Stone Soup Bakery Feeds Burke's Sweet Tooth

A sister and brother team of bakers has become a popular stop at the .

Jennifer Graybill and Johnny Connolly of Stone Soup Bakery make all their goods in Graybill’s Burke home. Graybill focuses on cookies and brownies, while Connolly makes the pies.

Graybill’s kitchen is fully inspected by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which approves all of their recipes.

Graybill has always been a baker. “I've been baking in my home for years and years,” she said. “It wasn’t a real business, but just a personal thing that I did."

She said her brother Johnny was working in the cake department at Wegman’s when he one day decided to make a pie. "I was really mad at first, because I felt like he was stealing my craft,” she said.

Connolly is serious about his pies.  “I do a lot of research, especially with older, traditional recipes," he said. "I do everything from scratch, and use no artificial ingredients.”

Their sibling rivalry subsided into sibling team work.

Graybill’s “personal thing” became a business. “After I finished school, I got what I like to call a ‘big girl job,’ but I didn’t drop the bakery," she said. "I couldn’t do it all, and I realized that I had to choose between the two." 

She and her husband decided she could work from home.  Making less money with the bakery did provide the opportunity to spend more time raising their two sons.  "It’s like take your child to work day every day,” she said.

Greybill and Connolly chose the name Stone Soup Bakery from the folk tale by that name. “The message we took from the story is that if everybody contributes a little, it can make a whole lot,” Graybill said.

The name, however, does confuse some customers. “At winter markets, we’ve had people come to us looking for soup," she said.

What Stone Soup Bakery does have to offer are many varieties of cookies, brownies, and pies.

Greybill said she's proud of her classic chocolate chip cookies.  “I’m also really proud of the consistency with my Super Fudgy Brownies," she said.   Their products ship all over the world.  "When my brownies received praise after the five days it took to get them to Germany, that’s when I realized they really were a great product," she said.

Connolly is especially proud of his apple butter pumpkin pie. "Early in the season, I use Stayman apples, and later in the season I use Rambo apples," he said.  The apple butter simmers for eighteen hours. "The custard filling is half apple butter and half pumpkin, and it's layered over a ginger-snap pecan crust," he said.

“Our baked goods are all made with as many local ingredients as possible, so our flavors are all seasonal," said Connolly. "We make everything in small batches because that provides a more consistent combination of ingredients, which results in more consistent flavor and texture," he said.

If you'd like to put this sister-brother team to the test, visit them every Saturday at Burke Farmers Market. "We love being at Burke Market," said Connolly. "We live here, sell our products here, and contribute to our home community."