Last week I attended my first Food Swap. I brought peanut butter cookies boxed by the dozen, with a plate for sampling.

Food Swaps are a relatively new idea, and spreading to many parts of the US. What is a Food Swap? These are a “recurring event where members of a community share homemade, homegrown, or foraged foods with each other. Swaps allow direct trades to take place between attendees, e.g., a loaf of bread for a jar of pickles or a half-dozen backyard eggs.”

Last week's small event was held at the Clinton Community Library located in Rhinebeck, NY.

Librarian Terry, left, and Annie (who owns blueribbonhearth, a small home-based food business) hosted the event.

MrMacho, above, is yakking with Terry.

These events are opportunities to taste different foods and meet your neighbors. Terry and Annie plan to grow the idea by hosting quarterly swaps.

How can attending a Food Swap help your business? Use this is an opportunity to introduce people to your products. But this is not the place for heavy marketing. Put your business card on an unobtrusive place (bottom) with the name of your product. If people like it, they will find you!

Visit Us on Facebook

RETURN HOME
RETURN TO THE FIX

...

For those who have not read my last book, I wrote about having some issues with my hands that compelled me to leave behind the heavy work of commercial baking.

From The (Faux) Pastry Chef: How I Found My Baking Fix (pages 168, 185)

I had been quite lonely so we got a dog, a sweet-natured German Shepherd. We named her Trouble.

Most of my days were the same: I would spend an entire day without seeing anyone. Alone with the puppy, I remained unwashed and in pajamas. I felt lost without having a job or a regular schedule. I needed projects and a structure to my time.

Because of Trouble, I got involved in a dog biscuit project. Real baking was difficult but I figured it didn’t matter how I messed up dog recipes, who would complain? Living with a pastry chef was paying off for the puppy.

I learned that baking for dogs gave me the same rush that I got from baking for people. My first attempt was oatmeal biscuits sweetened with a dab of blackstrap molasses and tenderized with peanut butter. One for puppy. One for me. I was surprised at how tasty they were.

I entered a new world. Several inherent problems with baking for people were no longer problems with canine cookies. Shelf life, who cares? Who would know? Rarely would someone complain for their dog about a doggie biscuit being stale. And what about a cookie that is too dark or too bland or too ugly or too anything? I didn’t want to sound cocky, but it was beginning to look like I could not possibly mess up dog treats.

“I’m now a pawstry chef,” I emailed my daughter, excited about this new project.

I made veggie/cheese mini mutt muffins and Trouble loved them. The muffins had a beautiful golden yellow color inside, with flecks of orange and green veggies. My ingredient list included organic whole wheat flour and wheat germ with no sweetener or salt. These would make any health zealot proud. I put them on the table and Dave loved them, too. I waited until he had eaten four. When he told me how good they were, I explained that we were eating the dog’s food.

I called our vet and made an appointment – this one was for me. I wanted to make sure I was using pooch-friendly ingredients. The vet said no grapes, no onions, no chocolate; everything else was fine in moderation.

I made banana mutt mini muffins one night for dinner. They were suspiciously like my fruit-sweetened baked goods recipes. I made a note to use a cross reference in my recipe file index. The texture was soft and tender with a flavor reminiscent of real banana muffins.

Then, I had half a can of pumpkin puree left from a no-sugar recipe, so I made dog biscuits. I used little boy and girl gingerbread cutters and called them Pumpkin People. Trouble came into the kitchen and sat watching patiently while I rolled out the dough with my new one-handed rolling pin. I had a terrible time with my hands that day and I kept messing up. The dough landed on the floor more than once. But no matter how much I tried, there was no way I could ruin a doggie recipe…

My next baking project? I momentarily thought about a little dog biscuit business for when my hand healed. I requested the official guidelines and licensing information from the Department of Agriculture and Markets.

The rules were overly cautious when compared to the rules for making people food. I could easily get a home processor permit to bake numerous people treats in my home kitchen but not for animals. For dog treats, I would need to use a fully inspected and licensed commercial kitchen. Each recipe had to be analyzed and approved before production. Animals were protected more than my neighbors!

Thank you, Trouble, for 11 great years.

