Operation Baking GALS - Round 5

Operation Baking GALS is already in its 5th round believe it or not! I am on my 3rd round with the cause. As you have seen in my previous blog entries, I have participated in Operation Baking GALS which is a now very large group of ladies who "adopt" a soldier and send him or her tons of goodies for them and for sharing. These goodies are a taste of home for these soldiers, especially at this time of the year when they are away from their families for the holidays. My friend Dani of Make No Little Meals hosted again this round. She has 14 bakers as part of her - team Dani's Delightful Darlings this round!!

I was very excited to participate in this round and to help our soldier get a little taste of home. That soldier is SSgt McElyea who is stationed in Iraq. He is my age with a child at home, so it really made me realize how very lucky we are to live our lives of freedom because of the sacrifices these men and women are making on our behalf. I just can't imagine being away from my family for the hoidays, nevermind a young child.

My friends Amy & Melanie participated again and helped me fill up a box to SSgt McElyea. Nothing like good friends to help out a good cause! A box full of sugary goodness was mailed today to SSgt McElyea: Amy made sugar cookies, Melanie made an extra batch she had made of her Cherry Chocolate cookies (that she had brought to my cookie exchange), and I sent a batch of Chocolate Crinkles. I also sent a batch of Butterscotch blondies to round everything out (recipe appears below).

We also sent along some candy, trail mix, a small book of puzzles, and some candy canes to SSgt McElyea. We really hope he and his friends enjoy the goodies. The least we could do is send them a little holiday spirit as our thanks for their sacrifices.

<-- Melanie, me, Amy (and Amy's sister) @ Amy's wedding September '08

If you haven't already checked out the site, I encourage you to head over to the Operation Baking GALS website for more information and hope to see some of you join Dani's team for Round 6 which will likely be starting after the holidays! I will post information as I know it.

Butterscotch Blondies
(from Hershey's)

3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-3/4 cups (11-oz. pkg.) HERSHEY'S Butterscotch Chips
1 cup chopped nuts(optional)

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 13x9x2-inch baking pan.

Beat butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar in large bowl until creamy. Add eggs; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until well blended. Stir in butterscotch chips and nuts, if desired. Spread in prepared pan.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until top is golden brown and center is set. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. About 36 bars.

Operation Baking GALS - Round 5

As you may have noticed in my prior blog entries, I have participated in the past 2 rounds of Operation Baking GALS and will again be participating for Round 5!

My friend Danielle of Make No Little Meals is once againg hosting. I encourage you to check out her blog entry for more details on the cause and how to join her team!

Operation Baking GALS - Part 2!

As you may know, in September I participated in Operation Baking GALS (which stands for "Give A Little Support") for the first time. It is a small way to show our appreciation towards soldiers who are making many sacrifices to be serving our country - by giving them a taste of home. This time around, my friend Danielle, who got us all going on this great cause in September, hosted her own team - Dani's Delightful Darlings!



Obviously I signed right back up to take part of this and this tiem of course as a member of Dani's team! I also recruited some friends to join in on the fun! I got some of my best friends in the world - Michelle, Amy, & Melanie to lend a hand in the baking action. While finding a mutually agreeable time to get together for baking festivities would have been fun, it was near impossible, so basically they all brought me their goodies and I packed them up and shipped them to our marine, Corporal Jason Manley yesterday. (Below is me attempting to figure out how to fit everything in there!)

As part of Dani's 18 person team, we really put together a great package of goodies! And a lot of them - had I not used the Flat-Rate postal box they told me it would have cost $29 to ship them! That's a lot of goodies packed into one package! Amy, Melanie, and Michelle each made a batch of chocolate chip cookies...and how can you ever really go wrong with chocolate chip cookies? That will be sure to please our Marine and his buddies! Melanie also made a batch of peanut butter cookies, yummy! And I made Potato Chip Cookies, Peanut Butter Blossoms, and Oatmeal Raisin Squares. The latter 2 recipes appear below.

Thanks again to Dani for putting the time and effort into hosting this team! And thank you to Michelle, Melanie, & Amy (who appear in the picture below at my '04 MBA graduation) for joining me in this cause!



