Bakin'Storm

For two weeks or so, since Sis said, "I want to have a bake sale," I've lived, breathed, dreamt, and even eaten "bake sale!"  I talked to experienced bake sale organizers, read numerous website tips and tricks, worried about the location and the weather (first rain, then the hurricane), and discussed our plans with Mama and my co-organizer Miss R.Z.  And every chance Sis and I got, we baked cookies--Snickerdoodles, Chocolate Snickerdoodles, Oatmeal Raisin, Chocolate Chip, and S'mores Sandwiches--more than 20+ dozen!  We'd sample them, let them cool, and then freeze them.  Today, we defrosted them, stuffed them all 2 or 3 to a special goodie bag, twist-tied them, and stuck pre-printed labels on them.   Sis made signs; her friend "I" made the donation jar.  We had almost 20 people donating baked goods; if I had to guess, I would say we had 1,300+ baked goods!  And for just over four hours, we sold cookies in front of a grocery store extra-busy with customers getting ready for Hurricane Sandy.  The kids helped sell and then played together off to the side.  And the classmate even came to visit, with his family.  He played with our kids, helped staff the cash box, and posed for pictures with his friends and family.  Lots of his extended family baked, helped out, and purchased treats.  Then they texted all their friends to come.

We made over $1000!

It was such an inspiring, touching, supportive day.  Actually, the entire event has been that way, with people who don't even know the boy offering to bake, bring water, make flyers, whatever was necessary.  Baked goods poured into my house yesterday, from 15+ people, and more to come today at the sale.  This compassion gathered strength today, just like the oncoming storm.  The community was extremely generous, giving donations (a third of the money was flat-out donations!), giving us more than they owed for the baked goods, offering encouragement and prayers.  Several people shared their own stories about cancer--everyone seemed to know someone with the disease.  Friends from school, and best of all the teachers and staff, came out especially to support the sale, making a point to buy extras; several of my friends who don't even know him both baked AND bought!  People who didn't have much still found a way to buy a dollar or two of cookies.  In fact, if I had to guess, the majority of our customers were as far from the 1% as you can get in Connecticut . . . and they tended to give extra or just pure donations, even here at the end of the month (the timing of which hadn't occurred to me until someone mentioned it, the tight time of the month when people don't have much to spare).  It was very humbling.  I don't think the kids noticed any of this, of course, but they did feel the happiness and love around the table, the sense of community and compassion, the warmth and connection of being able to help someone.  We often talk the talk, but today we actually walked it, together, all because a little girl said, "I want to have a bake sale," and the adults all around her got together to make it happen.  We know we can't fix everything for their classmate, who we learned today has Stage 4 cancer, but for today at least and in the times to come with the extra money, we hope we brought some happiness, ease, comfort, and support.  

And, just in case we ever do it again (and more than one person has asked, heaven help us!), here are some things I learned from my very first bake sale.

To Do (in advance)

• Book location:  Choose somewhere with lots of foot traffic--the grocery store or the soccer fields.  We were hampered by not being an official organization with a tax exempt i.d. number.  But a store took a chance on us and let us host the sale, even donating $50 gift card!  We got lucky, but it often takes a month or more of advanced notice to book a spot.
• Contact Health Department:  In our town, bake sales are exempt from the usual rules about commercial kitchens, etc, but they still advised us about pre-packaging, no nuts, no refrigerated goods (cream pies, cheesecakes, pudding), etc.
• Recruit bakers:  I emailed friends, classmates, and our Brownie troop to solicit baked goods.  The letter stated our needs up front, including no nuts, packaging at home based on our price points, notifying us of major ingredients (esp allergens like wheat, dairy, eggs), and drop-off information.
• Donations:  My co-organizer solicited donations from a local bakery, receiving an urn of coffee and dozens of pastries for free.  She also got a gift card from the grocery store.  With more time, we might have been able to organize a raffle or other donations.
• Publicity:  A volunteer made the flyer, had it approved by the Superintendent, and distributed through school.  We also contacted the local papers.  And, of course, posted repeatedly about it on FB and my blog.  Sis also made posters for the table and two yard signs for the parking lots.
• Leftovers:  We didn't have any, but a few people offered to buy them to give them to teachers or churches; I also considered calling the local senior living center to donate them.

What to Sell

• Favorites at Our Sale:  chocolate chip cookies, brownies, plain sugar cookies, cute cupcakes in cups with lollipops, peanut butter blossom cookies (yes, a nut cookies showed up!).  People were either looking for chocolate or looking for items that were not chocolate!  We had few special dietary requests, but a few did look for dairy-free, sugar-free, and gluten-free.
• Cutely-packaged items sold faster than plain.  Bigger items sold faster than multiple-smaller items together.
• Cupcakes were safely packaged in clear wide-mouthed cups.
• We mostly had cookies, some quick breads, cupcakes, and pastries like muffins.  We had no cakes or pies, no candies or novelties (like cake pops), but we didn't really suffer from their absence.  No one, as far as I could tell, walked away empty handed.
• We ended up pricing everything $1, with the rare exceptions of loaves of bread ($6) and popcorn hands (2 for $1).  This really simplified totaling orders and customers' decision-making process--and we didn't need price tags.  And they often gave us the change as a donation!
• Add-ons:  We had water bottles and coffee for sale, probably selling $20-30 of beverages.

