Maybe it’s for a competition. Who can make the best hand made pie for the least amount of money? Or something like that. Maybe the best tasting if that’s easier. It could be timed if that makes it easier to write as short story with. Like, he can only spend so much time shopping before he needs to get back to actually bake the pie on time.

Or since the prompt is more about gathering the ingredients than baking the pie, it could be for a special person. So he takes great care on picking the eggs and apples (or whatever filling) that will make the pie because quality matters in things involving love/respect lol (not in a bad way though, I mean, when I’m making something for someone as a gift because I like them, I want it to be perfect)