Hi Everyone,
I'm looking for some easy ideas on items I can bring to a bake sale. I love to bake, but I don't really make the type of things that you'd bring to a bake sale (eg, they're not that pretty and/or not that easy to package). Anyway, I'd love to hear some ideas from some experienced bakers.
These are my instructions from the school.
In terms of instructions, for those of you who are new to this -
1. Remember no nuts or nut oils
2. We are looking for "quality not quantity". Some bakers last year brought in copious quantities of burnt cookies/brownies - we can't sell these. Another issue was people brought in items baked that morning. By the time they were packed up and transported to school they were stuck together and unmanageable - everything needs to be properly cooled before it is delivered to us.
3.We are looking for treats to be sliced but not packaged. We will be packaging items in a uniform way.
4. If you feel adventurous enough we are looking for treats with a Halloween theme and some kid appeal.
I'll also post this in the culinary group, but I wanted to get some ideas from some of the people that I know that aren't part of the group.
 | could you jsut do some brownies? I know it's not that exciting, but you could add m&m's or chocolate chips to spruce it up? They are soo easy too. |
 | tracy wrote on Oct 12, '06 My issue with brownies is that (mine) never cut up that nicely so they don't look very pretty. But maybe that's because I barely give them time to cool down before I dig in! lol |
 | Rice krispie treats are easy to make and package well. You could add orange and brown M & M's or even candy corn for the Halloween theme. |
| tracy wrote on Oct 12, '06  Rice krispie treats are easy to make and package well. You could add orange and brown M & M's or even candy corn for the Halloween theme.  hmmm....that's an interesting idea! |
 | Or hand dipped pretzels in chocolate or whatever your imagination brings you too. the sweet and salty mix is always a hit - then you could do Orange sprinkles and such. |
| tracy wrote on Oct 12, '06 Or hand dipped pretzels in chocolate or whatever your imagination brings you too. the sweet and salty mix is always a hit - then you could do Orange sprinkles and such. that's a good idea! is there any special type of chocolate needed to do this? sorry i'm not that savvy re: baked goods. |
| tracy wrote on Oct 12, '06 Add orange food colroing and make pumpkins. : ) You can roll it out and use a cookie cutter or whatever. Theya re really easy and formable into just about anything cute. so would i wait until they've hardened and then use a cookie cutter on them? |
| In the fruit/produce section (usually by the strawberries) is a chocolate that you heat up in the microwave for dippin strawberries (which is also easy and yummy OOO so are caramel apples w/ and or without nuts too!! always a hit @ bake sales) anyway you just throw it in the microwave then dip away - make sure you lay them on wax paper so when they harden/cool they won't stick. : )
I've lived in small towns and been to my fair share of bake sales. : ) |
 | ginarw wrote on Oct 12, '06, edited on Oct 12, '06 said the same thing- Easy and makes for a much nicer presentation. I read your comment after I posted. Ooops |
 | mini cheesecakes are always good -- easy and generally not likely to have 6 other people making them..
use a muffin pan (either regular or mini), line them with the paper or aluminim (on "regular" sized, aluminum will hold the shape a little better once you take them out of the muffin pan.) muffin liners, put a Nilla wafer, or some crushed up graham crackers in the bottom, pour the cheesecake mix in and bake.
For halloween theme, there's a good Pumpkin cheesecake recipe on the Philadelphia cream cheese website. (it's for layered, but when I want to cut corners, I just mix it all as one layer and it works and tastes just fine).. and then I just add a candy corn or little candy pumpkin on top of each to make it look mroe festive..
Another thought: get some sugar cookie mix, make it per directions, (or even use the refrigerated tube o' dough stuff) but add in a little bit of pumpkin pie spice, then take some broken up candy-corn, and either add to the dough, or sprinkle it on top before you bake them.
(I also do this trick with crushed candy canes and a little peppermint extract at christmas.)
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| just ignore my lame-O idea..lol. you asked the right crowd...what good ideas!! |
| tracy wrote on Oct 12, '06 You guys are all awesome!! Thanks so much!!!! I was totally stressing about this but now I feel good! Now I just need to go shopping for some ingredients! |
 | Check out this picture from my Halloween album from last year: http://bumgarner.multiply.com/photos/photo/42/41.JPGI made a bunch of cupcakes, but by far the highlight of the party were the ghost ones. Its so easy, I just put a Nutter Butter in each one, and iced over it. Then, with black icing, pipe eyes and a mouth. You could also use other colors and make them look like gravestones (and write whatever you want on them), but since this was a little kid's party, I thought that was too grim. The other cupcakes you see have spider webs on them, which is again, super easy. Pipe the black icing on white, in concentric circles. Then drag a toothpick to the outside of each, and voila, you have a spider web. I bought little spiders made of royal icing at the local cake decorating shop, so that's another add-on. Good luck, can't wait to hear about it! |
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| Another thought is some type of fall spiced muffins. They would be easy to wrap & not be too messy. I am sure you can find recipes online.
