EASY Bake Sale Items??

Banana bread , very easy to make and if stored in an air tight containter is good for at least 7 days.

Can you do candy? Fudge is easy--1 can sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated), 1.5 bags chocolate chips, dash salt, 1.5 tsp vanilla, 0.5-1 cup chopped nuts, raisins etc if desired. Mix/melt all over low heat or in micro, pour into greased or wax-paper-lined 8x8 or 9x9 pan, cool, cut.

Instead of chopped nuts, you can crush peppermint candies or candy canes and press into top of fudge right after you pour it into pan. Or put sprinkles on top.

Or do chocolate covered pretzels. melt chocolate chips, dip pretzel rod halfway in, put sprinkles or coconut or crushed peppermint candies on while chocolate is still soft. Or use other size pretzels and fish out with tongs. Dry on wax paper.

There is a cookie/candy called "Buckeyes", where the middle is peanut butter mixed with vanilla wafer (I think) crumbs and probably some other stuff. Then you dip them in chocolate, leaving a little bit of the PB filling showing (so it looks like a buckeye). They keep well, but are time-consuming to make. If you want the recipe email me.

I don't think cakes or brownies taste bad even if they are 2-3 days old. You could do cupcakes.

Bar cookies are quicker than drop or rolled cookies.

Make cookies tonight and freeze them, thaw on Friday eve or Saturday morning?

Good luck and have fun!

K. Z.

Easy Peanut Butter Cookies:
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
Mix together. Drop in balls on baking sheet then run a fork across to flatten. (You can dip fork in some sugar if it sticks.) Bake at 350*. (I forget how long to bake - check on them after 6 minutes or so to see how they are doing.)

Rice Crispy Treats? Super easy and oh so yummy.

Caramel apples. Very popular this time of year. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Plain-Caramel-Apples/Detail....
Lemon bars
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Bake-Sale-Lemon-Bars/Detail....
Popcorn balls?

You can make cookies and store them in tupperware. Rice crispy treats is also a good one. Pumpkin muffins stay fresh in tupperware. Fudge too...wow i am making myself want to bake...lol!

My go-to recipe when I don't have much time is rice krispie treats with peanut butter and M & M's. They mix up quick, look festive, and my hubby and kids can't stay out of them. You can wrap them individually or put them all in a ziploc bag and they should stay fresh enough for a couple days.

Same recipe as typical rice krispie treats but before you add the cereal, stir in about 2/3 cup peanut butter. Add the cereal and mix. Add 1 1/2 to 2 cups (more or less depending on how you like it) either plain or peanut M&M's and mix. Turn out on a prepared cookie sheet. When firm, cut into squares.

I spray coat a large bowl with Pam and cook everything in the microwave to save time.

Another option is to make 2 or 3 different varieties of cookies. Mix up your dough on Thursday and shape them into tubes. Wrap the tubes with plastic wrap and refrigerate. When you're ready to bake them, take out the tubes and slice and bake. It doesn't get you out of the kitchen on Friday, but it will save you a lot of time.

Brownies are easy to do the night before. Also, if you make rice krispy treats you can add some M&M's or chocolate chips to make them seem more festive. Or frost them with chocolate (better yet, spread melted choc. chips on them), throw on some sprinkles to add some pizzazz.

This time of year everyone enjoys pumpkin bread or banana nut bread. They're both pretty easy to make and most recipes give you 3 loaves. A generous donation to any bake sale.

Anytime you add something fun to Rice Krispie treats or to the top of brownies or cupcakes, it makes them more appealing. I would focus more on some fun candy toppings or fillings than the Thanksgiving packaging. Are you completely exhausted on Friday that you can't make a quick batch of brownies or Rice Krispie treats that evening? I whipped up Rice Krispie treats the other day in probably 15-20 minutes. (More marshmallows is the secret to the best treats.)

