In Hawaii, every island has that special place to buy omiyage, or “gift” - usually food - to bring back as a treat for family and friends as a taste of your travels. From the Big island of Hawaii, one of those places to go is Holy’s Bakery in the Kapa’au area of Kohala for their awesome pies.

Fortunately for us folks living on (or visiting) Oahu, our local Star Market continues to ship in and sell Holy’s pies, including peach, coconut, and the most popular: Buttered Apple. Each hand-made, then frozen with plenty of TLC and ready to bake.

Diner “E”, in his generous spirit, brought this Holy’s Buttered Apple Pie to the office for us to try, which he bought from the Star Market in Ewa Beach, Oahu. He said there were only 3 in stock, along with 5 coconut and 5 peach pies. All at $14.99 each.

What you say? $14.99 for an apple pie? That is relatively steep, but this isn’t any ordinary apple pie. This is THE apple pie!

Behold the Holy’s Pie box, which this is exactly how it will look in your local Star Market’s freezer section…

Notice there’s no fancy plastic vacuum sealed wrapper or other high tech packaging method. This is old school. I wonder if there could be a loco moco with 2 scoops rice and mac salad under the hood here? lol

Pop the hood, and you’re greeted with a raw, solid-frozen, unbaked pie…


And no it’s NOT microwaveable!

Notice the steam vent slit, which actually you can’t see a visible puka, just the shape of where it’s located.

So what did it say on the label?…

Ah. Bake 350 degrees for 1 hour. So Diner “E” fired up the oven on preheat at that temp’, then placed it in there on top of a baking pan to catch any drippings…

Exactly 1 hour later, it’s done!…

Whew. Thankfully that vent in the top crust functioned properly, or this could have been a mess! Not that the interior of our office lunchroom oven was exactly in showroom condition itself, either. lol

It was left to cool down for about 10 minutes then cut to serve…

Now. You do see it says BUTTERED Apple Pie, right? As in 1 whole stick! See that white goo in the center. That’s butter fat my friends, drippin’ ‘n oozin’ out. Paula Deen, if you’re lookin’ at this, you know what I’m talkin’ ’bout!

Here’s a slice…

What you CAN see is that flaky crust, that is entirely unique to Holy’s pie. What you CAN’T see is the BUTTERYNESS, which permeates throughout the crust and filling via shear heat melting that ingredient (dabs of butter) through and through. Diner “E” made a great observation by pointing out this crust was similar to that of the Manju from Maui. I agree, it’s quite similar.

What’s most incredible is how fresh it tastes after coming piping hot out of the oven, regardless of when the the actual date of production was, or the lack of sealed packaging involved. While I can’t say how one of these tastes fresh off Holy’s assembly line and out of the oven, I’m certainly not complaining with this shipped-frozen-then-baked version.

Now, you don’t think we’d eat this pie “plain” do you?…

Yes. that’s American Cheese added in and melted on, my friends. It may sound or even look gross, but this is THE way to eat an apple pie! You must try it like this. Especially with that extra butter in Holy’s pie. It’s like sensory overload in the way the creamy characteristic flavor of the American cheese enhances the cinnamon, apples, brown sugar, and buttery, delicately-textured crust. Mmm, mmm, mmm.

Everyone who had a slice couldn’t get over how simple, yet delicous this pie was. We all unanimously agreed, whether it was just $5 or $15, Holy’s Buttered Apple Pie is one of the best we’ve ever tasted.

Holy’s Bakery, Inc.
PO Box 132 Kapaau, HI 96755
808-889-6865

*Also available at select Star Market locations on Oahu in the freezer section ($14.99 each for Buttered Apple, Peach or Coconut pies, each).

The Tasty Island rating:

(5) Superb. Worthy of repeat visits or purchases. (Broke Da’ Mout’!)

Related links:
• Frozen Apple Pie is a Big Island Favorite - Honolulu Star Bulletin

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