Farmer's Market—Week 14, September 10, 2012

So did you miss me? Yes, we were off for Labor Day, but there was no break for me. I baked my tushie off over Labor Day weekend to help my niece celebrate her 21st birthday. I made her all kinds of yummy desserts for her party—peach pie, birthday cake, cookie cake, cheesecake, and a bunch of cookies and cupcakes. I think they ended up ordering too much from me, but what's wrong with having some leftover HappyJack treats? Nothing, right?

Well, this past Monday's market (I realized today that I hadn't blogged yet this week... so sorry for the delay) went fine. I went back to making the amount of treats that I had been consistently making, and although the market seemed pretty slow, I still ended up selling most of what I took. I think I only had leftover one pound cake (this week it was cranberry orange!), and two packs of Cinnasnappers. So although it was a slow day, it must have been steady, as I ended up with a good day of sales.

So let's talk about this pound cake for a minute. Every week up until this week, I had been making a blueberry sour cream pound cake. I made one every week, and every week it sold. This week, since we're now in September and the beginning of the fall season, I thought I'd mix it up and make a cranberry orange pound cake. I actually made two because one of my customers pre-ordered one. I figured surely someone else would want one, too, but I was wrong. It didn't sell. I don't know why. Is cranberry just not appealing to people? Well, for this coming week, I'm not giving up on the cranberry pound cake, but I am going to try smaller portions. I found these awesome little cardboard bread pans at the grocery store. They even came with their own little bags that look like the bags I wrap all of my cookies in. So I'll see if the smaller size will appeal to more people. If that doesn't do the trick, I'll either skip the pound cake for the final week, or go back to blueberry sour cream.

My cookie of the week this past week was Pumpkin Pie Bars. I made a double-batch, so I had about 80 cookies to sell. These went very well. I love these things, and I considered making them again for the last week (two weeks from now on September 24), but I don't know. I'm now actually considering doing a survey this coming Monday, and see which cookie-of-the-week flavor was the crowd's favorite. For Monday, September 17, I'm making pumpkin whoopie pies (gobs). Those are always a favorite, too. I love anything that has pumpkin in it. I love this season. I love sweets. I love it all!!!!!

I had a customer on Monday that I didn't expect. My daughter's teacher stopped by to buy some Squish Monsters and Better Than Regular Old Chocolate Chip cookies. I realized that she must have been a returning customer all summer, as she knew exactly what she wanted, but I never realized that she was a teacher at the school. But now I know. No wonder Lila likes her so much. She's pretty awesome!

That's about all I have for you today. I can't quite remember details about anything else special that happened. That's what I get for not blogging right away.

Oh, and totally unrelated, is anyone else thrilled that the new TV season has started? I am a TV junkie, but have no idea how I'm going to keep up with all the shows we love, considering I usually only have about an hour of time each evening to watch. Maybe once the market is over, I'll be able to squeeze in a little more time. And maybe it will give me something to blog about during the times I don't have baking stories to tell. I wonder if you'd be interested in reading my take on my favorite TV shows? I guess time will tell.

Until next time, have a yummy day!