Supplies

• lunch bags for purchases
• colored stickers for pricing (if have lots of different prices; we didn't use these in the end)
• masking tape (for signs)
• extra baggies, in case a bag breaks or you need to sub-divide items
• baskets, bowls, platters for display
• Sharpie/markers for extra signs
• index cards, cardboard for signs
• donation jar
• signs for the table and the parking lot entrances (Home Depot sells blank yard signs).
• cash box (ours had a steel cable so we could attach it to the table!)
• dollar bills (started with 30 $1, 4 $5s)
• tables (one plastic 8 x 3')
• tablecloth
• chairs
• trash can and bags
• Because everything was pre-packaged, we didn't need gloves for serving or even napkins or plates for eating.

Day Of

• Arrive at least 30 minutes before start time.
• Confirm location with property owner (today we set up in one spot and then had to move--to an even better spot!)
• Expect sales or donations while you are setting up and be ready to start early!
• We practiced greeting and talking to customers before we arrived, also how to handle the money or questions.  The girls were good at counting out change.  We had them bring some toys for when there was a lull or they lost interest; we also fetched lunch midway through.  Best of all, I had one of my babysitters on hand for part of the day, to watch them, take them to the restroom, etc.
• Send FB/Twitter post when you open--ours included a picture of the overstuffed table!
• We couldn't put all of our items out together because there were just too many, so we periodically consolidated and rotated new ones in.
• We had a few unusual or challenging visitors.  One complained about our prices, especially the bottled water for $1. I told him we were trying to raise money, not to give bargains.  Another wanted to lecture us on money, the stock market, and how to make a million dollars.  I had to ask him to move away from the front of the table to finish his lecture and he got mad when we all ignored him.  Otherwise, that's it.  I tried to be polite but firm about our goal for the day.  Though, we did see two near-miss car accidents.
• We never had to discount our items--we gave the last few doughnuts to the family and were done pretty much on time, after four hours.
• We cleaned up, packed our cars, counted the money, and handed all of it, in the donation jar, over to the family on the spot.  Hugs all around, and some tears.

Useful Resources

• The Great American Bake Sale website with recipes, tips, etc.
• Cookies for Kids' Cancer's The Best Bake Sale Cookbook and website
• Dessert First Girl's "How to Have a Fabulous Bake Sale"
• Good supply list here
• Pricing suggestions here

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Snickerdoodles
yields 6-7 dozen

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening (or coconut oil)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 3/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

cinnamon-sugar:  1/2 cup sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat together the shortening and sugar till smooth, then beat in the eggs, again beating till smooth.

Beat in the vanilla, baking powder, then add the flour, mixing slowly till combined.

Place about 1/2 cup cinnamon-sugar in an 8" or 9" round cake pan or in a zippered bag.

Drop the soft dough by teaspoonfuls into the pan with the sugar, about 6 to 8 balls at a time. Gently shake the pan to coat the dough balls with sugar. Place them on a lightly greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet, leaving about 1 1/2 inches between them. Using the bottom of a glass, flatten each cookie till it's about 1/2-inch thick. Repeat till you've used up all the dough.

Bake the snickerdoodles in a preheated 400°F oven for 8-11 minutes.  They'll be set and just starting to turn golden. Remove the cookies from the oven, and cool them on a rack.

adapted from King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion 

Chocolate Snickerdoodles, my version
**Same recipe as above, but instead of 2 3/4 cups flour, use 2 1/4 cups flour and 1/2 cup cocoa.

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Mom’s Mom’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 ½ cup sifted flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup shortening

¾ cup brown sugar (firmly packed)

¾ cup granulated sugar

2 eggs (Eggbeaters also work)

1 teaspoon hot water

1 cup nuts

2 cups oatmeal (quick or regular; uncooked—old fashioned regular are best)

1 teaspoon vanilla

14 oz. chocolate chips

Cream shortening until soft. Add sugars gradually, cream until light and fluffy. Add eggs (1 at a time), beating after each. Add vanilla and hot water. Sift in dry ingredients. Add nuts, oatmeal, and chocolate chips. Bake at 375°F for 8 minutes.

