Your West Coast Bake Sale Best Sellers, please

[toodie jane]

A local group of stores is holding a BBQ Auction and Bake Sale to bebefit an employee with health care issues.

This is a semi-rural conservative community, old world ranching family values, etc. (ie there will probably be lots of Portuguese Sweet Bread)

What are sure-fire best sellers APART from the usual brownies and choc chip cookies?

Points for easy-make, room temp stable goodies. I thought of biscotti or English Toffee, easy to make in large qty, but want to go with sure things.

thanks, tj

[Savour]

Whole pies. Even if you make them with Pillsbury crust, people love being able to buy a homemade pie.

[SAHCook]

I always buy those!

[toodie jane]

check, rhubarb and berry mini pies. found some alum pie tins with plastic snap on covers.

[akq]

Chex mix...I like both the sweet kind (chocolate & peanut butter puppy chow), but especially the savory kind. My favs when I was a kid (in Hawaii) were made with furikake and had some sweet honeycomb cereal in it, too. YUM.

[toodie jane]

have found this mainland Portuguese Almond Cake recipe online, may do this one. Anyone have any family treats from the Azores?

[laliz]

neopolitan rice krispie treats

http://www.withsprinklesontop.net/?p=819

individual loaves of quick bread i.e. blueberry, date nut, orange bread

[toodie jane]

Oh MY Gosh--the recipes and inspiration at this website! thanks so much!!

[DiningDiva]

Big thumbs up on the rice krispie treats. We make them at work and they go quickly. We change it up by adding mini-chocolate chips or peanut butter, and we've even made peanut butter treats with choco. chips :-)

Lemon bars are pretty versatile. Try them with Meyer lemons instead of the regular Eurekas, or sub in lime juice or tangerine for the lemon. If you really, really want to get crazy...strawberry shortcake. Strawberry season is off to a good start already here in CA. You can make them in the 9 oz rigid, clear squatty cups you can find at most stores and definitely at party supply stores. If time is an issue and you don't want to make the biscuits, simply use some of the frozen, thaw and bake biscuits. To assemble, put some sliced (and sweetened if necessary) berries in the bottom of the cup, split biscuit and put the bottom half on top of the berries, layer on more berries, add whipped topping, the top of the biscuit, a few more berries and a garnish of more whipped topping. If you're worried about real whipped cream holding up, and you don't like Cool Whip, if you've got a Smart & Final near you, go and look for Rich's On Top. It comes already in a pastry bag ready to pipe, is very stable over time and out of refrigeration, and while the taste is certainly not as good as real whipped cream, it is miles better than the stuff in the tub.

If you're ambitious, sweet empanadas are different and people are usually impressed because you made "crust" ;-). They're not hard just a little time consuming. And you can make them small or large depending upon your whim.

A bake sale staple when I was young were Nanaimo Bars (not sure I spelled that quite right), the 7-layer bar cookie from British Co. Had a little bit of everything, very rich, very good. http://www.nanaimo.ca/EN/main/visitor...

[toodie jane]

Have been thnking of making some tres leches cups, sort of like your shortcake idea, if I can find the right cups and tops. Smart & Final has been really cutting down on rest. supplies--they used to have so much--now they are like a grocery store! No much choice at all. :-((

[laytonj1]

Magic bars or lemon bars are always a hit!

[SAHCook]

Bags of kettle corn, or other flavored popcorn?

[toodie jane]

am making some chocolate "trash" patties--choc melted with nuts, pretzels, marshmallow and cheerios.

[SAHCook]

Anything labeled "gluten-free" should be good. Just make sure you don't cross-contaminate for the people who follow the diet due to medical necessity.

[toodie jane]

I could not attempt this as I have no way of eliminating contamination on my kitchen. There is a local gluten free bakery where I may order some just to give people a choice.

[chowser]

I can't speak for west coast but two that go quickly are rice krispie treats (I don't get this one) and whoopie pies. Whoopie pies are like individually packaged, easy to eat cupcakes. The other big one right now is cake pops.

[SAHCook]

I've done cake pops for lots of events with kids, and the parents always love them, too. They're simple if you just decorate with sprinkles. I typically bag them individually, then tie once (not in a knot) with a ribbon or use a wire twist to close.

You can also do "s'mores" pops. Same as cake pops, but use a marshmallow and dip in chocolate, then sprinkle with graham cracker crumbs. The melty candies/chocolate takes longer (for me) to dry on marshmallows for some reason.

[Caitlin McGrath]

Whether the audience is kids or adults, rice krispies treats always seem to be ridiculously popular. Easy to make, keep, and package, and you can do variations like m&m's or a chocolate drizzle.

[chowser]

I've been amazed at how quickly they disappear because they're so easy to make at home. But, there are also really fun ways to doctor them up, as you say--on a stick would be fun. Or even rice krispie cupcakes to get the most out of another trend.

[ROCKLES]

Cupcakes --I always buy cupcakes

[toodie jane]

hard to package without totally smooshing the icing...but maybe not important?

[modthyrth]

Put each cupcake in a clear plastic cup, wrap with plastic wrap and tie at the top with a bow.

Or use the same clear plastic cups, but get domed plastic lids (like for slushies) and put a sticker over the hole on the top. Perfect for bake sales.

[toodie jane]

have not seen these tops for sale anywhere...but could do the wrap. thx

[SAHCook]

I've put cupcakes in plastic cups with a flat lid, but upside down - the cupcake goes on the lid, the cup goes on top.

I don't know if you have a Cash & Carry store where you live, but I've seen the domed lids there.

[modthyrth]

I get mine at Smart and Final. Kind of a restaurant supply store that's open to the public.

[ROCKLES]

Shoe box, side by side--piece of cake (pun intended)

[pine time]

stick in a toothpick to hold the plastic wrap off the frosting.