Bake Sale Bonanza

The small church we've been attending recently announced it would be holding a fish fry / bake sale fundraiser... on the same day I'd already purchases Braves tickets for... Since I wasn't able to be there in person, I felt obligated to help out by baking. And bake, I did!

I figured that if I spread my baking out throughout the week, I should be able to tackle several recipes to contribute to the sale.

I skipped baking Monday and Tuesday nights, figuring that was just too early for a Saturday sale.

On Wednesday night, Jason helped me make not one, but two batches of Seven Layer Cookie Bars. I learned how to make this recipe way back in high school, and they are one of Jason's favorites, so he insisted on lots of them for the bake sale. In the past, I've always had trouble with this recipe sticking (although my mom makes them effortlessly). I've tried Pam, Cake Release, cutting them while hot, letting them cool, glass dishes, metal pans, everything... This time I finally figured out why! In the interest of time and all the baking I was doing, I bought a box of graham cracker crumbs. I usually make my own crumbs with graham crackers, a potato masher, and all my pent up frustrations. This is the first time I bought the pre-crumbled crumbs, and they made all the difference! I also switched up the recipe and used walnuts instead of the pecans I typically use. Walnuts were significantly cheaper, plus I thought they'd be better for some of the other recipes I was making. The switch didn't seem to make any difference in the yummy-ness of the cookie bars. With both batches, we were able to make 30 total bars.

I also mixed up a batch of my friend Meredith's grandmother's pineapple banana nut bread Wednesday night. The recipe is for 2 loaves of bread, but I only have 1 loaf pan, so I decided to do one loaf and muffins. After I put half of the batter in the loaf pan, the remaining half made 18 muffins. I used 12 silicone liners for the first pan of muffins, and poured the remaining 6 muffins directly in a pan sprayed with Pam. This was only my second time making this recipe, and when the ingredients list calls for 2 cups of mashed bananas, I wasn't sure just how mashed those bananas should be. I decided to attack them with a fork and mush them up really good. I think this resulted in a bit too much banana, so next time, I won't be as diligent with the mashing. The bread and muffins didn't rise as much as I thought they would (likely from all the banana) but they were very tasty. Because they didn't rise much, the muffins ended up being kind of small, so I bagged them 2 per bag for the sale. I also noticed that the muffins in the silicone liners didn't brown as well as the rest, but they tasted the same, and popping them out of the muffin tin was SO easy!

Thursday I was battling a migrane all day, so I kept the baking kind of light. I made Meredith's grandmother's chocolate pound cake recipe in my bundt pan. I was tired and not feeling well, so I MAY have slept through the timer going off for a few minutes when the cake was finished. It looked a bit well-done when I took it out of the oven, but the inside was still moist, and it still tasted good. I was surpised at just how many slices I was able to get out of one cake for the bake sale.

Friday night was my last night of baking, and I decided to round off my selections with some oatmeal chocolate chip walnut cookies. I think these might possibly be my favorite cookie! I made the first batch on my thick, professional grade cookie sheet and the rest on my airbake cookie pans. The first batch from the "better" pan turned out much thinner and stuck more to the pan than the others, so I abandoned that pan and continued with the airbake pans for the remaining batches. Jason was helping again and made sure to use one of the stuck cookies for a "quality control" taste testing. The recipe says that it makes 3.5 dozen cookies, and that's pretty close to how many I ended up with. The cookies weren't that large though, so I decided to bag them up 2 per bag for the sale. 

Jason worked the fundraiser for most of the day Saturday (while I was cleaning my kitchen !!!, getting my hair done, and at the Braves game...) and he took them 4 grocery bags full of baked goods. He said the cookie bars were a definite hit. The only thing that didn't sell very fast was the chocolate pound cake, which is what I figured. I didn't put any icing or glaze on it, but I thought some people might like something a little less sweet (plus I was tired from baking).

I've included Meredith's grandmother's recipes below. (Remember that sugar is considered a wet ingredient.)

PINEAPPLE BANANA BREAD

3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 cups mashed bananas
8 oz can crused pineapples (drained)
1 cup nuts (chopped)
2 tsp vanilla
3 eggs (beaten

Combine dry ingredients, stir in nuts, set aside. Combine remaining ingredients. Add to dry ingredients. Stir just until batter is moistened. Spoon batter into 2 greased and floured 9 x 5 x 3 loaf pans. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour or until done. Cool 10 minutes in pan.

This also makes 32 muffins. Bake muffins at 350 degrees until done 15 or 20 minutes. These freeze well.

CHOCOLATE POUND CAKE

2 1/2 cups sifted flour
3/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup shortening
1 cup milk
4 eggs
2 1/2 - 3 squares of melted unsweet chocolate (I used 3)
1 tsp vanilla

Add eggs, shortening, and sugar first, then add dry ingredients. Add remaining liquid ingredients. Beat 2 minutes on medium speed. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes.