Perfect Pies Cookbook from Michele's Pies

Fairfield County's own Michele Stuart of Michele's Pies has a new product on her menu...a cookbook, featuring "the best sweet and savory recipes from America's pie-baking champion." Fresh from her appearance at the Primetime Emmy Awards with her Chocolate Pecan Bourbon Pie, and her recent throwdown with Bobby Flay, Michele reigns supreme in the pie making world. 

If you have enjoyed Michele's Pies at your Thanksgiving table, or have visited her new Westport retail location, you will likely crave the secret to her sweet success. We hope the answers are in her new cookbook, "Perfect Pies." 

Buy your copy here. 

Short & Sweet Cupcake Truck: A Mobile Bakery in CT

The scene at Cove Marina today was, in a word, cute. The green and white striped cupcake truck was cute. The owners, 16-year old twins Kate and Gavin Nelson, were cute.  And the cupcakes themselves were, yes, very cute. 

But there’s much more to the Short and Sweet Cupcake Truck. The truck is actually a fully equipped mobile commercial kitchen/bakery.  The young Nelson twins are not just accomplished bakers and entrepreneurs, but also authors (with two published children’s books between them) and philanthropists (founders of The Gift of Words, a non-profit foundation providing books to children in underserved communities).  Not bad for two high school juniors who don’t yet have driver’s licenses (their dad drives the truck)!  And the cupcakes don’t just look good – they taste great.  But more on that later.

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Connie's Cakes of Westport: Nostalgically Delicious

David Evans knows a thing or two about coffee cake…and I don't mean those cloying jobs you find at the local deli. We are talking classic Midwest coffee cake, simply baked and conservatively dressed with streusel, but Connie's Cakes are based right here in Westport. David Evans launched this brunch-friendly brand in response to the throngs of people who reminisced about his mother Connie's coveted coffee and carrot cake when she passed away in 2008. In Indianapolis Connie's Cakes were legendary, a sought after nosh at every local event. In his new venture, Dave Evans has brought back a piece of his family, enabling Connie's recipes to live on. 

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Local Find: You & Me Cookies

Every so often the fine art of sampling in grocery stores uncovers a delicious new product. While shopping last week in Fairway Market in Stamford I stumbled across a local business, You&Me Cookie, that is creating three scrumptious versions of old-time favorite cookie recipes: the original Chocolate Chip, a Cranberry and Dark Chocolate Chunk, and a modern version of an old-fashioned Oatmeal Raisin. I sampled and loved all of the varieties. With one bite I knew I had an obligation to let our readers know that You&Me Cookies are now available in Fairfield County. After two years of successfully selling through specialty stores in Westchester County, co-owners Heather Mahland and Kyle deLasa have expanded their distribution with the addition of Walter Stewarts in New Canaan, and Plum Pure Food, Starlight Café at the YMCA and Caffé Bon in Greenwich.

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Big News @ Wave Hill Breads: New Location...New Bread!

When husband and wife team Margaret Sapir and Mitch Rapaport first began delivering their signature bread to farmers markets in 2005, it was with a signature bread crafted from one recipe. Not that this has been a bad thing. Their Pain de Campagne is what started it all and has brought them the recognition they receive to this day. 

Now, in addition to the fabulously addictive three-grain country loaf that we all know and love, Wave Hill Breads is proud to announce the launch of two new breads for your dining pleasure (+ spoiler alert...come May, you can dine in their new bakery/cafe in Norwalk). But first, let's talk about these magnificent loaves..

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Food 411: Name the Restaurant that Served This...

OK CTbites. Take a good long look at those deep fried rings of deliciousness. Do you know what restaurant cooked these tori up?

The first person to ID this dish wins a CTbites mug. 

(For dunkin'...although these aren't from Dunkin")

Versailles Restaurant: French Fare in Greenwich

Ah, Versailles.  So distant. So unreachable.  So . . . French.  

Well, that’s how our group felt after canceling /rescheduling our planned trip to this well-established Greenwich eatery THREE separate times.  As it turns out, each date was snowier, icier and slushier than the one before.  It took three snow storms, three snow days and nearly a month, but we finally made it.

The new location (a few doors down from the original on Greenwich Ave.) is lovely and trimly elegant.  We arrived early for lunch … and it’s a good thing we did. The dining room was full to capacity -- with a line out the door -- by 12:20.

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The Flaxette Debuts @ The Dressing Room

Last spring we reported on a new local artisan bread baker, Fairfield Bread Company. Their wonderful Flaxette is made with organic flax and whole wheat, using slow, old-world methods. The result...a hearty loaf with a delightful caramelized crust and a tender chewy crumb.