Visit Us on Facebook

RETURN HOME
RETURN TO THE FIX

Look who we found at the regional market in central New York.

Sweet Jimmy’s is a relatively new home-based food business in central NY that makes traditional, vegan, and gluten-free products. I was impressed with their unique product concepts and unusual flavor combinations.

We bought Sundried Tomato Butter Cookies and Lime Coconut Macaroons. Fabulous!

After returning home I visited their website and drooled over these chocolate creations.

...

And I was totally impressed with these Emoti-Cookie Pops.

Thank you, Jimmy, for letting us use some of your photos! Visit Sweet Jimmy’s on Facebook.

Visit Us on Facebook

RETURN HOME
RETURN TO THE FIX

There’s something special about almond paste. It gives products a subtle flavor and adds a nice texture. A couple of weeks ago I bought a case and made:

Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies, MrMacho’s favorite.

Almond Cherry Biscotti

Almond Buttons

Pear Frangipane Tart

Saturday, after our Hudson Valley Baking Society (HVBS) membership meeting, we had a workshop, Baking with Almond Paste.

...

...

(The mixers were not entirely cooperative.)

...

That afternoon at home I made another Pear Frangipane Tart.

...

...

Frangipane is an almond filling made with almond paste (or ground almonds). This filling is most often spread over a crust (tart, cookie, or pie crust) and topped with fresh fruit. Bakeries keep a supply of tart shells par-baked and stored at room temp until ready to finish.

For the above tart, use your favorite sweet cookie crust dough; reserve a small amount of dough to use as a streusel topping. Press most of the dough into a pan and parbake until a light golden brown. Let cool for a few minutes, spread a thin layer of frangipane, and top with a layer of fresh fruit. Sprinkle remaining dough/streusel and bake at 350 degrees until done (approx 20 minutes) until the crust is a deep golden brown and the top is a light brown. Cool before cutting.

Frangipane filling
1 cup almond paste (8 ounces)
1 cup sugar
½ cup butter
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon almond
½ cup flour
¼ teaspoon salt

Beat together almond paste, sugar, and butter. Add eggs and extracts, beating until smooth. Mix in flour and salt. Spread thin layer over tart crust or use as filling for other products. Store in fridge.

Fresh fruit season is perfect for selling this product, especially at farmers’ markets. Make individual tarts or a large tart cut into small pieces. Optional: add a dusting of confectioners’ sugar.

Visit Us on Facebook

RETURN HOME
RETURN TO THE FIX

This past week, the Hudson Valley Baking Society had a project: BOCES asked us to make 50 boxes of cookies! These were a thank you for the area healthcare facilities that sponsored nursing students throughout the year.

We used the 20 quart Hobart and mixed 4 batches of dough, 64 dozen cookies per batch.

Some of the cookies were divided and baked while others were first rolled in sprinkles.

We ran out of baking sheets and had to stack warm cookies to free up more pans.

What a project!

In the meantime, nursing students came to help. They set up the boxes

and filled them with cookies.

See those two cooling racks on the right? These racks had been filled with cookies.

Hudson Valley Baking Society Baking a difference in the Hudson Valley

Read about our holiday bake sale when we raised $1200 for our regional food bank.

Visit Us on Facebook

RETURN HOME
RETURN TO THE FIX

Venture capitalists annually invest $30 billion in start-up companies. In 2008, less than $50 million went to food start-ups. In 2012, that figure rose to $350 million. What kinds of food businesses do they invest in?  (Today’s New York Times.)

Some are reinvented ideas for online businesses that don’t actually produce food but help people find it, such as online ordering companies ChowNow or GoodEggs. Plated is another repackaged idea that sells the upscale version of ready-to-make dinner kits (sort of like Taco Bell already found on supermarket shelves).

Other businesses are capitalizing on the ideas of sustainable, environmentally correct, and health trends such as fewer animal products and organics. A most interesting business is Hampton Creek Foods.  Their homepage touts Innovation and Sustainability, and pictures three adorable cupcakes stacked and juxtaposed to links such as “Featured in Popular Science” and “Download our Sell Sheet Here!”

