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Dawson releases new book ‘Cookies for People in High Places’

You don’t have to catch your breath after walking up the stairs anymore, you’re an amazing skier and you know exactly when to hit the road to avoid tourist traffic. You thought you had mountain life all figured out until you busted out grandma’s famous cookie recipe, only to take the pan from the oven to find paper-thin, flattened desserts.

Vera Dawson, who has been writing her High Country Baking column for the Summit Daily since 2002, has perfected the art of baking at high elevations. She has released two previous books and taught baking classes at Colorado Mountain College. She now does private lessons and special classes on request. “Cookies in the Clouds,” Dawson’s first book released in 2014, featured decadent and mouth-watering cookie creations. Her follow-up book, “Baking Above it All,” was released in 2017 and is a compilation of cookie, cake, pie, tort and other dessert recipes. Dawson is now set to release her third book, “Cookies for People in High Places,” also focusing on cookies, but with a few other desserts added in, such as cheesecake squares and not-so-ordinary recipes like chili cheese cookies. All of the recipes in her books have been tested in her own kitchen in Summit County, so they are sure to turn out plump and rich in flavor, just as they would at sea level.

Dawson said she could have written a cookbook for any kind of food, but baked desserts speak to a majority of her audience, and it’s baking that they have the hardest time with in the High Country – and really any high-elevation town. Dawson said she has received emails from people as far as the mountains in Argentina thanking her for the advice. In Summit though, most of her readers are second-home owners, and she knows they’ll be back and forth between here and sea-level, so most recipes can be made anywhere. Her books offer diet-restricted recipes and suggestions for what specific types of ingredients and equipment to use, and there are myriad creations for novice bakers to experts.



Dawson will be hosting a book signing for “Cookies For People in High Places” at the Next Page Books & Nosh in Frisco on March 10 from 3-5 p.m. Copies of her books can be found there, as well as The Bookworm in Edwards.


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