San Diego National Food Bloggers Bake Sale Results

This was an exciting, exhausting and rewarding weekend for LiveBakeLove. We participated in the 2nd Annual San Diego National Food Bloggers Bake Sale on Saturday morning, an event we've been preparing for and looking forward to for the past few weeks.

Our day started bright and early at 9:00am as 40+ Food Bloggers from San Diego began setting up for the sale. By 9:30 there was an eager crowd already waiting....it was hard not to be amazed by the community support.

A beautiful day for a bake sale, look at that clear blue sky!

A bus load of approximately 50 students from Kipp Adelante Charter school came out to support the cause. Armed with their clip boards for taking notes, wads of dollar bills and pockets full of change from their allowance, they initally seemed over whelmed by the sheer amount of baked goods available for sale, but quickly over came their shock and embraced the fact that every dollar they spent was going towards helping kids in America who are struggling with hunger.

Kids helping kids is a beautiful thing

Doesn't it look like the guy at the end is thinking "oh yum"?

Me doing my spiel

The results? The 2nd Annual San Diego Food Bloggers Bake Sale raised over $3000 for Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry Campaign to end childhood hunger in America shattering this year's goal of $2500 and beating last year's sale by over $1200. Way to kick butt San Diego!!

Not only did Yvonne and I get to support a worthy cause but we got to meet others in the blogging community like Marie from Meandering Eats (the fearless leader, master planner and organizer), Ann from At The Patisserie and Danielle from Flavor Integrations.

As you can see, Yvonne and I were novices (this being our first year participating in the sale) so we didn't take many photos. For more pictures, check out these amazing blogs....

Seaside Sweets

Dooley Noted

Yum at First Bite

Full Circle Foodie

In true LiveBakeLove fashion, we baked enough for an army (with help from some friends) and practically sold out! Our selection included Mini Apple Pies, Giant Cinnamon Cardamom Sugar Cookies, Strawberry Lemon Loaves, Coffee & Red Velvet French Macarons, Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies, Classic Snickerdoodles, Ooey Gooey Smores Cookies, Perfect Peanut Butter Cup Cookies, Infamous Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies, Chocolate Chunk Brownies, Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars, Chubby Hubby Bars and Triple Berry Shortbread Bars.

Today, we are sharing recipes for two of the popular items featured at the Bake Sale,  Triple Berry Shortbread Bars and Giant Cinnamon Cardamom Sugar Cookies (don't worry, more recipes will follow in the coming weeks).

One bite into one of these Triple Berry Shortbread Bars and you're transported to triple berry heaven. Imagine a delicious blend of blueberry, raspberry and blackberry jam surrounded by rich, buttery shortbread. The Cinnamom Cardamom Sugar Cookies are a delicious new twist on the classic sugar cookie, plus the fact that they're giant makes them even better!

Triple Berry Shortbread Bars
Adapted from Sticky Gooey Messy Chewy
Makes 12 generous size Bars

Ingredients:
1 lb of unsalted butter (4 sticks), at room temperature
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup of ground almonds
3 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup triple berry jam (or any flavor jam of your choice)
1/2 cup sliced almonds
Powdered sugar for garnish (approx 2T)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325.

Line a 13x9" baking dish with nonstick foil (or spray regular foil with nonstick cooking spray).

Place the jam in a small bowl and stir well to loosen to make it easier to spread.

Combine the butter and sugars in a large bowl. Using an electric mixer or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat on medium speed until creamy.

Add the vanilla and salt and beat until combined.

Beat in the flour and almond flour on low speed until a soft dough forms.

Press 1/3 of the dough evenly into the bottom of the prepared baking dish.

Wrap the remaining dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes or until firm.

Place the dough lined baking dish in the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Remove from oven and carefully spread a thin layer of the jam evenly over the crust (do this part carefully because the crust is delicate since it's still warm).

Remove the remaining dough from the fridge and crumble large chunks over the jam. Sprinkle the sliced almonds evenly over the dough.

Return to the oven and bake for an additional 20-25 minutes  or until the top is firm and lightly golden brown.

Remove the pan from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

When completely cool, remove from the pan (using the foil liner to help you lift it out). Sprinkle with powdered sugar and slice into bars.

Serve leftovers tightly covered at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Here's a photo of the jam I used for this recipe. I like to use homemade jam when berries are in season (and reasonably priced) but any good quality jam will work in this recipe.

Giant Cinnamon Cardamom Sugar Cookies
Makes 15-18 giant cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup cane sugar (cane sugar has a light brown color, do not mistake for brown sugar)
1 large egg, beaten
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon salt
Coarse sugar for sprinkling/decorating

Directions:

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamom, cardamom and salt with a whisk. Set aside.

In a large bowl using an electric hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until creamy.

Gradually add the sugar and mix until blended.

Add the beaten egg and vanilla until well incorporated.

Turn mixer to low and gradually add the flour mixture. Beat just until incorporated (do not overmix).

Remove the dough from the bowl, form into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350

Line baking sheets with parchment paper (this will keep the cookies from sticking)

Place the course decorating sugar in separate bowls (if using multiple colors).

Remove the dough from the fridge and scoop into 1 1/2" balls.

Roll each ball in the course decorating sugar and place on the parchment lined baking sheets leaving about 2"-3" of space between each ball (approx 6-9 cookies per sheet).

Flatten each ball to 1/2" - 3/4" thickness using a glass or cup.

Bake at 350 15-18 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges.

Remove from the oven and cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes then remove from baking sheet and transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Hope to see you next year at the 3rd Annual National Food Blogger's Bake Sale!