The simple facade of the Little Apple Pastry Shop in Aldie, Virginia, offers only hints of the culinary experience customers find inside. With their motto "Quality Over Quantity", the store sells a mouth watering variety of hand made foods made with fresh, quality ingredients.

The shop is owned by Kay Pitts and her mother Margaret Hawes. These two talented women started out in 1988 by buying a bakery in Berryville, then moved to Purcellville and finally to their present location in Aldie. "Neither of us started out with any experience, but learned along the way." No kidding.

Pies, pies, pies - all crusts are rolled out by hand, made fresh every morning. All fillings are made from fresh ingredients and pies are the store's biggest sellers. In addition to fruit, they make savory pies like a Thanksgiving variety with turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce. (At Thanksgiving, it's best to order early to ensure you get one of the 500 pies made for this holiday.) They even have sugar-free pies for diabetics.

Another favorite from the Little Apple is fresh roasted turkey. They sell it by the pound, or put it in sandwiches, savory pies, quiches, and pot pies.

The store's hand made candy is very popular, especially the two newest varieties; champagne truffles, and a Norton Wine truffle from Chrysalis Vineyard.

You can get box lunches for your travel group, recently a group called the Red Hats stopped by Little Apple for box lunches in their limo. Out came 12 women, all wearing, you guessed it, red hats!

Breakfast and lunch is served daily, for eat-in or take out. The Washington Post, in an October 2001 review, showcased Little Apples' country Ham Biscuits. They have "Carry Out Catering" platters for parties and meetings.

Periodically, they hold Private Gourmet Parties like last February's Chocolate Party with a chocolate buffet. Atkins dieters can find low carb items like side orders, turkey and their exclusive "Crustless Quiche".

Margaret and Kay are ready to serve their many customers and say, "We're not mother and daughter when we're in here, we're friends As long as we continue to love what we do, and the people, we'll continue doing it."

Little Apple Pastry Shop
23217 Meetinghouse Lane
Suite 102
Aldie, Va 20105
703-327-2500
1-800-266-PIES
www.hotapplepie.com
Hours: 10-5 Mon-Sat
11-5 Sun