Have you ever made the pretzels with Rolos on them? Quick and easy. Just google Rolo Pretzel Turtles or Pretzel Rolo and you will find the easiest recipe ever and so good. Did I mention quick and easy? You can have a batch done in 15-20 min.

I don't think any baked goods are going to last from Thursday to Saturday. Baked goods really are meant to be eaten fairly quickly. What about buying a few frozen pies? Honestly, no one would ever know! Pumpkin pie is easy and fast, so is apple pie. I have a easy peasy recipe for Apple Dumplings too.

You need:
2 apples (I've used just about every kind imaginable) peeled, cored and cut into thin slices or diced.
Cinnamon
Apple Pie Spice (or just use some nutmeg and cloves)
I don't know the quantities of the spices. I just add until it tastes right.
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 refrigerated pie crust (I use Pillsbury and roll it out so it's a little thinner.

Mix apples, spices and brown sugar together in a bowl
Cut the dough into 3x4 inch squares
Place small amount of apple mix in the squares of dough. Fold the corners of the dough square in and press to seal.
Place dumplings in a baking dish

There should be some cinnamon, spice sugar liquidy type stuff in the bottom. Brush the top of dumplings with that. You can also brush them with milk and sprinkle with a little brown sugar.

Bake at 350* for about 20 minutes or until the top of the dumplings are a nice brown color.

Cake balls! Easy to make and very attractive for selling purposes:
1 cake mix (any flavor--I chose orange flavored cuz I think it goes well w/ chocolate)
1 can of cream cheese frosting (or you can use regular frosting)
1 bag of ghirardelli milk chocolate chips (or you can use another brand)
1 small bag of crushed pecans (or you can use another type of nut)

Make the cake mix following the directions on the box. After cooling it completely, break it up into little pieces in a mixing bowl. Add your frosting and use a hand held blender to mix it all together until it's pretty gooey looking. Let it stay in the fridge for two hours (if low on time, use the freezer for approx. 1 hour). Bring it back out and make it into small balls (kids love helping to do this) about the size of a golf ball or smaller (whichever you prefer). Place the tray of balls back in the fridge for 2 hours (or freezer for 1 hour). Melt the chocolate chips. Bring out the tray of balls. Using toothpicks, place the balls in the melted chocolate until thoroughly coated and set on parchment paper. Some of the balls can be rolled in the nuts after they've been rolled in chocolate and then set on the parchment paper. Place all covered balls back in fridge for 5-10 minutes until chocolate has hardened. Voila! Cake balls! :)

It's not so much time consuming as the waiting for them to chill part but you can be doing other things while they chill.

tricky to find stuff that'll keep nice and fresh Thurs, Fri, and Sat - esp if someone who buys it doesn't eat it till Sun or Mon. So my thought was to buy store-bought cookies and package them up. (RAFFIA is a great "thanksgiving" look. Just wrap little bows around the saran-wrapped cookies.)

I am an avid baker, but can't really think of anything to cook on Thurs and then sell on Sat other than cookies. Cakes are probably easier, but might not taste so great sitting on the counter for two days before the sale. I've never made lemon squares. Do those keep well?

No Bake Cookies - super easy and very yummy, you can do both the chocolate and the peanut butter variety. Banana Bread, or Pumpkin Bread, would be great too, just wrap it up so it doesn't dry out.

With cakes or cupcakes you can bake them on Thursday, let cool and freeze it (wrapped tightly). Pull it out early Saturday morning and ice before taking to the bake sale. I know it seems like a lot of hassle, but they definitely stay fresh this way. I have baked many cakes this way and have never had a problem. This past week I baked the cake for my cousin's baby shower on Tuesday, froze it until Saturday night, pulled it out and decorated it. The shower was yesterday (Sunday). I had tons of compliments on how fresh and moist of a cake it was.

If stored properly, anything will stay fresh from Thursday night to Saturday. Chocolate chip cookies are always a hit as well as brownies. Everyone loves yellow cake with milk chocolate icing. Cupcakes and muffins are also hits at bake sales.