Making Bake Sale Superstars
With the school year only half over, there are still plenty of bake sales in our not-too-distant future. When baking something to contribute to a bake sale, I usually keep it simple and stick with favorites like cupcakes, cookies and brownies. After all, kids gravitate towards what they know and recognize - this is not always a good time to begin experimenting.
In Barbara Grunes book, The Best Bake Sale Ever Cookbook, she gave four sure-fire tips to make sure your bake sale contributions fly off the table:
1. Brownies. Whether they’re homemade or boxed, stir in chocolate chips, raisins, nuts or crumbled cookies. Or drizzle melted white chocolate on top.
2. Muffins. Try adding dried fruit to a muffin mix (such as dried cherries in chocolate batter) for extra ooomph.
3. Cupcakes. The secret is color. Pile high with frosting, and don’t skimp on colorful sprinkles or chocolate chips.
4. Homemade Fudge. Stir in dried fruit and nuts. Serve chilled to prevent melting.
I feel bad for my poor (future) kids. Whenever I bake, I always want to throw in some “twist” or something unique, whereas I feel like bake sale goodies are all about traditional recipes. Oh well — maybe by the time I have kids I will have some perfect recipe I can whip up in my sleep.