www.miniempirebakery.com

National Pie Day is just around the corner and this year a new enterprise has both your health and taste buds in mind.

Mini Empire, the latest in a line of neighborhood desert ventures, is teaching us that size does indeed matter. With fewer calories, smaller portions and reasonable prices these treats aim to keep your wallet fatter than you.

Mini Empire is founded by Capitol Hill residents Morgan Greenseth and Christy Beaver but is not expected to have a storefront of its own until sometime before the year’s end. They are working with neighborhood cafes and hope to sell their products at Porchlight Coffee, Bluebird and possibly other locations by mid-February. The owners are celebrating National Pie Day by giving out free cup-pies Jan. 23 from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Porchlight.

Mini Empire brings us the advent of the “skookie,” a scone the size of a cookie, as well as cupcakes, miniature “cup-pies” and in mini-mason jars, take and bake pies for later.

Their luring pie selection includes: bourbon pecan, cranberry pear, apple cinnamon and other seasonal flavors. Perhaps even more enticing, though, are the prices. Nothing exceeds $5. And in a real pinch, you can snag a skookie for less than a dollar.

In the latest fashion, every item will come with a vegan option—an alternative Greenseth believes will capture the neighborhood’s attention. Besides the skookie, the scone that doesn’t take two cups of coffee to finish, Mini Empire will offer take and bake miniature pies. These pies, fit to feed one to two people, are frozen in small mason jars to allow you to have fresh pie whenever.

“[The mini masons] cater to those who want fresh pie but don’t have time to make one themselves,” Greenseth says.

Rather than large pies, that take days to finish, these newcomers specialize in smaller portions and shed the unnecessary fructose.

“We are trying to focus on smaller portions because we feel you should have your treats, but you don’t need to have a large amount of them,” says Greenseth. “And we use less sugar so they’re not overly sweet like you would find in other bakeries.”

Both Greenseth and Beaver have been baking all their lives but only after stellar feedback from friends did baking become a serious business prospect. Greenseth recalls how talk of their baked goods persisted even among their guy friends.

“I figured, if guys like [our] cupcakes then I have a business model here.”

As far as baked goods go, Greenseth believes males and young professionals are a difficult and untapped market.

“If they like the flavors then you can pretty much appeal to anybody,” she says.

So guys, whether you are actually watching your figure or just your wallet, these tasty treats are aimed to win you over. Girls, its assumed you can’t resist.