New business offers alternative baked goods in Carrington

Carrington entrepreneur, Angela Boeshans, is excited to announce the opening of the Daisy Bake Shop, a to-go business offering gluten-free baked goods, snacks and more. Her small-scale bake shop for homemade, healthier and allergy-friendly baked goods and snacks opened last week. The business has a stand located inside the Prairie Inn Restaurant, on the northeast corner of Carrington's roundabout.

Boeshans has experience baking alternative foods over the past seven years since three of her four children currently eat gluten free. Although they have not been diagnosed as Celiac, an autoimmune disease where the body sees gluten as a foreign invader, gluten sensitivity runs on both sides of the family. Gluten is part of a protein family found in several grains, but most notably in wheat; it's what makes dough elastic and gives structure to baked goods.

The flour she uses for most of her baking is an all-purpose, ancient-grain, gluten-free flour, but she has also used other alternative products to make her baked goods grain-free and dairy-free, if requested. "It seems like more people are either trying to cut back on gluten and dairy, or know they feel off sometimes but can't identify why," says Boeshans. Gluten can cause a variety of issues for people, including abdominal pain, headaches, eczema/psoriasis, fatigue, anemia, anxiety, depression, joint pain, bloating and the most common, digestive issues. "I have always felt that our food contains too many unwanted items such as food dyes, chemicals, artificial sweeteners and other non-essential ingredients, and not enough clean or 'real ingredients'. That means baking from scratch with wholesome ingredients, natural sweeteners and organic ingredients, when possible, is also part of the plan. Oftentimes, gluten-free items are associated with being grainy, dry or not holding together very well. You can use our white bread for sandwiches without having to toast it. I want people to know that it's possible to eat food without gluten and still enjoy delicious treats they may be missing."

Starting out, items being offered on the stand to the left of the register, will include muffins, cookies, scones, baked donuts and treats for the upcoming holidays. Other items, including cinnamon almonds and pumpkin spice pecans make a great gift for stockings or the hard-to-find-a-gift-for person. Items offered can be viewed on her Daisy Bake Shop page on Facebook (@daisybakeshopcarrington). Although COVID-19 restrictions have caused quite the downturn in business for the food and retail industry, Boeshans hopes people continue to support their local businesses. "I think the pandemic has helped people focus on improving their eating habits and more people are looking to support local businesses," says Boeshans.

The Prairie Inn is open Mondays through Fridays from 6 a.m. – 9 p.m. and items can be paid for at the register by cash, check or credit card. Boeshans welcomes calls for requests and is willing to work with recipes for items people used to enjoy before going gluten free. You can reach the Daisy Bake Shop at (701) 650-8857 or at [email protected].