Jennifer always looked forward to the trip to her Grandmother’s in Stratford, CT on a Sunday morning so they could walk to the neighborhood bakery to pick up some freshly baked rolls; or to watch her bake one of her famous Apple pies or New York Style Cheesecakes. Baking was a family tradition shared by Jennifer’s Grandmother, Mother, and her three sisters. They understood the importance of using only the best quality ingredients and taking care to produce baked goods that tasted as good as they looked. These were the traits that she learned at an early age.
Jennifer kept the tradition going when she and her family settled in Washington, DC area. She began entering Apple Harvest Pie Contests in west Virginia and in Virginia. Her apple pies not only won ribbons but they commanded high prices at Harvest auctions in the heart of Berkeley County Apple Country. She also entered an won the Washington DC area Magruder's Pie contest. But, it wasn’t until one of her close friends in Great Falls, VA suggested that she donate one of her famous Apple Pies to a School Fundraiser did Jennifer realize that her pies were much more than a family favorite. And, it wasn’t long after that her pies became a staple item at a nearby Irish Farm Market along with sales of her Irish Soda Bread.
So, at the invitation of a local restaurant owner, she began selling pies and muffins at the Original Great Falls Farmers Market, off Georgetown Pike, and at his coffee shop and pub. Once the Farmers Market moved to the Great Falls Village Center, her pie sales began to increase. She had to relocate her bakery to larger facilities. Jennifer also serves the Vienna, VA community at their Saturday Farmers Market in the spring and summer seasons.
Now, Jennifer has both wholesale and retail operations that feature everything from pies, cakes, cookies, brownies and muffins to specialty dessert items like Italian pastries, as well as formal wedding cakes.
Her retail shop and production facility just moved to Ashburn, VA where there is more space to accommodate a growing business. Along with her baked goods, Jennifer’s Pastries expanded into a full service café that features breakfast items, muffins, home style soups, sandwiches, quiches, and her husband’s Connecticut-style Pizzas baked on a stone hearth. They are truly authentic--after all, his family has been in the food business for three generations, not to mention that he learned what made good pizza good at an early age; perhaps it was his prep school years spent together with a the sons of the owner a famous New Haven Pizzeria, Sally's on Wooster Street, New Haven, perhaps it was just growing up in a family that knew what good food was all about.
Although production has increased and her's is a full service bakery now, Jennifer’s pies are still hand-formed with fresh local ingredients, much like the pies her grandmother baked back in Connecticut.
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