Bammie

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Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1/2  cup (1 stick) plus 6 tablespoons butter, softened

3/4  cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2  cup granulated sugar

2  eggs

1  teaspoon vanilla

1-1/2  cups all-purpose flour

1  teaspoon baking soda

1  teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2  teaspoon salt (optional)

3  cups Quaker® Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)

1  cup raisins

Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, beat butter and sugars on medium speed of electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Add oats and raisins; mix well.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

Quaker Oats

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S'mores Sandwiches

graham crackers

large marshmallows ("Stackers" are great)

chocolate chips

Wilton cocoa melting pieces or other chocolate, melted

Preheat oven to 400F.  Arrange graham crackers, broken in half, on cookie sheet.  Put marshmallows on half of the crackers; place 9 chocolate chips on the other half.  Bake until marshmallow puffs and begins to brown and chips soften.  Remove from oven and pair each marshmallow half with a chocolate half.  Cool in freezer for 5 minutes.  Dip cool(er) s'mores halfway in chocolate.  Allow to cool completely.  

Tip Junkie

THANK YOU!!!

THANK YOU!!! A big hug of gratitude for all of our bakers, helpers, customers, and supporters today at the bake sale for Sis and Bud's classmate who has cancer.  We raised over $1000!  THANK YOU!!!  THANK YOU!!!  It was a wonderful, touching, inspiring day.  And it was great to have their classmate come by and help out at the cash box alongside us.  THANK YOU!!!!  It was a special day.

It's Official!

Our bake sale is on!  We have an official location at a grocery store in town (no, not the S&S  :P"""") for our bake sale to benefit Sis and Bud's classmate with cancer.  My new partner-in-cookies Miss R.Z. arranged it and the store pitched in a grocery gift card for the family!  If you are in the area and would like to contribute baked goods, please let me know.

Raining on my Parage

First, my car windows were left open accidentally last night . . . and we got 2 inches of rain.  Mind you, we'd just had it detailed and it was wonderfully clean.  f*********k.

Now, the neighborhood grocery store (I'm talking about you, Stop and Shop!) refused our request to have our bake sale there because we're not an official tax exempt organization.  Which I had explained clearly to the manager on Monday, realizing that could be the hiccup, and he said it was ok.  Well, apparently it's not.  What a waste of time.

So now, I'm between a rock and a hard place.  The goal was to help Sis have her bake sale to help her friend.  And to make a little money for his family.  Perhaps I had delusions of grandeur.  But I realized I didn't want to advertise it at my house if I was going to spread the word, especially on FB.  So somewhere public.

That's the hard part.  Friends have come up with great ideas--like the soccer fields on Saturday--but it's all very heavily dependent on the weather, in a way the f****king grocery store wouldn't have been.  And we're having such constant, crazy rainy damp weather.  Who knows.

So I'm thinking of scaling back some and doing it on our corner if the weather is good and not having too many other bakers so that we don't have all this food waiting.  Not what I envisioned.

Blah.

But still what Sis had in mind.

And that's it . . . .

Bake-Sale-To-Be

We're having a bake sale in a couple of weeks to benefit Sis and Bud's classmate who has cancer.  It started off as Sis's simple idea for a small, on-the-corner kinda thing but has blossomed into more bakers and an as-yet-to-be-determined location (either the local soccer fields or grocery store, so that we have foot traffic and don't use our home address).  I'm excited but also nervous, having never organized a big sale like this (so of course I looked online for tips about location, pricing, etc).  But I'm getting wonderful volunteer bakers and people to assist with the sale, so there is help.  And it's a great cause.  Sis is excited (not bothered by the changes).

And we can always do it again in the spring if it's successful, learning from our first experience!

So we're baking almost everyday to stockpile for the event, starting with Snickerdoodles and then Chocolate Snickerdoodles!  Mmmmm.  I actually thought of chocolate ones while making the first batch, but of course many others had come up with the idea before me.  So, we have about 150 squirreled away.  Next we'll do oatmeal raisin (the classmate's favorite) and some chocolate chip cookies.  And who knows what else from there.

I'll keep you posted.  And if you're local, I'll let you know when it is.

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Snickerdoodles (with cinnamon on outside of cookie)
yields 6-7 dozen

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening (or coconut oil)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 3/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

cinnamon-sugar:  1/2 cup sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat together the shortening and sugar till smooth, then beat in the eggs, again beating till smooth.

Beat in the vanilla, baking powder, then add the flour, mixing slowly till combined.

Place about 1/2 cup cinnamon-sugar in an 8" or 9" round cake pan or in a zippered bag.

Drop the soft dough by teaspoonfuls into the pan with the sugar, about 6 to 8 balls at a time. Gently shake the pan to coat the dough balls with sugar. Place them on a lightly greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet, leaving about 1 1/2 inches between them. Using the bottom of a glass, flatten each cookie till it's about 1/2-inch thick. Repeat till you've used up all the dough.