This small-batch artisan bread is making its restaurant debut at The Dressing Room on their new lunch menu with four new sandwich offerings including: DR Steak and cheese with grass-fed beef and Nobel cheddar sauce, Pulled pork with root vegetable BBQ sauce,  and a Roasted organic vegetable sandwich- all on the Flaxette. Executive Chef, Jon Vaast, describes his excitement about this menu addition: 

"The Flaxette for sandwiches is really something else, it grills great, and holds up to the different sandwiches we are doing right now. It's just a really great hearty loaf of bread which is what makes a great sandwich."

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Scratch Baking Debuts in Milford

Chances are pretty good that if you’ve ever lusted after a baked good in Fairfield County, Lesli Flick of Milford's newest bakery Scratch Baking may have literally had her hands on it. Scratch is a beacon of baked goods, opening in a cozy space adjacent to the Milford train station just this past weekend with seasoned pastry chef Lesli Flick at its helm.

Flick has been moving steadily north since attending culinary school in Manhattan, beginning her baking trajectory on the upper east side and then (thankfully for us) moving to Connecticut. 

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Wholesome Simplicity at Michele's Pies in Norwalk

When Michele Albano first got into pie-making, she burned out three ovens in her ski condo in Vermont supplying local farmers’ markets with pies made with “love and fresh fruit. ”Those days are long gone. She now operates Michele’s Pies out of a commercial kitchen and bake shop on Route 7 in Norwalk, delighting customers with award-winning crusted concoctions such as Chocolate Pecan Bourbon, Candyland and Ultimate Banana Split as well as old-fashioned favorites inspired by the pies she remembers her grandmother baking.

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Hartford Baking Company

Alicia Fidalgo is the voice behind The Clean Plate Club blog. She shares her time between West Hartford & Boston. 

On a chilly Sunday morning I recently had the pleasure of visiting Hartford Baking Company in West Hartford, CT. Located in a strip of shops on New Park Avenue, the bakery's interior juxtaposes the cozy comfort of a local bake-shop with urban-inspired industrial design.  

Baked goods run the gamut from sweet to savory: muffins, sticky buns and scones, as well as beautiful crusty European-style bread.

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The Cakebox: Let Them Eat Cake!

Eat, Pray, Love - you’ve heard of it, right? Well in the words of Willy Wonka, “Strike that, reverse it” - The CAKEBOX in Ridgefield has it all in the correct order - Pray (if you must), Eat (as many cupcakes as you can), and Love (absolutely!) This ESSENTIAL new dessert-stop in the Copps Hill Commons shopping center in Ridgefield is a cake and cupcake lover’s Shangri-La. Ridgefield native Jordan Gregory and her partner, Robert Byrnes, opened The Cake Box in April and have been whipping up extraordinary cakes for all occasions (including, eventually, custom wedding cakes), cupcakes by the dozen, and individual cupcakes, cookies, and macaroons at the store for your perusal and MASS consumption! Ms. Gregory received her pastry training at the Institute for Culinary Education in NYC and Mr. Byrnes, who has a degree in hotel and restaurant management, designs the custom cakes. Trust me, they know their stuff!

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Sono Baking Co's French Blueberry Tartlets

Sweet! Berries are back in season and we've got the perfect way to celebrate the booming berry harvest: fresh fruit tarts. We asked John Barricelli of Sono Baking Company for his favorite recipe as he knows a few things about tarts. 

Piled high with fresh blueberries, these individual fruit tarts offer a sweet, creamy custard surprise in the center. Try making these with raspberries or strawberries, or an assortment of berries. Each tartlet uses very little pastry cream, so you’ll have some left over, which can be used as a garnish and served alongside the tarts.

French Blueberry Tartlets

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100% Gluten-Free @ Cafe Cogolulu

Most of us don't think twice about trying a new restaurant, taking a night off from cooking with takeout or browsing the aisles of a grocery store. But for a small percentage of Americans, these simple and daily rituals can be excruciating. Celiac disease is a digestive disorder that affects, by some estimates, 1 in 133 children and adults by compromising the ability to process certain proteins found in gluten. An oasis for sufferers has emerged in Fairfield County in the form Cafe Cogolulu, a reopened and 100% gluten free cafe in Wilton offering families suffering from this inherited autoimmune disease some much-needed respite.

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Dough Girl Baking Co: Rowayton's Sweetest Secret

Any time I am invited to a birthday party,  I offer to bring the cake.  I have been completely won over by a local baker who creates the most artistic, delicious and personal cakes you could ever imagine.

The first cake was for my brother's surprise 40th birthday party in New York City. The event caterer directed me to a patisserie on the upper east side, but I was determined to try a local baker, Laura Jayson, a.k.a. The Dough Girl of Rowayton, who works out of a small kitchen in Norwalk.  When she offered to deliver the cake in a box fit for travel, the deal was sealed.

For the party, Laura recommended her biggest crowd-pleaser:  a super-moist chocolate cake (she shared her secret ingredient: coffee) topped with vanilla frosting.  In the center, at my request, she created a molded figure of my brother kite-boarding. The art work was playful and the figure true to form

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