Sunday, April 18, 2010

Great American Bake Sale 4/17/10 ~ A Success!


On April 17, 2010, Saturday, the National Food Bloggers Bake Sale-New Jersey was held at Shop Rite of North Brunswick, NJ with great success!

I am very, very happy to announce that we raised $600 of the $500 goal, for

Share Our Strength. Their mission is to END CHILDHOOD HUNGER.

Gaby Dalkin of Whats Gaby Cooking, organizer of this event announced

23 food blogger sales amounted to over $16,500.


The weather report predicted rain for Saturday. On the day of the bake sale, it was sunny!!! It was a bit breezy, but no rain! I was so grateful for the sunshine.

I want to take this opportunity to say THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart to those that helped make this event a SUCCESS:

Individuals who made this day a success:

• Preeti Desai
Photographer

• Martina Petrigliano
Baker, Salesperson, Cashier

Nancy Petrigliano (Martina’s mom)
Baker, Salesperson, Cashier

Eric (Martina’s friend)
Salesperson

Corey Gentry
Baker
Corey sells Avon. Check out her website: www.youravon.com/coreygentry

• Karren & Rob Zagari
Sales help before event

• Michelle
Baker

Carmen Ortiz (this is me)
Organized NJ Bake Sale, Baker, Salesperson, Cashier
Carmen sells cupcake favors. Website: www.bakingismyzen.com


Businesses that helped make this bake sale a success:

Preetalina Photography
Preeti Desai - Photographer
Website: http://www.preetalina.com/

Gaston Avenue Bakery
85 North Gaston Avenue
Somerville, NJ 08876-2489
Telephone: 908 722-0511
Website: http://www.gastonbakery.com/

Manville Bakery
335 N Main Street
Manville, NJ 08835
Telephone: 908 725-2288
Website: http://manvillepastryshoppe.com/

Shop Rite of North Brunswick
400 Renaissance Boulevard East
North Brunswick, NJ 08902-5100
Telephone: 732 940-3112
Website:
http://www.shoprite.com/

A huge “Thank You’ to Shop Rite of North Brunswick

for allowing the bake sale at their location.

The Raritan Pastry Shop
49 W Somerset Street
Raritan, NJ 08869-2011
Telephone: 908 725-2196
Website: http://www.theraritanpastryshop.com/

Walmart
100 North Main Street
Manville, NJ 08835
Telephone: 908 526-0401
Website: http://www.walmart.com/

Wegmans
240 Nassau Park Boulevard
Princeton, NJ 08540
Telephone: 609 919-9300
Website: http://www.wegmans.com



A special, heartfelt THANK YOU to

for a donation of $250, which amounted to 40% of our total sales!


What did I bake for the Bake Sale?

The Essential Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Source: King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion Book

Golden brown, craggy from a surfeit of chips, these moist cookies bend, then reluctantly break to reveal a lava-flow of melted chocolate. Truly—if you’re a chewy chocolate chip cookie lover, it just doesn’t get any better than this! The surprise ingredient? Vinegar. The small amount of vinegar accomplishes two things: it tempers the sweetness of the sugar just a bit, allowing the flavor of the chocolate and butter to shine through, and it reacts with the sodium bicarbonate in the leavener, giving the cookies a little extra lift in the oven. Try it; you’ll like it.

Makes 4 dozen cookies

INGREDIENTS:
3/4 cup(1 1/2 sticks, 6 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup (5 1/4 ounces) dark brown sugar, packed
2/3 cup (4 3/4 ounces) granulated sugar
2 tablespoons (1 1/4 ounces) light corn syrup
1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) cider or white vinegar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/4 cups (9 1/2 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
3 cups (18 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugars, corn syrup and vinegar, then beat in the eggs.


Beat in the vanilla, salt, baking powder and baking soda, then stir in the flour and chips.

Drop the dough by the tablespoonful onto the prepared baking sheets.


Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, until they’re just set, the centers may still look a bit undone.


Remove them from the oven and transfer them to a rack to cool.

Baking time: 10 minutes

My notes: I chill the dough for about 1-2 hours. I use a ¼ cup ice cream scooper and I weigh each portion to 2 ½ ounces. Then I add onto parchment paper lined tray and bake. Do not overbake cookies!





The Essential Chewy Oatmeal Cookies
Source: King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion Book

This flat cookie has a lovely crisp edge, but bends before it breaks-unlike crunchy cookies, which snap cleanly in two. Raisins both enhance the cookie’s flavor, and add additional moistness, and nuts lend their own distinct, toasty taste.

Yield: 45 cookies

Baking Temperature: 375 degrees Farenheit
Baking time: 11 minutes

INGREDIENTS:
½ cup (1 stick, 4 oz) unsalted butter
1/2 cup (3 ¼ oz) vegetable shortening
1/2 cup (3 ½ oz) granulated sugar
1 cup (8 oz) brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves (I omit this spice)
1/4 tsp nutmeg (I replace with pumpkin spice)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 large egg
6 tbsp (4 1/8 oz) light corn syrup
2 tbsp (1 oz) milk (regular or low fat, not nonfat)
3 cups (10 ½ oz) quick cooking oats (or old-fashioned rolled oats pulsed in a food processor, to make smaller, thinner flakes)
1 1/2 cups (6 ¼ oz) all-purpose flour
1 cup (5 ¼ oz) raisins
1 cup (4 oz) chopped walnuts or pecans

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees farenheit.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, shortening, sugars, extracts, spices, salt, and baking soda, beating until fairly smooth.

