As previously mentioned, I am taking part in the Great American Bake Sale, please see previous post for more information about this and how you can donate to my team. Today, we had our yard sale, so I threw in a bake sale for good measure. The yard sale didn’t do too bad, in fact, we are going to be using the money to build our raised beds and get our garden going! Check out my other blog, The Garbled Gardener, to read all about it and see how to build a raised bed. The bake sale didn’t go as good, so I am going to be peddling my left-over treats around this weekend. For my post today, I wanted to share with you the ultimate bake sale items and how to have a successful sale by keeping it simple.
Pick the classics when choosing items to bake. I made chocolate chip monster cookies, peanut butter cookies topped with honey roasted peanuts, rocky road fudge, lemon yogurt cookies and some banana muffins. Below are the recipes for the monster cookies and the fudge, follow the link for the lemon cookies, the peanut butter was a basic p.b. cookie recipe prettied up with a sprinkle of chopped honey roasted peanuts on top before baking.
As far as classic bake sale tactics, always use simple, delicious items that everyone loves. Make those items perfectly. Make the portions big. Make the prices cheap and simple. I packaged everything together to be $1 per thing. Like two monster cookies, or three peanut butter cookies, or one huge rice krispy treat-you get the idea. Consider placement of your bake sale. If you are considering the front of a store, pick a busy one, pick a busy weekend and get the store managers approval. Don’t forget to ask about matching grants. Many store, like Wal-Mart, offer to match the amount made at a fundraiser held on site. Advertise!!! And, have fun. If you are passionate about the cause, your customers will pick up on that and become passionate themselves.
Chocolate Chip Jumbos (recipe courtesy of Good Housekeeping Magazine)
- What You Need:
3 large eggs
1 pd. butter, softened
1 pkg. brown sugar
1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
2 T. vanilla
1 1/2 t. baking soda
1 1/2 t. salt
6 c. flour
2 pks. semisweet chocolate chips
1 bag chopped walnuts
What You Do:
Pre-heat oven to 350°. In very large bowl, beat the eggs for about 4 minutes. Add the butter and both sugars, vanilla, baking soda and salt. Beat on low until well combined. Add the flour, chocolate chips and walnuts. Line large cookie sheets with parchment paper. Drop dough by level 1/3 cups two inches apart. Bake for about 20 minutes, rotating the pans half way through. Immediately transfer to wire racks to cool when done baking. Continue the baking process until all batches are done. Make about 3-4 dozen.
Rocky Road Fudge (recipe courtesy of Good Housekeeping Magazine)
What You Need:
- 1 pks. semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 c. butterscotch chips
- 1 c. crunchy peanut butter
- 1 T. butter
- 1 pkg. mini marshmallows
What You Do:
Grease a square metal baking pan and line with plastic wrap. In sauce pan, melt chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, peanut butter and butter. Cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly, until melted. Remove from heat and stir in marshmallows. Pour into lined pan and spread evenly. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 3 hours, or overnight, then invert and cut into 36 squares.
Hope you find great causes to use your baking talents and find these easy recipes among those in your bake sale arsenal!
Thanks for joining us for the weekend edition, see you around the table next time!
