A Fresh Start

Yes, I'm a little late to the game this year to name a post "A Fresh Start," but January has been a real doozy thus far--more difficult than I imagined it would be. And to top it all off, I've been down a computer for most of the month, so that's made blogging a challenge. It's also made life in general a challenge. Wish we weren't all so in need of these machines, but when they work, aren't they wondrous? A fine invention, indeed.

Ok, so preamble aside, I wanted to tell you that starting this past week--January 23 to be precise--you can find Nostalgia Baking at Warm Sugar in Hellertown. The super great cupcake bakery (wait! you've never been there!?) is also of late home to what's called Artisan's Kitchen Project. It's an opportunity for people to sell their goods without incurring the huge risk and $$$ of starting their own goodies business. You pay them for kitchen space and they sell your baked goods, taking a percentages. You can bring your own ingredients or use theirs (if it's the latter, you have to track what you use). They also market and deal with all the bookkeeping, so all I have to do is show up and bake. Of course, it's more than that, but that's kind of it on my end. I go in on Tuesdays and do my thing and work my tail off for five or six hours, and they do the selling. This is a great arrangement if it can be successful, because I'm not setting my sights on becoming a full-time baker.

I intend to keep you all informed of the progress and what's happening in this space, since this is unexplored territory and I've no idea where it will go. I'd like to break even for the first month, but we'll see if that's possible. You know that old adage you have to spend money to make money? Yeah, that's true.

So last week, I made two different kinds of rugelach--one with Nutella and one with Biscoff. I also left them with four different types of scones, which anyone who knows me will already know about: cranberry and dark chocolate, lemon ginger, spent grain and Irish cheddar, and bacon Asiago shallot.  I also did blondies; specifically, a toffee-coffee chip one. I've no idea what I'll need to bake tomorrow, but we'll see. I will at the very least make another more blondies. I'm thinking butterscotch pecan.

Oh, and I'm calling them rugelach and not schnecken although my family calls them the latter. It seems that real schnecken is something totally different, so as to avoid confusion (there are lots of German folk around here) I'm calling it rugelach, which is accurate. I'm now wondering if the my mom's recipe, which she tweaked over the years, is actually a gigantic misnomer. I wish I could ask her.

I've also got my sights set on granola bars, granola (great shelf life for these products and I love, love, love the stuff), big fat cookies, and probably brownies. I've got to fit myself in with what the other vendors are selling and be careful not to step on anyone's baking turf but that's pretty easy.

For those of you who are in the area, check it out. Warm Sugar's open Wednesday through Sunday, and on the weekends, they have a great duo called the Crepe Crusaders who are putting together crepes both sweet and savory. I haven't tried them yet, but I keep hearing rave reviews.

Sorry I don't have any lovely cookie or scone photos, but they are all stored away on the back-up drive.  I should be fully functional by tonight, assuming my IT guru will have time to get me up to snuff on the new machine (thanks, Apple warranty!).