Beat in the egg, scraping the bowl, then beat in the corn syrup and milk.

Stir in the oats, flour, raisins, and nuts.

Drop the dough by tablespoonful onto the prepared baking sheets.

Bake the cookies for 11 minutes, until they're a light golden brown.

Remove them from the oven and transfer to a rack to cool.

My notes: I chill the dough for about 1-2 hours. I use a ¼ cup ice cream scooper and I weigh each portion to 2 ½ ounces. Then I add onto parchment paper lined tray and bake.
Do not overbake cookies!




Chocolate Devil’s Food Cupcakes
by Howard Martin
with Kathleen’s Peanut Butter Icing



Chocolate Devil’s Food Cupcakes by Howard Martin
with Chocolate Frosting by Domino Sugar
(no photo)


White Cupcakes
Cupcake recipe by Ina Garten of Barefoot Contessa

with Classic Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
Link to: Savory Sweet Life
(no photo)





Giving back…
Elijah’s Promise Soup Kitchen received items not sold at the bake sale. The baked goods were delicious. They are in for a treat!

If you would like to donate food to Elijah’s Promise Soup Kitchen, please call or visit the website for information on how you can help.

Elijah’s Promise Soup Kitchen
18 Nielson St. New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Phone: 732-545-9002 Fax: 732-246-1138

http://www.elijahspromise.net/




It feels good to know that with our efforts, we can help
Share Our Strength END CHILDHOOD HUNGER.


Love & Peace,

Carmen

Baking is my Zen…sweet nibbles for the soul



National Food Bloggers Bake Sale New Jersey ~

Click to read: How it all started


> > > > > > > PHOTOS OF THE BAKE SALE....click HERE.

7 comments:

sweetlife said...

how wonderful..what a great day you had..congrats on your sucessful bake sale..can't wait to see the pics

sweetlife

Lazaro Cooks said...

Wonderful work for a good cause. Thank you for caring. You should be commended. Cheers!

Baking is my Zen...sweet nibbles for the soul said...

Thank you for your kind words. I am honored to be able to contribute to a worthy cause as this.

Carmen

Lazaro Cooks said...

I nominated this wonderful blog for an award. Please Check it out here. Cheers!

http://lazarocooks.blogspot.com/2010/04/another-editors-pick-article-up-on.html

Chef Dennis Littley said...

congratulations on the success of your sale...I heard about it too late...next year we are going to have bake sales in our schools to raise awareness....I wish my whole company would get on board!
Cheers
Dennis

Joy said...

Hi Carmen!

My name is Joy and I'm another baking blogger (my blog is called "Hot Oven, Warm Heart"). I had actually planned to stop by and introduce myself as I know you're one of the newer SMS members, but I just happened to stumble upon your site when scrolling through the list of leaders for the National Bloggers Bake Sale- I immediately recognized the name and took it as a sign that now was perfect time to say hello! I've been a part of SMS for almost a year now, but haven't been active for the last few months due to illness... I'm just getting back into the swing of things, and I'm glad I'll be around to participate during your host week (right around the corner)! I hope we can check out each other's yummy creations each week and get to know each other better along the way.

I also participated in the National Bloggers Great American Bake Sale (in my home state of Massachusetts)... one of the things I made happened to be this week's SMS recipe- the peanut butter truffles! I think it's absolutely wonderful that you would run the NJ bake sale and I'm so happy it was such a success- most definitely thanks to all your hard work! Everything you made looked incredible- (I know the random coincidences keep coming, but I swear, I was JUST thumbing threw The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion at the book store debating a purchase- I think I'll give those two recipes you shared a go, and I bet that will convince me!) Anyways, thank you for all your dedication to the event- it was an absolute pleasure taking part in it, and contributing to such a great cause!

This is gonna sound random, but may I ask where you got that adorable Bake Sale t-shirt you're wearing in the pictures? I was thinking that I'd love to have a T to remember the day by... if you could let me know when you get a chance I'd really appreciate it! Feel free to stop by my site and say hi anytime: http://hotovenwarmheart.wordpress.com/ or email if that's easier: hotovenwarmheart@gmail.com. I can't wait to hear from you!

Hope all is well!

Fondly,
Joy

The Cupcake Cauldron said...

I wish I would have seen this. I would have LOVED to participate in this. I have always wanted to be a part of The Great American Bake Sale. Perhaps if there is a next time! :) Congratulations on such a successful bake sale!

DO NOT USE MY PHOTOGRAPHY WITHOUT PERMISSION

ALL PHOTOGRAPHY (UNLESS INDICATED) IN THIS BLOG BELONGS TO CARMEN ORTIZ OF BAKING IS MY ZEN.

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY PHOTOGRAPHY WITHOUT MY PERMISSION.

Thank You.

~ Carmen Ortiz - blogger (Baking is my Zen)