We’ll have to see where this trend goes. It seems the opposite of our back-to-nature, local, seasonal, healthy eating, organic trends. I don’t see any impact positive or negative on small home-based food businesses. But if you have a grand idea, apparently anything goes…

Have an idea? Looking for an investor?

Home-Based Baking at its Best!

Visit Us on Facebook

RETURN HOME
RETURN TO THE FIX

The Salt Sense product touts that it has 33% less sodium. (It’s also twice the price per ounce of real salt.) Couldn’t we just use less salt?

...

If I was sprinkling salt on my food, I could sprinkle less. If I had a recipe and wanted to cut down on the salt level, I would change my recipe to reflect the reduction and measure less salt.

For instance, if my original recipe called for 1 tablespoon salt and I wanted 33% less sodium (as advertised above), I would change the recipe to 2 teaspoons salt. Would that not work?

Home-Based Baking at its Best!

Visit Us on Facebook

RETURN HOME
RETURN TO THE FIX

...

Today marks the anniversary of what many consider the birth of our modern environmental movement. April 22, 1970 was the first US Earth Day, which began as a national teach-in day. For some history, read here and here and here.

Are you prepared for Earth Day?
Do you have any products to help celebrate this popular celebration day? As a business, sales are created when we take advantage of celebration days. American Food and Drink Days is a monthly calendar to help us plan ahead.

Taking advantage of celebration, or special days.

For the above cookies, prepare your favorite sugar cookie or shortbread dough. Color half the dough with green coloring and marble together the green and white dough. Roll into logs and refrigerate until hard, at least one hour. Slice and bake.

Home-Based Baking at its Best!

Visit Us on Facebook

RETURN HOME
RETURN TO THE FIX

Do you have fear of pie?

Do you have fear of pie? Stay ahead of the trend and make your own luscious pies. Find out what’s involved in making perfect pies and pastries. We’ll make two different crust recipes – both simple, both delicious – mouth-watering crusts that will have people asking for more. You’ll leave class with a homemade pie plus a strudel or tartlets, and the knowledge that you’ll be able to reproduce these again.

If you live in the Hudson Valley, join us for our next pie class: Homemade Pie! April 24 4:30-8:30 pm

To register, call BOCES (845) 331-5050

Home-Based Baking at its Best! If you’re thinking about starting a business, or want to expand your product line, this class is for you.

Visit Us on Facebook

RETURN HOME
RETURN TO THE FIX

...

Are you starting, or thinking about, a home kitchen business? Writing a simple business plan is the first step in launching a successful business. The second step is understanding basic issues such as efficient production methods, how to maximize your kitchen workspace, and the all-important food safety.

Join us next Saturday, April 20, 9:30 am – 3:30 pm for my next class at the Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, NY.

Home Baking Skills for Profit or Pleasure
Gain the confidence of an industry professional! In this class, we’re moving out of the kitchen and into the classroom for a comprehensive discussion of commercial baking techniques. In just a few hours, you will find out how to turn your kitchen into a well-run production area, utilizing shortcuts and tricks for recipe and product development, quantity production (including scaling up recipes and using the assembly line method), shelf-life testing, packaging, storage, food safety, and more. You’ll learn everything you didn’t know to ask about equipment and appliances, and how oven heat affects baked goods. And you will discover the art of maximizing baked goods for visual and sales appeal and discuss how to adapt traditional recipes for healthier baking with whole grains. Whether you’re baking for profit or simply want to learn tips and tricks from a professional, this class is for you.

As a participant in this class, you will enjoy lunch and receive a copy of Home Baking for Profit to take home.

About the Instructor
Mimi Shotland Fix, author of Start & Run a Home-Based Food Business and Home Baking for Profit, began a licensed home kitchen business in 1979. She has since owned and operated several successful retail bakeries, worked as head baker and pastry chef for multiple restaurants, was featured in Cooking Light magazine, developed products for corporate food companies, and tested ovens for a major appliance company. Later, she returned to school for an MA in writing and food studies. Ms. Fix owns a culinary consulting firm and teaches business and hands-on baking classes in several local colleges. Her website, BakingFix.com, provides continued support for small food businesses.

To register for next Saturday’s class.

Home-Based Baking at its Best!

Visit Us on Facebook

RETURN HOME
RETURN TO THE FIX