showing off an apple pie among the market's roughly 90 vendor booths, which run 3 to 7 p.m. Thursdays through October.
Loyal Customers and Future Plans
One repeat customer has become something of a regular fixture, taking home five pies every week — a box of four plus an extra apple pie for the road, according to Edible Boston's report. Marinoff also offers delivery in Greater Boston and pickup at CommonWealth Kitchen.
Looking ahead, Marinoff's goal is to eventually ship pies nationally and open a storefront, Edible Boston notes. For now, Big Little Pies remains a farmers-market and catering operation, with its full menu and market schedule posted at biglittlepie.com, where Marinoff describes the mission simply: bringing some joy to parties, celebrations, or just a day that could use a Big Little Pie.
