Francine Bryson's Future Includes Cookbook, Possible Pie Shop

“The American Baking Competition” finalist Francine Bryson has a number of sweet projects in the works.

“We're working on a cookbook,” Bryson said. “That's the next big project.”

The Pickens resident made it all the way to the final three in the CBS competition show.

Bryson was on hand in Pickens Thursday morning as Fox Carolina brought its Celebrate the Carolinas tour to town.

She spoke with Fox Carolina and Easley Patch that morning.

Fox Carolina anchor Joe Gagnon asked Bryson how far she'd gotten in the competition.

“This is what they tell me: I am the number one female baker in the country,” Bryson said.

Bryson is a member of the American Pie Council. The woman in charge of the council's National Pie Championship sent in the paperwork to CBS on Bryson's behalf.

“They called and asked me to come to a casting,” Bryson said. “I went to the casting and the next thing I know, I was flying out to LA. Then a limousine was in my front driveway a month later to take me to the set.”

Gagnon asked Bryson for baking tips.

“Just call me up and I'll fit in my schedule,” she said with a laugh.

When asked how it felt to be that successful, Bryson said that not much had changed for her.

“I'm just me and that's what I love to do and I've done it since I was a little girl,” Bryson said. “It's not a big change for me – I just did it on a bigger scale. I still bake the same ways I've always baked. I still get in the kitchen and I still fuss if it doesn't turn out right – and we still eat it anyway.”

Bryson hopes to have the cookbook out by Christmas.

“That's what we're booking for,” Bryson said. “If not, it'll be the first of the year.”

The cookbook will have some of the recipes fans have come to know Bryson for.

“Definitely the Chocolate Bacon Peanut Butter Pie, Upside Down Apple Pie, Strawberry Decadence Chocolate Cake, just a little bit of everything,” Bryson said. “A few of the recipes are from the show. Most of the recipes have been passed down from my grandmas and mama and great-grandma. I stick with what I was raised with.”

Bryson has been baking since she was a child.

“The first thing I baked was a lemon meringue pie when I was four years old,” she said. “I've been baking ever since.”

There could be a bakery in Bryson's future.

“There's hopefully a Purdy's Pies going to be in Pickens,” Bryson said. “That's a couple of years down the line. We're looking at real estate and doing figuring and some stuff like that. That's definitely in the future, Purdy's Pies in Pickens.”

Purdy is Bryson's husband Mark's nickname for her and her food.

“He'd say, 'Honey, you just made it look so purdy, and then he started calling me Purdy and then everybody started calling me Purdy.”

She's also doing cooking demonstrations in the area, including at She Greenville on August 24.

Does the future hold more TV appearances for her?

“Just stay tuned,” she said with a smile. “Everything's in the development stages because we're fresh off the baking competition. There's lots of offers out there for some really cool, fun stuff.”

Bryson is one of the judges at the Easley Farmers Market's Pie-Baking Contest Tuesday. Bryson herself won the contest several years ago. Her Bourbon Pecan Cheesecake won First Place and Best in Show and her Peach Praline won Second Place.

“I'm just looking forward to eating some pie,” Bryson said.