SPCA Bake Sale Cookies Brownies
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This post was written by BigSis on December 19, 2010
Got Holiday Stress Hissy Fit?
I've been talking about it for a while, but in case you haven't heard, our Bake Sale benefiting the SPCA of Texas is coming up on Monday. This Monday! Great googly moogly! So much to do in so little remaining time!
We want this to be the best sale we can possibly put together for the SPCA, and we're pretty much driving ourselves wacka-doodle-doo over it. That's what happens when a few OCD perfectionists come together on a project they're passionate about I guess, but we've created a really stressful week for ourselves.
Hissy-Fit Photo by Vaughan
I freaked out big-time yesterday and had a little hissy fit about some things that weren't going the way I wanted them to. By the end of a really long frustrating day, I was about to cry and decided to just go to bed and start fresh this morning.
I was thinking that bunches of us are hissy-fitting this time of year, not just me. I sometimes wish I could be more lackadaisical and nonchalant about things instead of giving myself an anxiety attack trying to get it all done. The challenge I think is how to arrive at a balance; how do you be more nonchalant and less compulsive without turning into a full-blown procrastinator who doesn't get things done? I have no idea since I'm not good at balance and moderation; I'm all or nothing about everything I do. When it comes to the bake sale and other things I care about, it's 100%-full-blown-all-I've-got.
How do you manage to achieve this kind of balance in your life? I really want to know. When I start melting down like this, all I know to do is try to slow my breathing down. It does seem to help. Also taking a minute to focus on what's really important helps a bit too. Am I freaking about something that even matters? Probably not. Am I making too much of this right now and overreacting? Probably so.
If you have any tips on this topic, please send them on. I betcha I'm not the only one doing the Hissy-Fit Freak right now!
~BigSisPosted under Animals
This post was written by BigSis on December 10, 2009
SPCA Bake Sale Recipes
Lots o' baking is going on in my itty bitty kitchen this week! I've tried to choose recipes that have universal appeal, and that are holidayish. Most are pretty easy to make, with a decent “profit margin” but I've thrown in a few that are a bit more challenging and expensive to keep me on my toes!
I thought you might like to see what's coming out of my kitchen, since this IS the primo baking season and perhaps you're in the market for a good sweet recipe. So far, just since last Saturday, I've already prepared multiple batches of each of these:
- Gingerbread from Cooks Illustrated. A subscription is required to access this recipe, but don't be put off by that. Cook's Illustrated is the only food site that I pay a fee for, and to me it's totally worth it. Their product reviews alone are invaluable, and their recipes always work. They have total credibility with me.
- Chocolate Sheath Cake – it's a classic recipe that you can find lots of places, including on RecipeZaar. Moist, chocolaty, delicious!
- Super Moist Pumpkin Bread with walnuts (vegan) from AllRecipes. This is a unique recipe with coconut milk but no eggs and no dairy. It's fabulous! I made lots of them for our last bake sale.
- Cranberry Pumpkin Bread from RecipeZaar. I first found this recipe when my freezer went on strike recently and I had to use up a giant bag of thawed cranberries. It's very easy, extremely moist, and the combination of flavors is surprisingly good.
- Strawberry Bread. I've been making this forever, and don't know where I originally got the recipe, but this version from RecipeZaar is similar to mine. In this bread, the pecans are non-optional in my book.
- Root Beer Bundt Cake from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito. This was a new recipe to me, and I'm glad I tried it. It's really really moist and deeply chocolate. I don't get that much root beer flavor without the icing, but it's wonderful regardless.
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars from the back of the Nestle's package. You can find the recipe on RecipeZaar too.
- Texas Pecan Pie Bars from The Pastry Queen by Rebecca Rather. This recipe makes a ginormous batch of these wicked bars, but I still made a second batch. They were that good.
Still on the agenda for this weekend:
- Almond Toffee from CookieMadness.net. Absolutely an A+ recipe! I made bunches of it last year, and got rave reviews. You MUST have a thermometer to make this!
- Soft Peanut Brittle from CookieMadness.net. Another great one from Anna! I don't usually care for traditional peanut brittle, but this is nothing like that. It's flavorful, tender, and just delicious!
- Pralines from The American Family Cookbook by the Culinary Arts Institute. I think this cookbook is out of print, but I've seen it on ebay.
- Outrageous Oreo Crunch Brownies from Culinary in the Country. Christmas Oreos and brownies together in a recipe adapted from the Barefoot Contessa? How bad can that be? I'll also do some without the Oreos.
- Chocolate Fudge from the back of marshmallow cream jar. You know the one.
- Mrs. Busch's Caramel Bars – a finalist in the Dallas News' cookie contest a few years ago. The recipe's been taken offline, darnit. I'll post it another time if these come out as good as I remember them.
- Razz-Ma-Tazz Bars from CookieMadness. I've never made these, so I'm trusting the Cookie Queen that these will be incredible. I'm doing them with my homemade cranberry jam instead of raspberry since that's what I have.
That's it! I've already eliminated 2 or 3 things from the weekend's list, and I still have more than one little elf can do! I better eat my Wheaties this weekend, you think? All of the expense and all of the work will be SO worth making some money for this incredible charity!
~BigSisPosted under Food
This post was written by BigSis on December 12, 2008
