Between my travels and Quin's ER visit, the baked offerings for Week Six were, of necessity, on the less ambitious side of the spectrum. In between rotating baking sheets and dialing Michael's cell phone on Friday night, I unfortunately did not have a hand free to take any process pictures, so this week's post will feel a little light.
Before leaving town, I had mixed and refrigerated dough for Chocolate Chip Cookies (Alton Brown, again) and Chinese Almond Cookies (Joy of Cookies). I also mixed up the dry ingredients for Banana Muffins (the new Joy of Cooking). I spent a grand total of two hours on Friday night scooping and baking dough, and mixing up the muffins and baking them off as well. I felt very pleased with my efficiency and staggered into bed at 11pm.
The Chocolate Chippers are a good, basic cookie -- definitely a crowd-pleaser. They were the first item to sell out.
The Banana Muffins are a good, basic muffin. Brown sugar and cinnamon add nice flavor notes, and I added plenty of chopped walnuts.
The Chinese Almond Cookies rely heavily on almond extract for their flavor. I think next time I will sub finely ground almonds for some of the A/P flour, and reduce the extract. It's hard to tell from my picture, but they are each topped with a whole, blanched almond, and then given a quick egg-glaze before baking. They look better in person, I promise, and they tasted great.
********************************************
Sales on Saturday started off verrrrrrrrrrrrry slowly. At 11:30am I had only sold about $7 worth of goods and was starting to panic. Then, everything seemed to happen at once. Friends, relatives, neighbors, and total strangers started to stop and purchase, many of them in quantity (bless their hearts). I had the most delightful visit with Michael's cousin's wife (got that?), her mom, and two adorable daughters. They drove out all the way from 'Jersey, and bought some of everything. Karen even bought out the few remaining baggies of dog biscuits to share at her dog's Doggy Day Care. Awww! (Karen is a terrific photographer, and had her camera out. Karen, if you're reading, are there any photos you feel like lending to the blog?)
For most of the day, I could not keep track of my brain. I found myself frequently attempting to hold three conversations simultaneously for most of the rest of the day, which was very confusing. By 1pm, I had sold every last baked item -- we cleared $116 (woo!). I staggered home and collected the kids from my mother (thanks, Mom), and tried mightily and unsuccessfully to collapse and rest for a bit.
[After all was situated in the morning, Michael left for a quick NYC visit with an old friend who was in town for a trade show. She's a jewelry designer and her stuff is swooningly gorgeous. She does not sell directly to the public, but you can see (and even buy) her stuff here, and here, and here. (Michael has been duly informed that any the big, mesh cuff bracelets would be more than welcome on my arm.) As a result of this, I was a single parent for about 30 hours. This is hard work, even when you're not already exhausted.]
Winding down the baking activities, I still have about a dozen recipes I'd like to squeeze in. Ain't gonna happen. The Sesame-Anise Melts are a must, though, as are the Caramel Toffee Crunch Bars. Garrick has his heart set on Cinnamon Squares and Milk Chocolate Mini-Cakes, and I'd like to use up some zucchini with another round of pretty Zucchini Cupcakes. I have a repeat customer requesting a rerun of the Peanut Butter & Jellies, so I must do those. Plus I have enough toffee chips to do a round of Dorie's Blondies, and I want to try her Blueberry-Orange Muffins. Such difficulties I have in my life. Anyone have any opinions on the subject?
******************************************
We're heading for the beach on Saturday right after the cookie booth closes, so there will be a brief intermission before my next blog post. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves in the meanwhile. I'm psyched to take a real break, and running on fumes trying to get ready. You know how that goes. See you next week!
Before leaving town, I had mixed and refrigerated dough for Chocolate Chip Cookies (Alton Brown, again) and Chinese Almond Cookies (Joy of Cookies). I also mixed up the dry ingredients for Banana Muffins (the new Joy of Cooking). I spent a grand total of two hours on Friday night scooping and baking dough, and mixing up the muffins and baking them off as well. I felt very pleased with my efficiency and staggered into bed at 11pm.
The Chocolate Chippers are a good, basic cookie -- definitely a crowd-pleaser. They were the first item to sell out.
The Banana Muffins are a good, basic muffin. Brown sugar and cinnamon add nice flavor notes, and I added plenty of chopped walnuts.
The Chinese Almond Cookies rely heavily on almond extract for their flavor. I think next time I will sub finely ground almonds for some of the A/P flour, and reduce the extract. It's hard to tell from my picture, but they are each topped with a whole, blanched almond, and then given a quick egg-glaze before baking. They look better in person, I promise, and they tasted great.
