November 16, 2009

With our SPCA Bake Sale looming on the calendar, I've been busy planning and test-driving a couple of new recipes.  The last thing I need during the baking frenzy is a recipe that doesn't work!  I have a bunch of tried-and-true favorites that I'm making, but still wandered through my cookbook collection in search of some new goodies to try.  I flipped through Carole Walter's “Great Cookies”, and found a dark chocolaty recipe called Triple Chocolate Peppermint Bars that sounded crazy good.

You make a dark chocolate shortbread base and then top it with a dark chocolate brownie filling that has peppermint schnapps in it.  Then you cover the whole thing with a thin chocolate ganache that has even more schnapps in it.  How bad could that possibly be!  It certainly deserved a test-drive!

I didn't have schnapps so I used peppermint extract instead, and left the ganache layer off since I thought it might be too smeary and messy once it's packaged in a cute little treat bag.  The top got a sprinkle of crushed candy canes instead.

Can I just say YUMMY??  Oh, mommy, these have an incredible chocolate flavor!  Maybe I loved them so much because I adore chocolate shortbread and brownies and peppermint.

Only one little problem…my bars didn't come out looking anything like the photo.  I expected the bars to be kind of chunky and thick, but mine came out very thin; only about 1/2″.  Phooey.  I can't figure out what I might have done wrong, if anything, but I guess it doesn't matter.  I think the bars are too thin and fragile to work well for the bake sale, which is a bummer, but this recipe is a keeper!  If I make them again and don't need to package them, I'll definitely add the ganache layer!

~BigSis

November 8, 2009

We're already gearing up for our Third Annual Bake Sale, which will be held on December 14th.  This is the second year that 100% of the proceeds will go to SPCA Texas, and we're beyond excited to get crackin' and bakin'!  We have a lot of work ahead of us: shopping, baking, wrapping, labeling, transporting, and promoting, but we all agree that we have more fun doing this than pretty much anything else all year!

The little-baking-team-that-could this year is me, SisMama, my coworkers K and SAA, and K's sister L.  Our goal for the one-day sale is $3000 again!  Last year, our final total was $3055, so we're hopeful we can exceed the goal again. We're not totally crazy though, so the goal isn't increasing!

To help us reach our goal again for the SPCA, we could really really use your help!  We know what recipes worked for us last year – and which ones didn't move – but we'd love to know what your favorites are.

Pretend that you went to a fund-raising bake sale at Christmas to buy cute packaged homemade gifts to give to your babysitter, hairdresser, postman, Bunco friends, kids' teachers, kids' friends, Secret Santas, etc.  What would you like to find?  Traditional items like gingerbread, pound cake, biscotti and sugar cookies?  Or indulgent items you might not make yourself like almond toffee, fudge, pecan pie bars, and fancy brownies?  Would you be interested in something savory like a spicy snack mix or nut blend?  Or something else altogether?

Maybe you've had some great success yourself with certain items at bake sales.  What works best for you?  Or maybe you have specialties that you think would be an awesome hit at a Christmas bake sale?

If you have ideas, please pass them on to us!  Thanks in advance from us – and all of the animals at the SPCA – for your suggestions!

~BigSis

December 21, 2008

Drum roll, please!  Our goal for the SPCA Bake Sale was $3000, and our total so far is $3005!!  We have commitments for more online donations before the end of the year, so we may see that total go even higher!  Woo hoo!!!

We are SO thankful for the wonderful response of the other tenants in our office building, for the online donations from friends and family, and for the support we received from the building management staff.  Above all, we know that this tremendous success is humanly impossible.  A few girls working for a week or so cannot logically bake enough goodies and sell them in one day to make $3000.  It just doesn't make sense.  The only answer is that God did this, and we give Him all the glory for this event!

I talked about the brownies and bars the other day, and thought you might like to see a complete list of what we had for sale.  Here's what came out of my itty bitty kitchen:

• Pumpkin Cranberry Bread
  Vegan Pumpkin Bread with Walnuts
  Strawberry Bread with Pecans
  Chocolate Sheath Cake
  Gingerbread
  Root Beer Bundt Cakes
  Outrageous Oreo Brownies
  Outrageous Brownies with Chocolate Chips and Walnuts
  Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
  Caramel Bars
  Texas Pecan Pie Bars
  RazzMaTazz Bars
  Soft Peanut Brittle
  Almond Toffee
  Fudge in Christmas tree and gingerbread man shapes

Here's what K and her sister L did:

• Banana Bread (with and without nuts)
  Cranberry Orange Bread (with and without almonds)
  Spice Cake
  Snickerdoodles
  Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
  Rice Krispie Treats
  German Chocolate Rice Krispie Treats
  Chocolate-Dipped Pretzels
  Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Crunch
  Santa's Whiskers
  Peanut Butter Cookies
  Sugar Cookies
  Chocolate Chip Cookies

Our coworker SA did some incredible cream cheese pound cake and peppermint bark, as well as crafting our lobby signage that was so crucial in driving people up to our location.

So it was truly a team effort, and we're all just THRILLED with the response we got!  Beyond thrilled!

Here is a photo of our goodies just before the customers arrived.  There were also two other cookie areas out of camera view so this isn't even a complete picture of the massive amount of goodies we started with.  You can see that we had a TON of stuff all packaged and labeled, and even had some backstock stashed in cabinets since it wouldn't fit on our tables!

SPCA Bake Sale Goodies!

And here is what was left after 8 hours of sales!  That's it!  Are you kidding me?!

This was all that was left!

So, after celebrating a great day that lasted 12 hours from set-up to clean-up, I stumbled home to face the mother of all messes in my kitchen.  These were just the items that had to be hand washed!  When, oh when, will those cats earn their keep and learn to do a dish or two during the day!  ^..^

Mother of all kitchen messes!

Before I sign off this topic for a while (and start to plan next year's event, God willing), I wanted to share a little of what we've learned about bake sale success during our 2 experiences.  We aren't experts by any means, but we've definitely learned some things!

• People love chocolate, especially brownies.  Have plenty!  Have more than you think you can sell!
• People love peanut butter.
• People like things that are decadent and that they wouldn't make themselves.
• Lots of people dislike nuts so leave them out of recipes if they're optional.
• People like BIG items – big slabs of bars, big pound cakes, big cookies.  Our smaller items sold the slowest, even though the recipes were incredible.  The small size just couldn't compete for the attention of people up next to the hefty items, even if there were lots of them in the package.
• People love rice krispie treats!  Go figure, they aren't an item I especially care for, but I'm in the minority.  They sell like hotcakes.
• Items in colored treat bags that can't be seen clearly don't move well.
• Cute packaging sells great though, even if the item can't be seen through it.
• Putting out samples of an item lights a fire under it's popularity.
• If you're doing cake or bread, frosting or even a drizzle of glaze will pretty it up and help it sell better.
• Some items are just too unexciting to sell well.  For example, I thought that good traditional gingerbread would be a great seller at Christmas.  It turned out to be really slow.  It just couldn't compete in a world full of rich brownies!
• Pray, pray, pray!

So, one last shout out to K, L and SA for their hard work.  You girls worked like crazy women, and it paid off!  Thank you to building management for your fabulous support of this project.  Thank you, of course, to our fellow tenants, friends and family for buying our goodies and contributing online!  And most of all, thank you to God for blessing this event.  We are SO thankful and humbled that You answered our prayers!

Now.  What can I bake this weekend?

~BigSis

December 15, 2008

Today is the BIG DAY that we've been looking forward to and working toward for weeks now! Today is the BAKE SALE we're holding to benefit the Dallas SPCA, and we're aiming high: $3000!

If you're in the Dallas area, come on by! The sale is Monday, December 15th from 9:30 am until 4 pm.

If you can't come, you can contribute to the SPCA through this special link set up for our event until December 31st.

Donating through this link in December will ensure that your contribution will go towards our team's goal of $3000. Above all, we ask for your prayers for this event; that we would raise a miraculous amount of money for this incredible charity, and that everyone would see that the only explanation for the success was the Hand of God!

~BigSis

December 8, 2008

We mentioned the other day that I'm organizing a Bake Sale for December 15th (yes, I am truly insane to dream up a project like this at Christmastime). 100% of the proceeds will go to the SPCA here in Dallas, and our goal is to raise $3000. Yep, I said $3000 (I guess I'm insane AND overly-ambitious). Seriously, I'm doing this with two of my awesome co-workers (K and SA) and K's sister L. We love to bake, we love animals, and we know that the SPCA and other animal organizations are in a real financial crunch right now, so it just makes sense to try to help them before the end of the year. The sale will be held in the conference room of the office building we work in (thank you to the building management), and we're extremely excited to do this. We could each make a cash donation to the SPCA, but if we can invest that cash into baking supplies, and leverage it for the SPCA, so much the better!  We believe our goal is doable, and we're praying that God will bless this event!

Having said all of that, what does a girl's kitchen look like before she starts a 9-day baking spree of this magnitude?  Here it is with some of the ingredients queued up ready to be called into service.  This little bitty kitchen has no idea of what is about to happen to it!

Pre-Bake Sale Kitchen

Closer view of the left...

...and the right

Well, now you know.  It started out neat and clean and organized.  Here's one shot of Day One…still pretty neat.

Baking Day One

I'll post some more pictures mid-spree (it's going to get messy next weekend, and dare I say – ugly) and post-spree! I'd say “wish us luck”, but I don't believe in luck, so pray for us! And if you're in Dallas, email me for the particulars on the sale!

Ladies, start your ovens!

~BigSis