Steve’s store held its annual customer appreciation day on Saturday and I was asked (and paid!) to make a few different treats for the festivities. They had a hotdog/hamburger cart (which had the best veggie burgers ever), as well as a bouncy house for the kids to go crazy in.
I usually experiment in the kitchen trying to make indulgent treats like cakes and cookies into something a little healthier, and the people at Steve’s store are always happy to taste test some on my creations. So, when I was asked to make the treats, of course I knew that they had to be a healthier version of your average dessert. I came up with a list of options for Steve’s boss to choose from, and she ended up picking out five things to be served on Saturday. I was super excited because I was getting paid to play in the kitchen, but I was also incredibly nervous because my tiny little kitchen was supposed to turn out about 300 tasty treats in one night.
I got home around 5 o’clock on Friday and savored the sight of my clean kitchen for a few minutes before starting to work. I knew that with all the stirring, whisking, and baking action that would be going on over the next six hours, my nice and sparkly kitchen would be replaced with something that looked like a tornado just spun through it.
And I was right. I snapped this picture after I had loaded the dishwasher and cleaned up a little, so it definitly doesn’t do the extreme mess much justice.
Overall things went pretty smoothly and I was able to make delicious treats for 200ish people and thankfully everything was eaten by the end of the day. I didn’t see anyone gag as they took a bite of my whole-wheat, semi-healthy treats, so that was a plus in my book.
I used recipes from some of my favorite blogs, but did a bit of healthy editing by using whole-wheat flour, reducing the amount of sugar called for, or adding a bunch of cinnamon because let’s face it, cinnamon makes everything better. I normally replace refined sugar with honey or maple syrup in baked goods, but since I was making a ton of treats and on somewhat of a budget, that wasn’t really feasible. I think my kitchen saw more sugar being used in a six hour period than it has in an entire year, but I tried to at least cut the amount of sugar the recipe called for in half so it didn’t make me feel too terribly.
So, here’s what I made!
Snickerdoodle Blondies (Vegan and made with pureed chickpeas instead of flour)
Whole Wheat Chocolate Brownie Cookies
Peanut Butter Brown Rice Crispy Treats with Sunflower Seeds (Vegan)
Whole Wheat Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting
Cinnamon Honey Popcorn
You can find the recipes here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Once I got everything set up on Saturday, I was happy to hang out with Socrates and secretly observe the people gathering around the food table. Everything seemed to be a hit, and having a couple of vegan options proved to be much appreciated.
We went for dinner at Zucca Pizza, a new restaurant that opened up a couple weeks ago beside our regular farmer’s market. They had a guy playing James Taylor and other relaxing music, so it was a pleasant surprise to dine outside and enjoy the music. Later that night Steve watched a movie while Socrates and I crashed from our tiring day.
First solo baking gig = success!
life write now 