What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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With no specialty pie shops in Northwest Arkansas at the time, father and daughter, Jerry and Sarah Leding, opened 'Gooseberry Handmade Pies' in October of 2014. "We both have always had a passion for baking and we both love pies", Jerry said while taking a break from kitchen duties. After retiring as a Walmart vendor, Jerry was looking for a productive way to occupy his time. Sarah was a pharmacy technician in New York City, but was considering a move back home. Jerry had already been baking pies for friends and family, so after tossing around some ideas, the Ledings decided to open a retail business specializing in handmade pies. 'Gooseberry Handmade Pies' was born and Bentonville, AR was chosen as the location. "We are located at 2210 South Walton Blvd. #12 in Chelsea Crossing Shopping Center". Pies have long been associated only with Thanksgiving and special occasions for good reason. They are time consuming to make and require several key ingredients for each variety. With the advent and increase in the number of housewives joining the workforce outside the home, the time element became even more crucial. There was no free time to make America's favorite dessert, and as a consequence, very limited pie making instruction was handed down. Now, high quality handmade pies are available ready to carry out or to be ordered ahead to ensure your favorite is ready or to be decorated for any occasion or theme. As the name implies, the pies really are 'handmade'. Each pie's crust batch is individually blended by hand and the resulting dough is hand rolled to ensure the tenderest, flakiest, pie crust available. There are no food processors or pastry presses used here. The fillings are all prepared by them from a variety of ingredients. Some are home grown, some are locally grown and others are sourced with quality and consistency in mind. All of the recipes they use, regardless of being created by Jerry and Sarah or passed down by family, have been altered to produce the very best in taste and appearance. Gooseberry offers ready to carry out and special order services. For regular retail purposes they offer two sizes; an industry standard 10" and a two-serving size 5". "We try to keep our customers' favorites on hand at all times in the larger pies and the same plus some of the more unusual varieties in the smaller size for our patrons to try". The large pies range in price from $21 - $26 and the smaller versions are $8 each or 4/$28 in a 'sampler pack'. The make-up of the sampler pack is entirely up to the customer from our current inventory. It is a great way to sample new varieties and/or satisfy different tastes. To ensure availability of your favorite large pies, it is recommended they be ordered ahead - at least 24 hours in most cases. A couple of days notice for weekends is preferred and more time for holidays. They typically do not take orders for the small pies, but will be glad to hold your selections from inventory for pick up later that day. BY DAVE WOODS ADVERTORIAL WRITER DWOODS@NWADG.COM featured dining guide story Advertorial Feature Pie - It's Not Just For Thanksgiving Anymore Gooseberry Handmade Pies uses made-from-scratch recipes to create traditional desserts 42 WHAT'S UP! MARCH 25-31, 2018