Santa Claus is coming to town — and Westport is preparing. Amid the carolers, almost audible are the sighs of delight from happy customers perusing Main Street stores, marveling at discounted fares.
Look closely to spot one or two Westporters balancing a cookie platter from Sono Baking Company, two fresh pumpkin pies sporting Michele’s Pies packaging, and a tiny bag filled with the pastries that earned Isabelle et Vincent their glistening reputation.
In fact, local bakeries find themselves wishing for another set of hands during the busiest time of the year for baked goods. Michelle’s Pies, winner of 27 state awards since its 2007 Norwalk opening, can credit much of their success in the holiday season to pumpkin, apple, and lattice pies.
“We process all of the pumpkin ourselves,” Steven Jarrecc, Manager of the Westport location said. “It’s one of the reasons we get a lot of business; people love the fresh pumpkin taste. It’s very flavor-intensive.”
Also included in their pies are nutmeg, cinnamon, and a few secret ingredients. “In a traditional store-bought pie, there’s a bunch of heavy gunk. We use fresh ingredients, it tastes like it’s supposed to – homemade,” Jarrecc said.
Michele’s Pies holiday menu features everything from succulent seasonal fruit pies, like classic Apple Crumb, to the more decadent flavors of Pecan Bourbon or Coconut Custard.
Rayna Weiser ’14, founder of Rayna Takes the Cake — a blog dedicated to classic recipes showcasing her own unique spin on them — enjoys incorporating the classic holiday spices herself.
“I think bakers tend to incorporate nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, or a little bit of dried ginger,” Weiser said. “They all create a rich and warm holiday flavor that I think people love and crave.”
Straying from the usual is a distinctive feature of Isabelle et Vincent. Bringing recipes all the way from their hometown of Strasbourg, France to Fairfield, Isabelle and Vincent Koenig bring a foreign twist to holiday classics.
Featured on their menu only for November and December includes the Tarte Grand-Pere, a tart that blends cranberries, pecans, chestnuts, caramel and honey and the Tarte Grand-Mere, a tart stuffed with apples, almonds, and cinnamon.
Exclusively for the month of December, specifically for Christmas, the bakery offers a treat called Buche de Noel, a vanilla cake rolled with chocolate buttercream, coffee cream, praline cream, or vanilla cream.
“People love holiday desserts,” Isabelle Koenig said. “It’s a special occasion. They want to celebrate or share a wonderful dessert with friends or family. It’s a great time to be happy and to give.”
For the Hannukah celebrators, Sono Baking Company keeps the Jewish delicacies on the shelves until the end of December. The bakery has a separate menu for this holiday, featuring some of their most popular holiday items, like the royal icing Dreidel and Star of David Cookies, as well as apricot pistachio or raspberry chocolate chip rugelach.
