Bake sale minus the bake...

Today we had a bake sale for the Limes After School Program.  We need money to pay the rent for the building we use and supplies for the kid.
since I don't have an oven I made rice crispy treats... I had to do it in about 4 different batches because I only have one pan (which I bought yesterday specifically for this, because I realized I didn't have anything to put them in to let them 'set up' and actually be square...just a disposable foil pan for $5ec but it was small) so I would make a pan, then stick it in the freezer so it'd harden quicker, cut them and wrap them in plastic wrap and then start over....  I think I ended up with about 30 big squares... they sold for $3EC each, a little bit more than $1US.
We made over $760EC!!! which is about $285US!!
Our rent is $100EC a month so that covers it for the rest of the term and leaves money for supplies!
So many people donated baked goods... and delicious baked goods!
Apple cake, chocolate peppermint cake, pumpkin bread, banana bread with chocolate chips, brownies with pb swirl, chocolate macaroons, chocolate cookies, chocolate chip cookies, mini pies...

My mountain if rice crispies

I made something else, but then decided not to take it to the bake sale... saltine cracker candy... you can make it a lot of different ways.  My mom makes a toffee chocolate version. 
You break saltines into about 4-6 pieces or so each and lay them in a pan or on wax paper.

Melt butter and brown sugar on bring to a boil to get thick and then pour over the crackers and then pour melted chocolate on top and let harden. 

This is one of Lee's favorites!  My mom made it for him at Christmas and I had forgotten how good it was until I was thinking about no bake desserts!

I made mine with peanut butter and white chocolate chips because I had them left over from the pancake experiment! 

The same as before I broke saltine crackers (you can probably use other crackers... but saltines are nice and salty and don't over power the other flavors) and spread them in a pan.
then melted a little bit of butter and peanut butter in the microwave.  I added a little powdered sugar to the melted pb so it would cool a little thicker and hold nicely on the crackers.  That is how I make fudge, butter, pb, and powdered sugar, but I didn't use as much as I would for fudge... just a bit to kinda thicken it.

I poured that over the crackers... they weren't completely drenched in peanut butter but had a good coating, I didn't want too much to go through the cracks because you want the bottom of the dessert to be cracker so you can hold it in your hand.
Then I poured melted white chocolate chips on top of that.

Melting the white chocolate chips was way more difficult than I thought it would be..... I wasted quite a bit trying to get it to thin and get runny.... it just got hard and clumpy!
So after some google-ing, I turned my microwave's power setting to 60% and added a small big of vegetable oil.  I was melting about a half cup of chocolate and used about teaspoon of oil. and it worked much much better.  White chocolate is hard to melt because it actually isn't chocolate at all... and what I was using (Nestle) wasn't even made with cocoa butter like most white chocolate is... it was just some sugar and palm oil concotion... so the slightest amount of moisture will 'sieze' the chocolate and make it clump. you need to use a very dry bowl and spoon too.

or just use regular chocolate, white is difficult!  or I read that the bars of baking chocolate work much better than chips because chips are made to keep their shape even while baked at 400degrees.... and bar chocolate is meant to be melted... makes sense huh?

I put the dessert in the refrigerator to get hard for a while and then cut it into squares, even though it doesn't cute into perfect squares and crumbles a little, it is delicious!!

lots of randomness

yesterday I went Cactus Hunting.... haha. read about the adventure on my other blog.
but I now have a cute little family of cacti on my table... I might decorate the cans they're in.

Frozen pizzas... they only cost $5EC & if you microwave on a low power setting & then put in the skillet for a couple minutes the bottom gets crunchy and tastes like it was baked in an oven!

plantain chips again!! I took my sister Mandy & my friend Alfonso's advice & after they had cooked for a tiny bit I smashed them & then fried them some more & they were so good!!

microwavin

I've been experimenting with baking in the microwave... I've made brownies and pizza crust so far and they have turned out really well!
I'm debating about making cookies. chocolate chips are $16EC and then you need all the other ingredients too! and peanut butter is really expensive too.... and they don't sell premade cookie dough, or I would buy it and just eat it. and I haven't seen any pre-made mix either.  Brownie mix and pizza dough mix are only about $5EC, so we'll stick with that I guess.
I may make peanut butter fudge sometime soon, I've been craving it... but for now jello and pudding are our desserts.

Here is how I made the stuff in the microwave....

Pizza
- got the Martha White mix that you just add water and oil to.
- mixed it up and let it sit covered up for 5minutes
- made two balls of dough
- pressed one down on a plate to form a mini pizza
- poked holes all over it
- put it in the microwave on 20% power setting and let cook for about 4-5 minutes... I watched it until I saw it was rising
- took it out and it had baked pretty well, it just didn't get brown.
- so I stuck it in the frying pan to brown and crisp it up!
- and it worked!!
- I then added our toppings..... which saddly consisted of the following. spaghetti sauce (beacuse I was too cheap to buy pizza sauce for an experimental pizza) adobo powder seasoning (because I use it for everything!!! salt, pepper, garlic... and other stuff all in one!) parmesan cheese, and really thinly sliced cheddar-ish cheese (sliced b/c we don't have a grater, and cheddar-ish because it says cheddar but is really light orange and doesn't taste like cheddar, but it's good! and once again I didn't want to buy mozzarella cheese for an experiment)
and it was GOOD! we loved it. I want to make it again soon to cure my pizza cravings!

skillet pizza? haha

actually quite delicious!

and for the brownies... I just followed directions and poured half the batter into a plastic microwavable storage container, because that's all we have besides bowls and plates, and microwaved it on about a 20% power setting until the top didn't look wet anymore!

it makes a really fudgey brownie, not cake-like at all... but still good.
the first batch I made I cooked it on about a 50% power setting and they were good for the first 15 minutes while tHey were hot... and then turned to BRICKS! so cook them slooooooow.

and sorry no pictures. we ate them quickly :)