Peanut Butter Blossoms
(from Hershey's)

48 HERSHEY'S KISSES Brand Milk Chocolates
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Granulated sugar

Heat oven to 375°F. Remove wrappers from chocolates.
Beat shortening and peanut butter in large bowl until well blended. Add 1/3 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar; place on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately press a chocolate into center of each cookie; cookie will crack around edges. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. About 4 dozen cookies.


Quaker's Best Oatmeal Cookies
(from Quaker Oats & Prepared as noted in the "variations" section)

1-1/4 cups (2-1/2 sticks) margarine or butter, softened
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 cups Quaker® Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)

Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, beat margarine and sugars until creamy. Add egg and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg; mix well. Add oats; mix well.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 8 to 9 minutes for a chewy cookie or 10 to 11 minutes for a crisp cookie. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

Servings – about 3 dozen.

Variation - Bar Cookies: Press dough onto bottom of ungreased 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. Store tightly covered. 24 Bars.

Variation: Stir in 1 cup raisins or chopped nuts.

Operation Baking GALS

Operation Baking GALS began as one baker's request for help to send baked goods to her cousin in Iraq and the rest of his division and has grown into many, many bakers joining in on the cause and sending loads of baked goods to soldiers who are defending our freedom on a daily basis. The full story of its inception can be found here.

My friend Danielle of Make No Little Meals approached me and a few other mutual friends about participating in this worthy cause and we agreed of course! So this past week we, as members of Team Adrienne's House, Danielle, myself, and our friends Lindsay and Nikki got together at Nikki's house (due to her having the fabbest kitchen among the 4 of us! Thanks, Nik, for hosting!) to bake our little hearts out for Sgt Mark Martin of Chatswort, Georgia stationed at Camp Victory in Iraq and on his THIRD tour.

Yes, I said his third tour. Did I mention yet that he is a father of 3? If we can do nothing else to thank Sgt. Martin but to send him some baked goods, why wouldn't we? He obviously is making so many sacrifices for his country and this is one way we can show our appreciation.

So what did we make?

Danielle made chocolate rice crispy treats, and 2 kinds of biscotti, Nikki made banana walnut bread, Lindsay made oatmeal raisin & craisin cookies, and pumpkin chocolate chip clusters, and I made quick chocolate softies, and oatmeal brownie gems (well, Lindsay helped me a lot with these since she did some pre-baking - thank you, Linds!). My two recipes come out of my favorite cookie book "Best Loved Cookies" straight out of the "Almost Homemade" section. Since we were going to have a lot going in on the kitchen I wanted to try to have my recipes be as simple and speedy as possible.

My two recipes follow, along with some pictures of our adventures in the kitchen. We had a fun time together but the most important thing is that we got together for this really great cause. We hope Sgt. Martin and his guys enjoy what we made for them!

Here we are! Members of "Team Adrienne's House" - me, Lindsay, Nikki, & Dani - a big thanks to Dani for getting us all together to do this!

Quick Chocolate Softies
(from "Best Loved Cookies")

1 pkg devil's food cake mix
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (I omitted)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheets. Combine cake mix, water, butter, and egg in a large bowl. Beat with electric mixer at low speed until moistened. Increase speed to medium; beat 1 minute (dough will be thick). Stir in chips and nuts; mix until well blended.

Drop dough by heaping teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheets.

Bake 10 - 12 minutes or until set. Let cookies stand on cookie sheets 1 minute, remove to wire racks and cool completely.

Oatmeal Brownie Gems
(from “Best Loved Cookies”)

2 ¼ cups quick cooking oats, uncooked
1 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (I omitted)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 ¾ cup M&M’s mini baking bits (I used regular M&Ms)
1 (19-21oz) pkg fudge brownie mix, prepared according to package directions for fudge-like brownies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In large bowl combine oats, flour, sugar, nuts, and baking soda; add butter until mixture forms coarse crumbs. Toss in M&M’s until evenly distributed. Reserve 3 cups mixture (we just eyed it and put about ½ of the mixture aside).

Pat remaining mixture onto the bottom of a 15x10x1 inch pan to form crust. Pour prepared brownie mix over crust, carefully spreading into thin layer. Sprinkle reserved crumb mixture over top of brownie batter; pat down lightly.

Bake 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs. Cool completely; cut into bars.

Dani packing up

our goodies!

Looks at all that yumminess - ready to get boxed up

& sent to Sgt Martin!!