Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Big Bang Bazaar Review

I haven't posted in forever, so I'm a bit rusty. Many apologies. 





Last weekend, I vended at Big Bang Bazaar in Maitland, FL.  It was my first time selling in several months and it was quite successful!  So successful, in fact, that I'll be looking for more events to vend at.  I sold several cookie flavors, peanut butter chocolate cookie truffles, and candied bacon. Yup, I said bacon.  I made "plain" candied bacon, salted chocolate coated, and peppered white chocolate coated. The chocolate coated bacon pieces were gone within a few hours.  They were so popular that I've decided to add them to my menu of treat offerings.

5 pieces of "plain" candied bacon is $12 and 5 pieces of chocolate covered bacon are $15. Shipping is not included.

Place your orders now!

*****

I will be posting information on upcoming cookies for sale.

Friday, June 8, 2012

Crazy flavor combos

When I was checking out Schmackary's, the other thing that jumped out at me was the notion that his cookies were so popular because of the crazy flavors (peep the menu). While his cookie flavors are more adventurous than your average chocolate chip, they definitely aren't that crazy.

Case in point, last week, I sent out a shipment for the Scoops of Sunshine Cookie Club with chocolate rhubarb Parmesan and walnut cardamom with pistachio brittle. And this week, I was recipe developing for corn and sun-dried tomatoes and corn and strawberry. Now, if you ask me, those are some crazy flavors.

Fuzzy iPhone pics of cookie dough:

Chocolate with rhubarb and Parmesan 

 Walnut with cardamom and pistachio brittle

~ Sunshine

Friday, June 1, 2012

A cookie shop



I recently read about a newly-opened cookie shop in NYC, called Schmackary's.  I was super interested in the owner's story because his path is one that I hope to follow to some extent. I'm not sure on the specifics, but it goes something like this: He baked cookies and passed them out to friends. Then, he started selling locally and online. Finally, he opened up a storefront. While the shop has a variety of non-cookie items for sale, the focus is on the cookies.

Can you imagine? A store dedicated to just cookies? Mind blowing (to me, at least).

I never even thought that was possible. I just assumed that if one was going to own a bakery or sweets shop, it would have to be filled with all sorts of things like cakes, pies, pastries, etc. In other words, lots of things other than cookies. Obviously, that's not the case.

Now, having said that, I'm just gonna put it out there: I want to have a business where I can sell my cookies and ice cream.  I'm not sure of what form it will take, maybe it will be an online business, or a catering company, or even a store front.  Who knows? But what I do know is that I'm gonna do this.

- Sunshine

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

O.M.G List

Hey all,

I wanted to drop a quick line to let y'all know that I haven't disappeared.  Quite the opposite, actually.  I went to the FoodBloogForum Conference at Disney World in Orlando over St. Patrick's Day Weekend and I was so inspired. I have so many great ideas for this blog and my other blog, The Culinary Vampire.


Fuzzy picture of almost all of the desserts for the opening reception.

There has been some behind the scenes work going on for both of the blogs and I have several posts in the works, including a recap of FoodBlogForum Orlando (which will probably be on The Culinary Vampire).

In the meantime, I wanted to share a link love post with a round up of all the different recipes or interesting things I've found recently. I usually share them as I find them on my personal Facebook page, but I wanted to have them all in one place.  I plan on making these posts a somewhat regular feature.  What do you think?



Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Lemon sorbet



Lemon sorbet...Oh, how I love you so...  So delicious, refreshing, and...totally not appropriate for late winter, even if I live in South Florida and it is unseasonably warm.

Ha! As if I were ever concerned with the appropriateness of a frozen treat!  And, frankly, neither should you.




I've mentioned before how much I love lemon sorbet.  With as much as I adore it, I'm not exactly sure why I've never made it.  I  managed to score a huge bag of lemons for a sweet price and I knew I wanted to use them for some lemon sorbet.  But, who wants to squeeze a huge bag of lemons when all you need is one cup of juice? 

[Also, obsessive-compulsive much with the zesting, Sunshine?  No, not at all.  Of course, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't annoyed that I missed some spots... If you, too, want to be OCD with your zesting, get thee to a microplane zester (affiliate link) immediately!]




However, when a friend mentioned a fierce (like, "Babe, I know it's 2 AM, but can you go to the store and get me some?" - fierce) craving, it was just the push I needed and I jumped on the chance to make some for the both of us.   




I followed the recipe from David Lebovitz's book, The Perfect Scoop (affiliate link), and found it perfect as, so I'll just direct you to the book for the recipe (although, if you search for it online, you'll find it).  The method is very simple, though. Essentially, you're making a simple syrup with sugar, water, and lemon zest.  Once it is thoroughly chilled, you combine the simple syrup with some lemon juice and then churn it.

The sorbet was almost perfect - just as cool and refreshing, but with a strong kick of lemon, as you'd expect.  I say almost because I found the lemon zest to be somewhat of a nuisance, so keep that in mind if you like your sorbet to be super smooth. 

Also, how cute are those lemon cups?  Awesome thrift store find!




I just love the lighting in the photo above.  I took the picture to show y'all that the sorbet freezes kind of wonky.  The lighting was bad and I wasn't expecting anything, but instead, I got a wonderful shot.