Operation Baking Gals-Captain Marcus Hampton

Round 5 of Operation Baking Gals is upon us just in time for Christmas! For those of you who've missed this in the past, Operation Baking Gals is a group of bakers who get together once a month and send care packages to our awesome men and women in the Armed Forces. It's great fun and I encourage everyone to get involved. Clink the linky link for more information.... LINKY LINK.

This round I joined the SugarBakerz team so that I could bake for Captain Marcus Hampton of the US Air Force, who is currently stationed in Qatar. I was told that he likes Red Velvet Cake and is quite partial to coffee. I really had no idea just how to get a full cake shipped to him properly and the thought of chopping it up into little bits to ship in sections just seemed wrong. So, very, very wrong. Anyhoo, after doing a little internet searching I ran across Red Velvet Cake Balls at Bakerella's bloggity blog. Really how did we ever do anything without the internet? Oh yeah, we read books. Never mind.

Have a gander at them. I decided to make them a little lumpy and imperfect to ensure they had that homemade feel. Yeah, that's it, just like I do with my gravy. Lumpy=Love!

I also made up some Coffee Brownie Bites which really are to die for!

Coffee Brownie Bites
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 Tablespoons instant coffee
1/3 cup powdered sugar (for topping)

Mix together butter, sugar eggs and vanilla. Beat in remaining ingredients until combined(except for powdered sugar).
Bake in mini muffin cups for 10 mins at 350F.
Once cooled dust with powdered sugar.

Of course what would a care package be without some Oatmeal Raisin cookies and Christmas colored M&M cookies? We then topped things off with some candy canes and my grandma's traditional Life Saver Christmas Sweet Story Book.

Again, I urge everyone to get involved in sharing some love with our troops.

If you happen to read this Captian Hampton, my family thanks you for everything you're doing to make the world a better place to be. Merry Christmas!

Operation Baking GALS

I've joined up with OPERATION BAKING GALS, an awesome group of bakers who have banned together to send yummy treats to our troops. So often we take for granted the sacrifices that others are making for our benefit. It's very easy to have a complacent attitude about our military because they're not in our front yards. That fact alone should make you thankful that they do such a great job. Our service men and women voluntarily agree to sacrifice their lives for the benifit of total strangers. It's time for every American, whether you agree with what's going on or not, to "grow a pair" and support the men and women who give their all to uphold America's great name.

You do have the right to disagree and leave me a nasty comment. Just remember to tell the military "Thanks" for giving you that right.

While you're at it, check out this link. It will put a lot of things back in perspective. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGHtMPJ3KtA&feature=related

Ok, so now that we've had that little chat, we sent off our package of yummy goodies today. We made Brownie Cookies, M&M Blondies, Rice Crispy Treats, and Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. We sent along a few other goodies like a mini football, lollipops, and a few decks of cards. After explaining to Miss Danielle about what we were doing, she told me that we needed to send them a guard dog to help "catch the bad guys". She found a lovely little stuffed pug to send along and made sure he didn't get left behind.

This was my first time sending things overseas and I sure hope it makes it okay. I followed the advice of another baker and tried stuffing apple peels between layers of towels to keep the cookies soft. I guess if they get hard in transport, they will make lovely paperweights, door stops, or even weapons if need be. Anyhoo, I had a blast baking and hope it helps bring a smile to one of America's Heroes.

Oatmeal Raisin cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream together the butter, brown sugar, white sugar, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a seperate bowl, then stir into the sugar mixture. Stir in the oats and raisins. Eat a spoonful of dough just to make sure it's good (hee hee). Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 9-10 minutes until light and golden. Let them cool for 5 minutes before removing from cookie sheets to cool completely.