Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Austin Bakes for West -- Success!


This weekend was a good one, I hope yours was too.  
By far, the highlight was participating in Austin Bakes for West on Saturday.  All around Austin (8 locations to be exact!) bloggers, home bakers & more brought out their big baking guns & made treats for a goodies sale to raise money for AmeriCares efforts to help those affected by the explosion in West.  I brought my baked goods to Crema Bakery & Cafe on Brodie.  Below is a little vine video I made of the yumminess they had up for grabs.



So what did I make?  I tweaked a Martha Stewart recipe & baked up some beautiful, buttery Cheddar, Chive & Bacon Scones.  Not to toot my own horn, but they turned out dang tasty.  

I also whipped up a little Red Velvet Biscotti as part of the Rocotillo team.  What's Rocotillo you say?  A while ago I started a family food blog, Rocotillo, with my sister in-law & cousin in-law (cousin in-law's a thing, right?).  We share stories of our families & the recipes & traditions that make them unique.  

This was my first dive into the biscotti world & I really enjoyed it.  I found a crazy-easy recipe online & was pretty pleased with the results.  The biscotti had all of the rich flavor of red velvet cake, but in portable cookie form.  And the consistency of the biscotti was firm, but not too hard. 

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

May 4 Austin Bakes for West

America had some very rough times in April.  The Boston bombing was a terrible day & was too quickly followed by the horrible explosion in West, TX.  While my heart was (and still is) focused on all those affected by the Boston bombing; I was especially saddened by the explosion in the small, Czech community of West.

Many Texans will be quick to tell you that if you're road tripping from Austin to Dallas, a must-do is to drop by the Czech Stop to pick up kolaches.  From savory sausage to sweet apricot their kolaches are tasty, tatsy.  They're amazingly comforting & stepping into their shop feels like home.  That may be because I'm from a small German community in Texas, but still, it's small town quirks like that are a large part of what makes Texas such a great state.

I want to do my part to help West, TX begin to pick up the pieces & rebuild their homes, & lives.  And what better way to do that, than to participate in efforts that speak to my baker wanna-be soul?  

Austin Bakes, the great folks that put together bake sales around Austin a while back from Bastrop are now putting together a city-wide day of selling handmade goodies for West.  All of the funds raised will be going to AmeriCares relief efforts in West.  

It's all happening this Saturday from 10AM - 2PM.  There are bake sale stations going up all over town, so find the location nearest you & buy, buy buy!  Many of your favorite food bloggers & even some restaurants & bakeries will be bringing their treats to sell.  

I'll be contributing Cheddar, Chive & Bacon scones, & a TBD sweet treat, along with some goodies I'll be baking up for a family-focused blog I contribute to, Rocotillo.  I'll also be volunteering at the sale at Crema Bakery on Brodie Lane, so be sure & say Hi!