238 Pagosa St, Pagosa Springs, CO 81147
(970) 264-9348
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Pagosa Baking Company’s Mascot – the Bear

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Our Mascot, the Bear

or how two city chicks learned the woods may not be the best place to start a bakery…

Pagosa Baking Company began with a 30 qt Hobart mixer on the front porch, and more passion and enthusiasm than sense.  The renovation of our garage into a commercial baking kitchen 12 miles south of Pagosa Springs happened in December 2000.

We sold bread to our neighbors, from the back of the car, and from a couple of very hospitable local businesses (Handcrafted Interiors, Wolftracks Books & Coffee) .   It smelled pretty good in the neighborhood, and the bears noticed.  Kirsten came home one night to find the Shop Vac and a large sack of wheat bran sitting in the middle of the driveway.  The Shop Vac suffered some puncture wounds, and it was clear the bear did not find the wheat bran very tasty.  A few weeks later while we were out of town, our young neighbor and pet sitter Corbin arrived to find the sliding door wide open,  and 50# of sugar poured out of the bin onto the floor.  He scooped the sugar back into the bin and locked the sliding door.  We realized once we were returned that a case of walnuts, a case of raisins and a large box of shortbread cookies had disappeared as well.  Not satisfied, a few nights later the bear attempted another break in.  We found the screen door ripped out, bear claw punctures lining the door trim, and enormous muddy paw prints covering each window.  Not a happy guy…  Locked doors and windows became the rule.  Months later walking along the ditch, we found empty case boxes of walnuts and raisins.  I guess it was our contribution to his hibernation calorie stash that year.

Once we opened our retail location, shortbread bear cookies dipped in chocolate became the symbol of our bakery’s beginning in the kitchen in the woods, our mascot.  Join us on Sunday April 2, 2017, Pagosa Baking Company’s Local Appreciation Day, for a shortbread bear cookie on us, and share in our tradition.  Thanks for your support!

 

Kathy & Kirsten

 

Local Appreciation Day

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PBC’s Local Appreciation Day

Celebrate with 25% Discount

We love our local customers!  We feel so fortunate to share a daily latte, create another birthday or anniversary cake, and feel the love of seeing our regulars, well, regularly!   We’ll celebrate with Local Appreciation Day on Sunday April 2, please join us!
When we opened Pagosa Baking Company in 2001, Kathy spent the wee hours baking in the commercial kitchen we’d created in our garage 12 miles south of town, and Kirsten hauled all the goodies up to our retail location at 238 Pagosa Street, made coffee, and sold the baked goods. It was our locals who gave us much needed encouragement,  and sales, of course!  They invited us into their lives with daily companionship, ordering goodies to mark family celebrations, and allowing us to share our passion for locally sourced quality foods.  Their feedback helped shape our product line and determine direction for growth.  On our first anniversary, our sole employee, Pam Spitler, asked what it was like to reach that benchmark.  My reply – I felt I was the captain of a ship, at the helm certainly,  but shaped by the waves, wind, crew.  Learning  how to navigate with flexibility may have been the first lesson our customers guided us to learn.  That quality of relationship has continued to this day.  We are grateful, and proud of the the role Pagosa Baking Company plays in our community.

Join us on Sunday April 2 so we can thank you with 25% off all PBC made baked goods and pastries.  Choose from breakfast pastries, pies and sweets in the pastry cases, and our Take ‘N Bake pies and cookie dough in the retail freezer. What a deal – take home a Chicken Pot Pie,or call us to bake it for you.  970-264-9348.

Thank you,

Kathy & Kirsten

Our First Blog Post

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Welcome to our new website!  We’ve updated our look and  made it easier to find our monthly calendar menus.  I love the design by Ramblin Jackson, and Jacque Aragon’s photography of our food and space.  Our tag line – “Handcrafted Baked Goods, Nourishing Simple Meals, Community Gathering Place, Locally Sourced Organic Ingredients, Celebratory Fare” – is getting more prominence to highlight the connections we’ve spent the past 15 years creating.  Our mission is about relationship – amongst our staff, with our customers, vendors, the organizations we sponsor, the community at large.  Food and customer service are our medium, platforms to express our creativity, and the vehicles to uphold our end of the relationships.  What a privilege!  Every day I get to move the business forward with committed staff, engage with them in passionate creation,  share the fruits of our creations with our wonderful customers, participate in growing community in spectacular Pagosa Springs.  I am grateful to you for your support, which keeps this endeavor going.  I invite you to peruse the pages here as we continue to refine the site, follow blog posts, use our recipes, make suggestions for future content.

Carrot Cake Muffins

Created by on February 22, 2017

Pagosa Baking Company Carrot Cake Muffins First recipe, our Carrot Cake Muffins. One of the most popular items in the pastry case, this same recipe is also one of our most requested wedding cakes. In this basic spice cake recipe, shredded carrots lend moisture and tenderness as in zucchini bread or apple sauce cake. We...

Ingredients

  • 10 ounces all purpose flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 10 fluid ounces canola oil
  • 11 1/2 ounces granulated sugar
  • 5 eggs
  • 11 ounces shredded fresh carrots
  • 3 1/2 ounces chopped walnuts
  • 4 1/2 ounces raisins

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Coat a large 12 count muffin plaque with pan spray. Or, coat a 9" cake pan with pan spray, place a round of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan. Combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and powder, and salt in a medium bowl with a wisk. In a mixing bowl, blend the oil, sugar, and eggs well. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix to thoroughly combine the dry ingredients into the wet, but be sure to not over mix. Add the shredded carrots, raisins and walnuts, being sure to not over mix. Pour the batter into the prepared pan/s (5 oz batter per muffin cup). Bake at 325 degrees. The muffins will take 30 to 35 minutes. The cake will take 45 to 55 minutes. Insert a small knife or toothpick into the center of a muffin or the cake - you will see moist crumbs, not sticky batter, when the muffins or cake is done. Cool for 15 minutes, them remove the muffins or cake from the pan/s. Completely cool before icing or storing. Carrot cake is delicious on it's own, with a drizzle of honey, some butter, whipped cream or cream cheese icing. You could also make this in a pretty fluted pan to serve like a simple pound cake.

Pagosa Baking Company Carrot Cake Muffins

Browse Our New Website!

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We’re thrilled to launch our new website this month, complete with new images of our location and delicious food. Browse the site and let us know what you think!

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