Cranberry Bar/Cottage Forged Baking

The wildly colored building on Cameron just easy of Clairemont has an interesting history. My first time there was in the summer of 2008 — not to eat or drink, but to play music, in a duo I put together as part of the old Wisconsin Renaissance Faire. This was when the location was The Living Room, and after I moved closer in the ’10s, I’d occasionally stop by for some beverages. Then they transitioned to the new — and now only —Silly Serrano place, but with the drink still on the menu. And then, Cottage Forged Baking set up shop there. Hmm, time to get something from all three…and, for purposes of this blog, especially the baked goods:

When I arrived on a below-zero morning in January, there were all sorts of bars and muffins and cupcakes on the display trays. I was directed towards the cranberry bar, especially the way this particular one came out of the oven: an ideal split of the tan and the deep red. Good choice.

For one, there’s good weight to this bar. Second, the cranberry filling slightly liquifies when you take a bite; think of a little river for tart-yet-sweet fruitiness moving about the pieces of bar that had held it together. Plus, the cranberry felt a bit cooler that the remainder of the bar…a neat effect, given that, despite the -5 temp, it stayed at “room temperature” from store to home. This was a cool experience from a textural standpoint.

Cottage Forged Baking’s baked goods are always gluten-free, dairy-free, and peanut-free –no worries about any allergies reactions here. And, if you’re like me and my wife that don’t have any dietary restrictions, you’re still gonna like the taste. Like I noted above, I also got delicious bevs (coffee and tea), plus a breakfast bowl for my wife. It’s a triple legacy of three great local establishments. Look for all the colors on Cameron — you can’t miss them.