Best goods for a bake sale? for Questionland Seattle

Reputation: 3752

Best goods for a bake sale?

The company I work for is doing a fundraiser for a really great charity and matching any employee donations. I'm organizing a bake sale for next week and need some ideas. Currently I'm planning on making 2 dozen cupcakes and lemon lavender shortbread cookies. What are some major bake sale hits and how do I price items?

RM asked in Just Desserts about 1 year ago | Report

Answer this question or share it with a smart friend:

Type your answer here…

Asker's Favorite

Reputation: 1195

Follow 2

Sphinx

2 0

Lemon bars are an excellent bake sale item. They're delicious, they're easy to eat without crumbling horribly, and they're unusual enough that most people don't make them at home and haven't had one in a while.

Peanut butter chocolate kiss cookies are another favorite, but I don't know if you'll be allowed to bring/sell items with nuts in them. People go crazy for peanut butter and chocolate together. The finished cookies are pretty, too. If peanut butter isn't an issue, here's my recipe: 1 cup sugar, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup peanut butter, 2 eggs, 3 cups flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder, a bag of Hershey's chocolate kisses. Mix up your dough and drop it onto an ungreased cookie sheet in spoon sized portions. Cook at 375 F (for some reason I don't have the bake time on my recipe card). Once the cookies are done, quickly push an unwrapped kiss in the center of each, pressing down slightly.

My mom has a pretty awesome recipe for miniature cheesecakes (you bake them in cupcake/muffin tins). They are amazingly easy to make and very very good, although you can't store them for long periods of time without refrigeration. Here's the recipe if you're interested: 3 8oz. packages cream cheese, 3 eggs, 1 cup sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1 box vanilla wafers. Soften the cream cheese and then mix all ingredients together (except the Nilla Wafers) until smooth. Put liners in cupcake tins and place a Nilla Wafer on the bottom of each liner, flat side down. Pour in the batter and cook at 325 F for about 20 minutes (cheesecakes will be done when they stop jiggling when the pan is tilted). I usually top the finished cheesecakes with berries of some kind, but you can also use various canned pie fillings. People are always impressed by this dessert.

Banana bread and zucchini bread are also good options and are nice because they're a little less labor intensive. My zucchini bread recipe makes a deliciously moist bread, which I think is due to the crushed pineapple. Here's that one: 3 eggs, 1 cup oil, 2 cups sugar, 2 tsp. vanilla, 2 cups grated zucchini, 1 8 oz. can crushed pineapple with juice, 3 cups flour, 2 tsp. baking soda, 1 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. baking powder, 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 3/4 tsp. nutmeg, 1 cup chopped nuts (I usually use walnuts). Mix thoroughly and bake in a loaf pan at 350 F for about 1 hour.

Pricing is a little bit tricky- it's been a while since I was involved in a bake sale. I know I have done .75 for cookies in the past, and I definitely think that you can go up in price for more unusual goods- People would probably pay at least $2.00 for a cheesecake with a topping. You might want to think about doing combo pricing- 3 cookies for 2 dollars, for example- and letting people mix and match. With the recent rise of cupcakes as a trendy dessert, you can probably get away with selling them for a few bucks a pop, just like the cupcake bakeries do.

Sphinx answered in Just Desserts about 1 year ago | Report

Comment on this answer

Share this answer with a friend:

Latest Greatest

8 Other Answers

Reputation: 2675

Follow 2

1 0

There are a lot of good answers here. I'll add that today I walked by a bake sale and bought a sack of cookies, which was mighty convenient. I think they wanted a buck. I gave them three (it was for a good cause). Selling items that are packaged so people can grab and run is always a winner in my book.

soundslikepuget answered in Just Desserts about 1 year ago | Report

Comment on this answer

Share this answer with a friend:

Reputation: 230

Follow 0

2 1

Women will buy chocolate. Children will buy anything with sprinkles on it.

All Day Breakfast answered in Just Desserts about 1 year ago | Report

Comment on this answer

Share this answer with a friend:

Reputation: 121

Follow 0

1 0

I'm part of a Relay For Life team and every year we do a bake sale in an a state office building and believe it or not whole pies sold the best at $20 a pie we also sold cheesecakes for that price. Some cakes we sold in quarters for less. We would also sell cookies in packs of three so that we could charge $1.50

We also knew that there were a lot of diabetics and gluten allergies in the building so we made some items surgar free and gluten free to cater to them. That got us GREAT reviews.

Good luck! When and where is your bake sale? If it's somewhere close I am always down for supporting other fundraisers!

ohyouprettything answered in Just Desserts about 1 year ago | Report

Comment on this answer

Share this answer with a friend:

Reputation: 97

Follow 0

0 0

Look on SmittenKitchen.com She has some great and simple recipes.

Svensken answered in Just Desserts about 1 year ago | Report

Comment on this answer

Share this answer with a friend:

Reputation: 36

Follow 0

Chelydra_serpentina

0 0

Saltine toffee. Sounds weird, but it's delicious and I always get raves when I take it to work potlucks. It's also fairly easy and the ingredients are cheap.

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/saltine-toffee-cookies/Detail.aspx

Tips:

Use either unsalted butter or saltines with unsalted tops. One or the other is just the right amount of salt, both is too much.

Be very, very vigilant with the oven phase, because they burn easily. Better to underdo it a little than overdo it.

Guittard milk chocolate chips are absolutely divine.

I prefer almonds to the pecans specified in the recipe, but you can use any kind of nut or none at all.

I've made an excellent gluten free version with gluten free crackers. Unfortunately I can't remember the brand I used, but I think the package called them table crackers, not soda crackers or saltines.

I haven't tried a dairy-free version with a vegetable oil butter substitute, but you could give it a shot if you think vegan will be a selling point.

Cool at room temperature, not refrigerator, or chocolate layer will separate.

Chelydra_serpentina answered in Just Desserts about 1 year ago | Report

Comment on this answer

Share this answer with a friend:

Reputation: 2

Follow 0

0 0

Everyone loves Rice crispy Bars - especially if you make them a little fancy. Smitten Kitchen has a great browned butter version:

http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/11/salted-brown-butter-crispy-treats/

Which are especially good when dipped in or topped with extra dark chocolate. They are super cheap and quick to make as well.

MrsBall answered in Just Desserts about 1 year ago | Report

Comment on this answer

Share this answer with a friend:

Reputation: 72

Follow 0

0 0

I bought these really delicious ginger star cookies from a farmers market a few weeks ago. What really made me get them is that fact they were -
1. Small
2. Had Sprinkles
3. Came in a really cute Jar
Plus it was the second day of the sale so everything was half off (I also bought poppy seed muffin mini cupcakes).

Rachel Bury answered in Just Desserts about 1 year ago | Report

Comment on this answer

Share this answer with a friend:

Reputation: 239

Follow 0

0 0

I think chocolate chip or m&m candy cookies are generally popular. Also brownies are always a favorite.

I love the Toffee Bars from the Silver Palette Cookbook, covered with chocolate and nuts -- so good!

Here us another lavender shortbread recipe I came across the other day and was lucky enoigh to have a friend bake me some today. Yummy and complex.

Salted Honey Lavender Shortbread
http://www.evilshenanigans.com/2010/09/salted-honey-lavender-shortbread/

I have no idea about pricing but maybe compare your idea about pricing with that at Starbucks. Also, people tend to think about things in terms of whole and half dollars, such as $1.50 for a cookie might be good but $2 might be too much (though for larger than 3" cookies that seems fairly common)

agness answered in Just Desserts about 1 year ago | Report

Comment on this answer