Friday, February 18, 2011

Scrumptious Baking Fundraiser

Last week was the annual Valentine Dessert Auction at our church with all proceeds going to the youth. Because I have 2 boys in youth, our house turned into a bakery for 3 days. No, I didn't get any writing done during that time and here are the photos to prove why...

First off, let me say I love my 5 quart mixer. It's the largest I've ever owned, and it's lasted longer than any other. When I bake, I don't piddle around the kitchen... I go on a baking binge, as my friend Val calls it, and bake all day for days. When I make sugar cookies, instead of doubling the batch, I'll triple or quadruple it. Sometimes even sextuple it. (Is that even a word?) Anyway, that calls for heavy duty equipment. And that's where my KitchenAid mixer comes in.

JJ's contribution was German chocolate cupcakes. Some of them were in the usual cupcake round size, but he made others using tin heart-shaped molds. They looked good, and tasted better.



I made some Rice Krispie Hearts using the Pampered Chief Heart bread mold. Then JJ decorated them with chocolate, pushed a lollipop inside them, and bagged them.  







Nick's contribution to the event was a triple layer carrot cake with cream cheese icing. It's hidden under all this plastic, but it sure looked good before we wrapped it up.



One of the new things I tried was Stained Glass Cookies. Since I was making sugar cookies anyway, I thought I'd give them a try. Especially since I had the perfect cookie cutter for it that cut the outside and inside hearts at the same time.



On this cookie sheet are the 6 sugar cookies ready to be baked. In the center of each is a Jolly Rancher hard candy. Two of the candies are red and the other 4 are pink.

Here Nelson is holding the finished Stained Glass cookie. Yes, the icing isn't the best job, but I admit I was rushing it.
Here's what the plate of Stained Glass Cookies looked like when we brought them to the auction...





As well as regular sized iced sugar cookies, we brought these huge 4.5 inch ones that people can write their own messages on with those cake decorating gels or pens, etc.


Another use for the sugar cookie dough was the base for these cookie pizzas. We covered the partially baked sugar cookie with mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, nuts and butterscotch sauce before popping back into the oven to finish baking. We made 2 of these 6" cookie pizzas.



This Peanut Butter Chip Cheesecake was a favourite last year so I made it again. Cheesecakes are so easy to make.  I probably shouldn't have used so much chocolate on top, but you never can have too much chocolate.


This Triple Chocolate Cheesecake should've had white chocolate drizzles on top but I didn't have any so I used the chocolate one again.





And finally, I brought this dish of fresh from the oven Chocolate Caramel Pecan Breakfast Buns.


I think that's all we brought. And no, I don't want to tell you all the goodies we bid on and brought back.

If you want to know more about the Dessert Auction evening, check out the post I did for our church blog.

10 comments:

  1. wow!
    i love your mixer. i can understand why you do the baking "binge" with that equipment. everything you and your children created look absolutely yummy! i like the stained glass sugar cookies. i don't have a fancy cookie cutter, but i may have to try that myself.(hubby likes sugar cookies)
    you have a very talented family.
    thanks for sharing all the pix!

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  2. Wow!! All that baking looks great!

    I don't bake too much anymore but I relate to the baking binges except my binge is soup -- I can rarely make just one batch of homemade soup -- I have to make at least three kinds all at once! Three large pots (I can't make a small batch either) all simmering on the stove at once. I then freeze it in individual portions to take to work for lunch. Yummy! I love homemade soup!

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  3. Wow, it all looks delicious! I'd have bid on the breakfast buns :D

    Yummy, except now I'm hungry!

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  4. You're welcome, Deb. I collect cookie cutters because I love sugar cookies, too. I have at least 100 in almost every theme ... hmmm ... except for western ... have chocolate molds in those. LOL

    I tell you Deb, one of the most satisfying things you can do with Guppy is get him helping you in the kitchen as soon as he shows the slightest interest. Yes, it will be messy, but it's gonna get messy anyhow. All my kids were entering their own baking at local fairs since they were 5 yrs old. By age 15, Jessie was beating me and others in the adult division. And at 9 as a Jnr, Nick beat out 3 adult and senior division winners for 'Best in the Fair' with his Bran Muffins. (Those ladies were not pleased.)

    And to the people who said I must've helped my kids bake, I told them to try the stuff because really, I would never put that much salt in my recipe. But other than going over the recipe with them, helping them run the mixer and oven, the amount of ingredients is up to them. Actually, I have to turn away as they measure their ingredients because well, they don't always follow the recipe, you know? And yes, Nick's salty chocolate chip cookies won whereas mine didn't even place that year. sigh.

    Thanks for taking time to visit, Deb. Want a coconut mouse? LOL

    Anita Mae.

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  5. Hey, thanks, Elaine. I know what you mean... if you're going to go through the trouble anyway...

    You have hit on the one thing I can't do... make soup with ease. My sister is a cook at Living Word Bible College and can serve up a batch of soup out of a pot of water and nothing else. And it will taste delicious. Me - meh. I have stock pots and you can give me all the correct ingredients. But when it's done, it'll either look like 'stuff' in water or greasy water with stuff in it.

    I guess that's why we like Pot Lucks so much. We get to taste the homemade stuff we can't make. :D

    Thanks for sharing about your soup. Smart idea and just the thing for this kind of weather. Enjoy!

    PS - thanks for sending your photo. I love that I have a face to go with your words. :D

    Anita Mae.

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  6. Hey, Karyn. The buns sold for $20 and the family who bought them said in church on Sunday that they were delicious. Phew! It was my first attempt at this particular recipe as I usually make the regular cinnamon raisin buns.

    I'd offer to bring them on Sat, but I'm not sure I'll be going yet and I'm doing another BIAW so want to spend my time writing instead of baking. Remind me another time, okay?

    Thanks for dropping by Karyn. I just realized tomorrow is Sat. Eeeps.

    Anita Mae.

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  7. thanks for the advice for Guppy, Anita! i will definitely look forward to teaching him (and yes, i KNOW it will be messy).

    he has already shown a great interest cleaning utensils (brooms, mops, swiffers, etc) i've shortened the handle on my dusting swiffer, attach a pad and let him go on our dining room floor. he'll spend a good ten to fifteen minutes, if not more, pushing the swiffer around. he misses some stuff, but hey... the floor is getting cleaned. *heh*

    happy writing!

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  8. Deb, one thing I had to learn was that the kids' version of 'clean' was not my own. And although I hate cleaning, when I do it, I do it well. But not the kids. Ugh. I realized with my first one, that it only gets their defences up and a refusal to do it next time if I'm only going to re-do it after they 'try'. So I bite my tongue and keep my eyes on my screen instead and try to improve them a little at a time. At least we don't get many visitors. LOL

    As for guppy, I bought my first kids' baking outfit complete with small apron and kid-sized oven mitts from Robin Hood Flour years ago.

    Then a couple years ago, our biggest grocery chain was selling Mini-Chefs apron and hat sets. These hats are adorable as they are like the pizza maker hats of Italy. I'm sure a search of the web will net similar outfits. If not, let me know. My kids have outgrown ours and I don't see any grandchildren on the horizon. Even if I did, it'd be years before they were big enough.

    Bless you, Deb.

    Anita.

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  9. Wow, is all i can say! I admire your gift, definitely from the heart and to a good cause.

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  10. Carrie Ann, I appreciate you taking time to stop in and tell me. And yes, through the youth group, my kids have walked Regina streets handing out lunch to kids who were hungry. They've talked with runaways and served food at Soul's Harbour. The least I can do is support them in their evdeavours. Especially if it's something easy like bake a cheesecake.

    Thank you.

    Anita Mae.

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