On Sunday, I had the opportunity to take part in a fundraiser Holiday Fair for a theater group called TheSpyAnts. They really loved the mini desserts I did for their 50's themed fundraiser earlier in the year so they asked me back, and this time, asked me with the potential to earn some cold hard cash. They invited vendors to take part in a craft fair-ish event and had them donate 15% of their proceeds to their efforts. Cool!
And here is my friend Ellen! She has a side business she's just starting called 'Savory Sweet.' I dragged her into it. :) She does THE. MOST. AMAZING. rosemary cashews on the planet. She also does truffles & lot of Vegan & gluen-free catering- blah, blah, blah-- BUT THE ROSEMARY CASHEWS ARE TO DIE FOR!!!! TO DIE FOR!!
Okay, let me reiterate. I am not a 'nut girl.' Insert joke here. I am not a 'rosemary girl.' Suddenly my Aunt Rosemary living in Texas is rather put out. But I am TOOOOTALLY a rosemary cashew girl. Who knew!!!??? They are just FANTASTIC. And you should be jealous you don't have any because I'm jealous that I DID have some & now I don't. Wah. :(
And here are her beautiful truffles. They're Madagascar vanilla infused truffles double dipped in Callebaut dark chocolate. Delish.
When I make cake truffles (CAKE BALLS!!!!), I always think you HAVE to put them in a box. But look at Ellen's gorgeous presentation? Boxes are for uncreative incompetent spendthrifts! Just kidding. I love me some boxes. But it's much cheaper to package them this way & they still look beautiful. Smart lady. Are we learning yet?
And here is what yours truly did. Yours truly, believe it or not, did WAY too much. (Okay, you believe it. I do, too!). I did some Mexican Wedding Cookies in little Christmas boxes. Did you know Mexican Wedding Cookies are also called Russian Tea Cakes? I figured why stop there so I've been calling them Ugandan Suprise Nuggets... Certainly has a ring to it!
I baked some huge gooey chocolate cookies, french breakfast puffs, chocolate chips.... blah, blah, blah...
I also did a bunch of breads: Orange Cranberry, Apple Praline, Banana and a Blueberry Coffeecake. On the bottom of that basket (isn't it perfect for this kinda thing?- thanks Heats for letting me borrow it!) are Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies, Toffee and more Banana Bread.
In those boxes (see? I'm all about the boxes) I did variety packs of four cupcakes: pumpkin spice, grasshoppah mint, red velvet, peanut butter cup and strawberry.
And finally, pretzel rods dipped in chocolate and toffee bits. I also did chocolate peanut butter dipped as well.
TOFFEE. DELISH.
I am LOVIN' my brownies these days... I do fudge brownies which used to rock my world until I came up with a Grasshoppah Mint and Peanut Butter Marshmallow Brownies. They are ooey, gooey chunky bits of goodness. I am WILDLY happy with them!!!
I sold a Grasshoppah one to this dude earlier in the day & while I was packing up my car at the end he jumped out of his car, came up to me with a wad of bills & was all, "I need those brownies!!" Sadly I was out of the mint ones. "I'll take the peanut butter ones then!" Out of those, too. Only got the plain fudge left (poor plain fudge-- my fickle palette has left you lonely). "Whatever you have, I'll take 'em!"
SCORE!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE SELLING CRACK-- I MEAN BROWNIES TO PEOPLE!!
IT MAKES MY WORLD!!!
They really are ooey, gooey deliciousness. That's why I took 1300 pictures of them.
Hewooo, brownies. :) :) :)
LOTS of fantastic feedback about these babies. That makes me happier than a clam in pasta.
And then here are some cake truffles (BALLS!!!). I made some for my friend Dawn as gifts for her employees. I put them in boxes. I had about 1, 294, 799 left over so I packaged them together & sold them that way. People really seem to like 'em! Did red velvet, grasshoppah mint (I'm a dork-- it's because I WANT you to say it like you're in a ninja movie, don't ask), peanut butter cup and gingerbread.
Overall, the baked haul was a success. The fair? Not so much. Sadly the theater group didn't really advertise the event too much so the vendors kinda stood around all day buying each other's stuff. In comparison, I do believe Ellen & I were most successful, though! And that's TOTALLY not in a snooty kind of way-- but more of a 'let's find some light at the end of this pipedream.". :)
And also, I had some wonderful friends who came out of the woodwork after the event (I had SO MUCH leftover) to buy whatever was leftover for slashed prices. I SOOO appreciate that. I baked non-stop for about 2 & 1/2 days straight, got a total of 4 & 3/4 hours of sleep, have 126 new bags under my eyes and I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Can you say, "CRAZY????" I love to bake for people!!! I can't help it!!! :) :) :)
Merry Christmas, everyone!!!
Peppermint smooches,
Miss MandiCrocker
1 comment:
Indeed your brownies are KILLER. I think they're one of the best things you make. All of your stuff is amazing but seriously, your brownies are better than EVERYONE'S, whether made by a professional bakery, from scratch by someone's grandma or from a box mix. There is NO better brownie on earth.
And Ellen's rosemary cashews WERE really good and I can't STAND cashews! I bought a couple truffles and those were excellent, too.
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