Bake Sale Recap

Last week Saturday was the #mkefoodies Holiday Bake Sale for Cookies4Kids. It was held at The Best Place at the Pabst Brewery. So many donations were brought in including some amazing vegan cupcakes from Compassionate Cake. I can't believe the skill that was put into decorating and I got the joy of trying a gingerbread cupcake and the flavor was spot on and amazing.

I snapped a few pictures at the event and I have to say that the fill-a-bag table was a huge hit. Volunteers had packages up their cookies in groups of 3-4 per bag and we had "donators" fill a lunch bag full with as many of those little bags as they could for $10 - a very fair deal. I couldn't believe how fast the cookies were going off the tables. We were constantly condensing and learned for the future to package more cookies that way.

Right before the event began - tables full of cookies!!!

From the balcony at The Best Place looking down on the event.

Cookie lovers buying and donating to Cookies4Kids

In all the event raised $1200 for Cookies4Kids and very few treats remained at the end. All of the volunteers were able to take home a treat for working and nothing went to waste. I think that next year the event will be even larger and we can raise even more. I'm very excited for that.

So here is what I made for the day. I had a few recipes in mind that I wanted to try but I knew that I wanted to try some more and went hog-wild at the store buying baking ingredients.

I knew that a lot of children have food allergies to either nuts or gluten so I decided to make two cookies to hit those marks. The first cookie that I made was a gluten free peanut butter kiss cookie that I found on RecipeGirl.com. They were extremely easy to make and I think they may become a staple cookie for me. You would never know that they didn't have flour in them when you taste them. It is a richer cookie as you truly taste all the peanut-buttery goodness, but what's wrong with that. I even decorated mine with a little red and green colored sugar on the outside. I use the chocolate stars instead of kisses to fancy them up a little more but this is one good cookie.

Another cookie that I made was from Gluten Free Essentials called a Cocoa Mudslide Cookie. I bought the mix from A Gluten Free Frenzy in Brookfield and it was a really easy mix. The only thing that I learned on this batch is with the chocolate and marshmallows in the mix, these can quickly turn into a mess in your oven and stick to the pan -- parchment paper is a must for the future! I of course had to try a few to see how they turned out. It was a very light cookie that resembled cake more than a cookie but the crunch on the outside with the soft middle was something that I dream for my cookies most of the time. I definitely got mudslide out of them and they sold pretty quickly at the Bake Sale as well.

I also made basic snickdoodles for the sale that I got from AllRecipes.com, but unfortunately I can't remember which one I used as they are all very similar. They turned out very well and sold great too.

I also attempted regular chocolate chip cookies, a cinnamon roll cookie and chocolate/butterscotch cookies and none of those turned out. I'm not sure what I did wrong but I was 3 for 6 this time around. Not the best odds, but I'm just happy I had somethings to donate that were delicious. And I gained a new cookie or two for my recipe box. Until my next blog, Happy Eating!