Bake the snickerdoodles in a preheated 400°F oven for 8-11 minutes.  They'll be set and just starting to turn golden. Remove the cookies from the oven, and cool them on a rack.

adapted from King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion 

Chocolate Snickerdoodles, my version
**Same recipe as above, but instead of 2 3/4 cups flour, use 2 1/4 cups flour and 1/2 cup cocoa.

Alternate:  Snickerdoodles (with cinnamon in the cookie)

Makes 4 dozen

1 ½ cups sugar

½ cup butter

½ cup shortening

2 eggs

2 ¾ cups flour

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon salt

assorted colored sugars optional (or use cinnamon-sugar mixture)

 Heat oven to 400°F. Mix 1 ½ cups sugar, butter, shortening, and eggs. Stir in flour, cram of tartar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

 Shape dough into 1 ¼” balls. Dip one side of ball in colored sugar (note: if you roll the whole ball in sugar, the sugar on the bottom will burn and stick to the pan). Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

Gold Medal’s Cookies from the Heart or Extra Special Holiday Baking

Bake Sale!

Virtually support concerned NYC parents who are outraged by the city's ban on homemade baked goods for bake sales in favor of junk food like Pop Tarts and Dorritos: submit your favorite bake-sale recipe here. And keep checking the comments for more delicious recipes. I sent in Tex-Mex Chocolate Sheet Cake.

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Tex-Mex Chocolate Sheet Cake

This is super-popular (both in my home state of Texas, where it is a staple, and now transplanted here in CT) and cuts very easily into squares once it's cooled. Can be made without the nuts, as those are often banned at bake sales. Freezes beautifully. This particular recipe comes from my mom.

1 stick margarine or butter

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2-1oz. squares unsweetened chocolate or 6 tablespoons cocoa

1 cup water

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup buttermilk or sour milk (to sour regular milk, place 1 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar in 1/2 cups measure, fill with milk)

2 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine margarine, oil, chocolate and water in a saucepan and heat until chocolate is melted. Combine flour, baking soda, sugar, milk, eggs, cinnamon and vanilla in a large bowl, then blend with first mixture. Pour batter into a greased 12 x 18 sheet cake pan and bake 20-25 minutes or until cake is done (top springs back when touched lightly). Leave cake in pan and frost with icing while cake is still warm.

Icing

1 stick margarine or butter

2-1 oz. squares unsweetened chocolate (or 6 tablespoons cocoa plus 2 tablespoons

of margarine or butter)

6 tablespoons milk

1 lb. powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ cup chopped pecans

Combine margarine, chocolate, and milk in a saucepan over medium-high heat until bubbles form around the edge. Remove from heat. Stir in powdered sugar, a little at a time (this is important). Stir in vanilla and pecans. Beat to a spreading consistency. Spread warm icing on warm cake.

A Marmalade Mistake

So, the kids and I made our first quick bread for the Bake Sale yesterday, adapting the A to Z Bread to make Orange Marmalade Bread. And it was a qualified disaster: mainly the flavor was good, but the appearance and texture were lacking. See, with A to Z bread you start with a basic quick bread recipe--the versatility of the recipe being key to its attractiveness--and then add 2 cups of whatever. For the marmalade version, you add 2 cups of marmalade--we used 1 1/2 cups of Smucker's Sweet Orange Marmalade and 1/2 cup of the much more bitter and strong Bonne Marie variety--and reduce the sugar content from 2 cups to 1. Except, in retrospect, I realized this still means you're basically up 1 whole cup of sugar. Which is probably why the bread completely collapsed in the center and was chewy to the point of candied. (I never considered oven temperature or mismeasuring as the culprits; my oven has been checked recently and I always double check measurements when I bake with the kids). Tasted good--in fact the family inhaled the small test-loaf I had saved out of the bake sale batch--but is barely sell-able.

But I love the idea so, instead of fiddling with the A to Z recipe for a marmalade version, realizing that adding marmalade, essentially altering the chemistry of the bread, isn't the same as adding, say, raisins, which are just a mix-in, I have found another Orange Marmalade Quick Bread and will be trying that tomorrow, when the kids are at school. Because if this bread works and is good, we need to sell the loaves, not eat them!

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Orange Marmalade Bread

from That's My Home

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup coarsely broken walnuts
1 tablespoon grated orange rind
1 cup orange marmalade
2 eggs
1 cup orange juice or milk
2 tablespoons melted butter or oil

Sift flour, baking powder, salt and sugar into a large bowl. Add walnuts and orange rind; stir to coat evenly.

In a separate bowl, beat marmalade, eggs, orange juice and melted butter until blended. Add to dry ingredients and mix until thoroughly moistened.

Bake in a well-greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pan in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 1 hour or until cake tests done.

Cool on a rack for 10 minutes before removing from pan.

Cool thoroughly before cutting.

Serve in thin slices with cream cheese whipped with additional orange marmalade.