Michele's Pies is a gourmet pie shop serving handmade sweet and savory pies, an array of handmade cookies, tea breads, puff pastry, cheesecakes and other unique baked goods.
"We use only fresh seasonal fruit," says owner Michele Albano. "No canned or frozen fruit is used in our pies. Even the pumpkins we use for our pies are puréed by us. Therefore, you will only find the fruit that we can get our hands on at the time."
Some of our featured pies are: chocolate pecan bourbon, pecan, maple walnut, chocolate walnut, pumpkin, maple pumpkin with a pecan streusel, assorted apple and berry pies, and cream and meringue pies. We also offer a number of savory pies including chicken pot pies and Australian beef pies.
"I became interested in the art of baking at an early age," Albano says. "I learned from my grandmother, the best teacher of all. I have been told that my baking is of the old fashioned kind and that most people have not had a pie like mine since their grandmother.
"In high school, I began selling my pies locally, particularly around the holidays," she adds. "I founded my business in Killington, Vermont, out of my ski condo in May of 2006. My pies, made by hand and with only fresh fruit, were a huge hit at farmers markets and craft shows in both Vermont and in Fairfield County."
In April of 2007, Michele competed in the National Pie Championships in Orlando, Florida, and won first place in the commercial nut category for her chocolate pecan bourbon pie. She continued to do shows and markets until the demand proved too big to continue out of her kitchen in Vermont.
"I saw a huge market and need for handmade pies in Fairfield County, and decided that Norwalk was the location to open my unique Country Pie Shop," Albano says. "Since I founded Michele's Pies, things have gone so well right from the beginning. Winning the National Pie Championships was such a huge and amazing accomplishment for me and my company, but overall, my biggest accomplishment has been opening my dream pie shop. Michele's Pies has come so far in such a short period of time that each day is even more exciting than the day before. My Norwalk location is a true representation of who I am and I am proud to stand behind the counter each day to serve my customers."