********************************************
Sales on Saturday started off verrrrrrrrrrrrry slowly. At 11:30am I had only sold about $7 worth of goods and was starting to panic. Then, everything seemed to happen at once. Friends, relatives, neighbors, and total strangers started to stop and purchase, many of them in quantity (bless their hearts). I had the most delightful visit with Michael's cousin's wife (got that?), her mom, and two adorable daughters. They drove out all the way from 'Jersey, and bought some of everything. Karen even bought out the few remaining baggies of dog biscuits to share at her dog's Doggy Day Care. Awww! (Karen is a terrific photographer, and had her camera out. Karen, if you're reading, are there any photos you feel like lending to the blog?)
For most of the day, I could not keep track of my brain. I found myself frequently attempting to hold three conversations simultaneously for most of the rest of the day, which was very confusing. By 1pm, I had sold every last baked item -- we cleared $116 (woo!). I staggered home and collected the kids from my mother (thanks, Mom), and tried mightily and unsuccessfully to collapse and rest for a bit.
[After all was situated in the morning, Michael left for a quick NYC visit with an old friend who was in town for a trade show. She's a jewelry designer and her stuff is swooningly gorgeous. She does not sell directly to the public, but you can see (and even buy) her stuff here, and here, and here. (Michael has been duly informed that any the big, mesh cuff bracelets would be more than welcome on my arm.) As a result of this, I was a single parent for about 30 hours. This is hard work, even when you're not already exhausted.]
Winding down the baking activities, I still have about a dozen recipes I'd like to squeeze in. Ain't gonna happen. The Sesame-Anise Melts are a must, though, as are the Caramel Toffee Crunch Bars. Garrick has his heart set on Cinnamon Squares and Milk Chocolate Mini-Cakes, and I'd like to use up some zucchini with another round of pretty Zucchini Cupcakes. I have a repeat customer requesting a rerun of the Peanut Butter & Jellies, so I must do those. Plus I have enough toffee chips to do a round of Dorie's Blondies, and I want to try her Blueberry-Orange Muffins. Such difficulties I have in my life. Anyone have any opinions on the subject?
******************************************
We're heading for the beach on Saturday right after the cookie booth closes, so there will be a brief intermission before my next blog post. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves in the meanwhile. I'm psyched to take a real break, and running on fumes trying to get ready. You know how that goes. See you next week!
10 comments:
Despite all the drama, your baked goods look wonderful, as always!! As for what to do for the remaining bake sales, I would like to see the cinnamon squares, as I love cinnamon. Also, the muffins sound good. I need to learn to make better muffins--mine always seem a bit tough. :-(
BTW, there is a copy of Dorie's book winging it's way to my home because of this blog! Bah! ;-)
Don't wear yourself out this week and ENJOY your beach time!
Ann
OK, you are now on my EVIL list. I checked out one of the links and I can't believe you sent me to a place that HAS CLIP earrings!! No one ever sells clip on ear rings, thus alleviating me completely from any and all temptation. But you, my friend, sent me unknowningly and unprepared to test my will power. ;-)
Resist! I must resist!
Oh, I did it again. Forgot to sign that last post... :-)
Ann
But aren't the earrings pretty?!
(Bwah ha ha!)
Just popping in to wish you luck tomorrow. The weather up here is supposed to be WONDERFUL, I hope that extends down to your area. Here's hoping you get lots of customers and sell out again!
Enjoy your time at the beach and get lots of rest.
Ann
You've done a fair amount of staggering off to bed after a marathon baking or selling day.
Ah well, tomorrow's supposed to be much cooler and beautiful, and I hope your beach time will be restful and reviving.
Such a baker you are. You have every right to be very proud, and tired, too!!!
Marcia
Ann, Marcia, thanks for your stalwart support and comments. It's 11:30pm Friday and the baking is complete. The packing -- not so much. But I'm hitting the bed in about 10 minutes and that will indeed be sweet. We've got a lovely forecast for tomorrow, and then things get a bit interesting. But as I said to Michael, worse comes to worst, we'll read alot of books and watch a lot of TV. I can think of worse vacations. Hugs!
Ahem!! Anymore updates? How did the last 2 bake sales go? Are you doing one this weekend or are the bakesales done? How was the beach?! Enquiring minds (and people who need to keep their minds occupied!) need to know. :-)
I know that's you yelling at me, Ann. New posts are brewing, I promise. But I've got work catch up and kids to get ready for school next week, and all sorts of other nonsense to deal with...... but I know you need distractions and I hope to have some for you soon!
I wasn't yelling. Just nudging. ;-)
Ann (hey, I remembered to sign my name)
Post a Comment