Cooking with Gas with Baking For Good
I have my friend Andrea to thank for dragging me out of my quarantine doldrums, and giving me a task with meaning and purpose. Introducing: Baking For Good!
She had the genius idea to take all that stress-baking and sourdough-humble-bragging that's filling our social feeds, and put it to good use: to host an online auction/virtual bake sale to raise money for the Central Texas Food Bank. But she needed a tech-savvy friend to set up the auction and create a website for the cause. I raised my flour-crusted palm, and behold, bakingforgood.org was born!
A group of lovely, generous-hearted bakers assembled to create their favorite creations! And a group of even MORE generous-hearted donors flocked to our baked goods like they'd never seen gluten before in their lives! So, so many thanks to those who bid or donated money to the cause, raising a whopping $5,339 for the Central Texas Food Bank.
Can you believe we launched this during National Baking Day and didn't even know it? Tis' true! The entire enterprise seemed blessed with serendipity from beginning to end - for at the end of our auction when Andrea went to make the donation, she discovered Siete Family Foods had pledged to match any donations during that time. Our 5K doubled, meaning over 40,0000 meals for those in need!!!!
Nothing has cheered me more during quarantine, and I'm immensely grateful to my friend for making me a part of it.
(Andrea Smith, left, whose homemade cinnamon rolls went for over $180 smackaroos!)
I made my coconut macaroons for the auction, and I'm sharing the recipe with you below. They are an easy and light summer treat, and a little something different to liven up your snack routine.
Ingredients:
Sweetened coconut
2 eggs
Sugar
Vanilla extract
Milk or Almond Milk
Sea Salt
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350
Line cookie sheet and spray with cooking oil
Whisk 2 egg whites, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 & 1/2 tablespoons sugar, 1 & 1/2 tablespoons almond milk (or regular milk) and a sprinkle of salt together.
Stir in 2 cups sweetened coconut
Press mixture into tablespoon to form macaroons on cookie sheet and bake 13-16 minutes
Want to get in on the good karma, and help those in need? You can still donate at bakingforgood.org. Stay sweet, stay salty, and keep those hearts open to our neighbors who need our help!