Let us know what you make & of course take pictures of the final project if you get crafty! Happy Baking!! |
| tracy wrote on Oct 12, '06 Another thought is some type of fall spiced muffins. They would be easy to wrap & not be too messy. I am sure you can find recipes online.
Let us know what you make & of course take pictures of the final project if you get crafty! Happy Baking!! that's true. some adults might prefer a spiced muffin rather than super sweet treats. |
| tracy wrote on Oct 12, '06 Check out this picture from my Halloween album from last year:
http://bumgarner.multiply.com/photos/photo/42/41.JPG these are great! i'd love to try out the ghosts sometime, but i think they'd be hard to transport and wrap. the others could work though! thanks! |
| you could do that pumpkin bread with chocolate chips....in a mini muffin pan maybe? |
 | Are they looking for quantity? If it doesn't matter you could bake a pumpkin or apple pie.
btw, all this baking talk is making me hungry! |
| tracy wrote on Oct 12, '06 you could do that pumpkin bread with chocolate chips....in a mini muffin pan maybe? ahhhh.....great idea! that stuff is awesome! |
| tracy wrote on Oct 13, '06 I'm so glad I have so many great ideas! I just found out they want to do FOUR bake sales over the next few weeks! So now I need to hop to it. For any of you that have BTDT, how much do usually make? They're leaving it up to us and I'm not sure whether or not I need to bake large quantities. Also, not sure if it's best to focus on one item rather than a bunch of different things. |
 | If you decide to make pumpkin cheesecake, I have a great recipe. Also, if you want to stick to the pumpkin theme, what about sugar cookies - use a pumpkin cookie cutter and then use fine sprinkles to make a face and maybe chocolate for the leaf and stem.
And if you decide to make spiced muffins - maybe pumpkin, I think I have a recipe. Actually, you could probably use the same nutmeg, ground ginger, clove and cinnamon mix I use in the cheesecake. |
| Cool. I'll post it later today. |
| tracy wrote on Oct 13, '06 Cool. I'll post it later today. thanks. i'd love both recipes!
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| Ok, here are the recipes! Pumpkin CheesecakeCrumb CrustPumpkin MuffinsI usually just buy pie crust from the grocery store. I haven't tried the crumb or muffin recipes, but it's from the same cookbook - Joy of cooking. Awesome book. As for the muffins, you can make some of them more kid friendly by buying or making cream cheese icing. Yum. |
| I amended the muffin recipe. Forgot to add the pumpkin puree |
| tracy wrote on Oct 15, '06 thanks SO much for submitting these recipes! |
| SERIOUSLY!!!
Ben and Jerri's now has Pumpkin Cheesecake Ice Cream!!!
What the Hell??? Isn't America Fat enough!!!! I know I make my fair contribution! |
| tracy wrote on Oct 16, '06 Rice krispie treats are easy to make and package well. You could add orange and brown M & M's or even candy corn for the Halloween theme. Have you ever actually made these? Do I need to worry about the marshmallow mixture melting the m&m's or candy corn? |
| I have made them many times, but I have never put M & M's in them. However, I was just talking to Kay and we agreed that they shouldn't melt because they don't when you put them in cookies. As far as the candy corn I am not sure about the melting, but Kay suggested that after you spread it in the pan press the candy corn in the mixture. |
 | cprmom wrote on Nov 5, '06, edited on Nov 5, '06 Hey there, what about mini loaf cakes. I do them a lot and they sell quick! Chocolate and Carrot cake are the # 1 sellers. They bake fast and you package them in the foil pans you bake them in. Good luck with future bake sales. |
 | Ingredients:
* 1/2 C Crisco
* 1/2 C Margarine
* 1 C brown Sugar
* 1 C white Sugar
* 1 tsp Vanilla
* 2 eggs
* 1 C peanut butter
* 3 C Flour
* 2 tsp. Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
Method
Cream shortenings and add eggs, vanilla, and peanut butter. Mix dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture. Make into balls, place on cookie sheet, and flatten with a fork. Bake 350 F for 10 Minutes |
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 | jujup wrote on Sep 16, '07 snickerdoodles are the best at my bake sales! Easy to make and easy to package!
Oh and dont forget the lemonade! The kids will luv it, just transport it in a pitcher and serve it there! |
| jujup wrote on Sep 16, '07 oh and dont forget some sort of strong alcohol! LOL for those who dont know where to put there heads! And only if its ADULTS ONLY! |
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