Bake..... Someone Happy

Bake just one someone happy.....

For those too young or too deprived to recognize the reference, the title above should have you humming!  Personally, I like the Jimmy Durante version of "Make Someone Happy".  Never heard of it?  Poor you - go to grooveshark.com search it by title and artist.  You can listen for free.  It's a new vice of mine!



But I didn't say "make", I said "bake".  We've been doing a lot of baking lately - even more than usual!  The youth group at our small church is going on a mission trip to Cambodia at the end of this month. While we were away from church to pick up Kathryn and Donna Coffey in Hong Kong, Emily's friends decided she should head up a couple bake sales to raise money for the trip.  These friends routinely show up in our kitchen to devour some delicious treat Emily has concocted.  On a weekly basis, she also prepares desserts for her Wednesday night Bible Study.  Every Tuesday, and many others days as well, our kitchen smells heavenly and, if we're lucky, we get a sliver or two of the chef's choice before it is sealed in our precious USA tupperware and labelled "Hands Off". 

Hmmmm..... Marshmallow and Chocolate

Field of Dreams.....

That's right - Home-made Cinnamon Rolls!  Heaven on a Plate!

Just to clarify...yes, that's a brownie-like cookie with raw

c-chip cookie dough sandwiched in the middle! 

Say it with me "Oh my gosh....."

"How many do we get to keep?" Peanut butter rice

krispie bars dipped in chocolate......sigh....

Yes, definitely a good chice to put Emily in charge of a bake sale!  Like anything to do with the kitchen, she handled it without blinking.   But I LOVE a good bake sale too! Forgive me, Hillary. I'm liberated. I (once) brought home the bacon. I can mow the yard, use hand tools, and I routinely take out the trash, but I love to bake! Emily loves it more than me, true, but I do think I might be a good share of the reason she finds contentment in the kitchen. So this week I made zuchini bread and brown sugar cookies. (I also had the ingredients for rice krispy bars ready to go but "somebody" used them for something else!) I played Jimmy Buffet with the volume turned up and sang along as I puttered. Simple, I know, but it gave me great satisfaction to imagine my sweet treats making someone happy.

Of course I wince sometimes at the costs of a pan full of something gooey.  Here in Shenzhen a bag of flour is $6.65 US.  The same for a bag of chocolate chips.  Butter is never on sale and we pay $5.65 for a pound of Land-O-Lakes.  (We ARE from the "Dairy State" and believe in butter, real butter!)  Sugar is about $1.00 per pound.  But the truth is, baked goods in bakeries here are just not all that great.  They are works of art to look at but too often they lack any flavor or sweetness that, to us anyway, qualifies them as "dessert".  So, though made from scratch can be pricey, most days I  am glad my family has their priorities straight and I happily keep the pantry stocked.

   

My zuchini bread!  Made from a recipe a secretary in Oak Ridge gave me

over 20 years ago!  I love my recipe book.  It's a walk down memory lane!

The first bake sale raised over $500 dollars (US!).   It was such a novelty (and hey, REAL sweets for a change!) for a great cause,  that many church members threw out their 100RMB notes and left the change behind.  We're having another sale on Sunday.  We're also grilling hot dogs to sell as a quick lunch in the church courtyard.  The youth and their leaders are excited.  Some 200 children in the Cambodia town they will visit come un-parented and unprotected each day to a location called "The Dump".  There is great need and there will be great opportunity to brighten some days for these children.

It can be so enjoyable to "Bake Someone Happy".  Excuse me while I go soften some butter.  I think I feel a recipe coming on!