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Bake Sale Ideas

I'm in charge of running a fund raising bake sale for my children's school.
Along with the "traditional" bake sale items I'd like to have some special different treats.
I'd love some suggestions!!

16 Comments:

Mini pies might be fun - cut out circles of pie dough and place into muffin tins. Fill with favorite filling and cover with another round of dough. Bake and let cool. Wrap a piece of partment around and tie with bakery string.

Or maybe...
Cinnamon sugar dought holes
Pumpkin seed bark or brittle
Roasted nuts
Hand made marshmallows
Whoopie pies with different fillings
Hot coffee (for adults) and Milk shake station (for kids)
Choc. covered pretzels
Candied or caramel pears (instead of apples)
Hot cocoa mix in a bag with mini marshmallows (cocoa, powdered sugar, powdered milk)
Pastries made w/puff pastry

Bake sales are kind of foreign to me (sorry). I presume the traditional ones have sweet loaf breads made of zucchini, spice, tomato, banana, or mango, as well as cupcakes and cookies?

With it being that time, I suppose pumpkin spice bread wouldn't be bad. I've never seen it before, but I suppose that might be common in some parts of the country. :P

Are fruit pies or turnovers allowed or are they too perishable? Can they be savory like pasties, piroshki, or bierox? There are a ton of different baklava but they might be a bit time consuming...?

Gah! I would sooo love a hot beef and cheese piroshki right now!

bags of caramel corn

My gran would always make an angel-food cake and a sunshine cake at the same time...one used just the whites, the other used the yolks. Both were delicious.

I'm always happy to see some savory items at a bake sale, so consider these thoughts.

Cheese straws (or use a cookie press for holiday shapes or hearts)

Pecan-Blue Cheese Crackers (I'll post the recipe if you're interested. It's butter, blue cheese, flour, pecans, an egg. Might be cost prohibitive for a bake sale.)

Pasta (The flavor that gets the best reviews when I gift it is lemon-black pepper, but curry and spinach are close seconds. I make fettuccine rather than spaghetti because the shreds of lemon rind, pepper, and spinach cause the thinner pasta to break and not stay in long strands. Dry on dry cleaner hangers with the round paper tubes covered with parchment paper if you don't have a pasta rack. I've even used chopsticks straddled between stacked boxes and cans of whatever was in the pantry to give me enough height.

I once used a wooden clothes drying rack on my dining room table when I was making a serious amount for Christmas presents. Warning: don't try this if you have cats in the house.)

Basil pesto. If basil is still in season. (You could do this two ways. 1: Puree the basil, oil, and garlic and freeze in individual containers or bags. Add a bag of grated Parm and nuts of your choice at the time of sale. Instructions would read to mix both containers, add to hot pasta, toss, serve. Use within two days. 2: Make the pesto completely the day before the sale, keep in a cooler. Instructions would read to use within a day or two. Don't freeze because the cheese and ground nuts get chewy and unpleasant.)

Dog biscuits (Yes! Dog-owners would often rather buy a treat for their dogs than themselves. Find a recipe on-line that assures you of having no doggie dietary constraints, use a dog bone cookie cutter. )

Pizza Quick Bread (Although there are a lot of A-to-Z quick bread recipes on-line, I think I have the original that was posted back in 2000 in the Cedar Rapids Gazette. It's a basic quick bread recipe that I thought you could interchange the fruit options with pizza ingredients.
Sort of like a cross between pepperoni bread and a pizza. I think I can post since it's not longer available on line. Mods, let me know if I'm out of line.)

If you want to go untraditional I think something savory would be smart.

Maybe focaccia, empanadas or something else that's easy to grab and go.

caramel corm
popcorn balls
caramel apples
dipping oil herb blends
seasoned salts, herb blends/rub
brining blends
cookies, soups, etc. "in a jar" (layered jar mixes)
palmiers
home canned sauces, jams, jellies and pickles
home made candies, fudge, nut brittles, barks, dipped pretzels, etc.

...and, if you feeling lazy, rice crispy treats always, always sell out at my kids' school.

I totally agree with the idea of making something savory. I usually pass on bake sales because I'm not in a sugar mood.

Spanakopita would be great, but what a pain to make.

Roasted almonds or other nuts?

Finger sandwiches, maybe?

This is likely not very useful, but whenever I see someone selling doughnuts and hot chocolate on a cold day, I always wished it was tomato soup and hot grilled cheese sandwiches.

I totally agree with the savory. And I also was going to suggest spanikopita, which is my go-to dish for appetizers, pot-lucks, etc, and because I make it often enough it seems so easy to make (to each her own, n'est-ce pas?)

Are the kids buying or adults? Not sure how well spanikopita would go for the kids, but making faux quiches (bisquick impossible pies) in muffin tins would work even for kids. Sausage biscuits, i.e., though I like to make broccoli-cheese, or bacon, onion, mushroom versions.

Homemade rolls also make great use of your time. Even basic white bread. There are lots of great sourdough and whole grain/mixed grain breads available now, but not so many good white breads. I find they go really fast at bake sales.

@LearP, for a seasonal kick, do Rice Krispie treats w/ candy corn

Soft pretzels might be a hit...

I like the spanokopita idea too.

Or pasties, empanadas, burek, mushroom tarts, gougeres, savory cheese-onion stuffed breads, calzones and especially at this time of the year-- tourti're (French-Canadian meat pies mmm-mmm...)

Did anyone mention quiche? Pre-baked quiche can be easily reheated at home.

Bakerella has a ton of different shapes and decorations of her "cake pops". They are really cute and would sell well.
www.bakerella.com

it might not be a bad idea to do something gluten-free?
so many people are discovering that they have that affliction, that it might wind up being quite a seller...

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