The Bake Sale

Wow. I am so behind in my postings. Here are the recipes I made for our school bake sale back in mid-September. I wanted to make some things that appealed more to the teachers than the kids, because, let’s face it, kids will eat anything. Teachers, not so much.

I went trolling around the internet and my google reader to see what I could find that would be good for a bake sale. Here were my criteria:
1. Easy to make
2. Reasonably inexpensive ingredients
3. Easily packaged
4. Not too messy to eat
5. Something worth .25 to .50 cents
6. Something different than the ubiquitous oatmeal or chocolate chip cookies.

After a lot of searching, I came up with 3 recipes.

Here’s the first:
Butterscotch Coconut Drop Cookies
from Recipezaar

These turned out well, but came out much thinner than I anticipated. The cookie was very chewy and even somewhat “flexible” for lack of a better term.







Number 2: Rocky Road Smores/Brownie Muffins

These came from Anna of Cookie Madness. Very nice and a big seller. I toasted the finished product under the broiler for a few minutes to toast up the marshmallows and melt the chocolate a little bit so everything would stay put.

Third: (ready for a mouthful?)

Jumbo Chipotle Chocolate Brownie Muffins with Praline Topping.

I also found this basic recipe and idea on Recipezaar, but I morphed it into a brownie served in individual jumbo sized muffin cups. I added about 1 tsp. of ground chipotle pepper to the batter. I had read in the comments about doubling the topping. I did this and it was way too much for this serving method.

These didn’t photograph well, but they were so good. Just the right amount of pepper to give a teeny bit of heat and interest.

I was exhausted after cooking all day, and my kitchen looked like it had imploded. I had to leave to run hither thither and yon taking kids to activities, so I put up the perishables and left the rest for later. To my amazement, DH beat me home (this in itself is remarkable in that he was home while the sun was still out) AND he cleaned up the mess! Shocked, amazed and oh so grateful. Thanks honey.

I’m not sure how we did at the sale, but my kids were very happy gorging themselves on sweets. The Big Ones even bought some wee gifties for their teachers. Those are two smart cookies, if I do say so myself.

The First Day of School (and a treat for afterwards)

The First Day of School. Finally. I love my little hatchlings dearly, but after summer “vacation” of 2 and a half months, with children constantly surrounding me, every day and night, 24/7, they need to be away from me, in school with lots of structure and other grownups watching them. (School…. love school). After a bumpy start everything smoothed out and everyone survived Day One. Me included. I was a little teary-eyed when I saw the bus pull up ready to take The Little One away to kindergarten and the Big Two off to 4th grade, but that quickly changed when The Little One refused to get on the bus. After dragging him across the street and physically lifting him onto the bus, with the driver then blocking the door so he couldn’t escape back off - sigh - there were no tears after that. Especially since I was still in my pajamas and there were now 4 other moms who suddenly materialized from nowhere and 2 cars filled with neighbors stuck waiting behind the school bus watching while the drama unfolded. Great.

I was even less moved when I got a call from school some 20 minutes later telling me that he was hiding under the teacher’s desk and wouldn’t come out. As a plea bargain, he could talk to me on the phone, make sure I hadn’t disappeared off the face of the earth and then put the past behind him and have fun at school. “Child. Come out from under the desk. Now. Please. You will have fun and learn great things. Good job, honey. Thank you. I will see you later on today when the bus brings you back to me. I will be here. I will make treats. I love you. Bye-bye sweetie. Please give the phone back to the teacher now”. [Insert deep cleansing breaths here.] Awaiting the return of Himself and The Brothers, I ran errands, took back the perpetual pile of returns that lives in the front seat of my car, went to the bank, got the oil changed AND the cleaning ladies came so the house looks and smells Fabuloso. Ahhhh. Happy girl.

To celebrate the return to sanity, uh, I mean school, I made the aforepromised treats. I was inspired by this recipe for Peanut Butter and Fudge Brownies with Salted Peanuts from Joe at Culinary in the Desert. Since I’m cooking for an under 10 elementary school crowd, and the boys don’t appreciate bittersweet or unsweetened chocolate (or espresso) (yet), and since I had a freshly cleaned kitchen, I therefore cheated and started with Duncan Hines Double Chocolate Brownie Mix in lieu of the batter portion of the recipe. I added the vanilla, a little salt and yeah, the espresso powder (just a little) and the peanuts. Of course I forgot to chop them up first, but the kids don’t notice such things. To have a little help getting them out of the pan I lined the pan with foil / made handles and sprayed with cooking spray. I got to use my new toy for the frosting: the SideSwipe paddle for my Kitchen Aid mixer! What a great thing this is! It really works - it gets all the ingredients mixed together and scrapes everything off the sides and bottom. Love it! Nuked the chocolate chips and butter for the frosting and made cleanup easier for myself, as I am all about easy, especially today.

The verdict? This is going to be a good school year after all.