If you follow me on social media, you may remember I recently attended a King Arthur Flour Bake for Good event in the Twin Cities.
Bake For Good. What is it?
“While the name is new, King Arthur Flour has been living the initiative for a long time.” For over 20 years, King Arthur Flour’s free Bake for Good Kids Program has traveled all over the country helping kids learn to bake and share their baked goods with those in need. April is Bake For Good month and King Arthur Flour hit the road, with stops in Seattle, the Twin Cities and Los Angeles to meet with bloggers, and to cook and serve food to people in need. They are on a mission to inspire people around the country to join the #BakeforGood movement.
What happened.
We attended classes where we learned how to bake bread and pie pastry crust. We then baked bread and made pies. And lots of them. We bonded with other bloggers, our teacher (Chef Susan) and Julia and Natasha from King Arthur Flour.
We cooked and served dinner (and served the bread and pies we had made) to families in the Minneapolis area at the Family Service Center. These families, for whatever reason, are homeless but live at the Family Service Center. Now, I can be a pretty emotional person and I knew there would be children there so I told myself to be strong and not cry. I’m not sure what I was expecting but when the doors to the dining hall finally opened and the families started coming in and lining up for dinner, the kids came up to us, mostly shy and timid, but some with smiles on their faces (especially from the little ones that kept coming back for seconds and thirds).
Who knows what put the families in the situation that they are in but it was so nice to see that some of the children could still smile and laugh and be silly. My thoughts were also on the parents and how much they may have struggled but thankfully, they have landed there, at the Family Service Center, and have a roof over their heads, a bed to sleep on and hot food to eat.
Everyone had gone through the line and the families were all sitting down eating. I was looking around and saw Amanda holding one of the babies so her mother could eat. My eyes started filling with tears as I began thinking about that baby, and her family and her parents and her siblings. What they were going through, how much it takes to take care of a family. To clothe, feed and care for and love a family.
After we finished serving dinner, cleaned up and had dinner ourselves, we all headed back to the hotel to say our good-byes and I actually left for my sister’s house shortly after that. I began thinking about how people (or television commercials) are always thinking of and talking about how to help people in other countries. Helping people in other countries is GREAT- don’t get me wrong- but you know what. . we don’t have to look that far to find someone who needs our help. The people in our community, in our streets, the people in the homeless shelters in our cities. The cities we live in.
You are one person but you can make a difference.
The Recipe
It seems fitting that we baked pies for the families because nothing say comfort and “I care about you” more than a homemade pie. This fabulous recipe is from King Arthur Flour. And if you need additional help with the lattice-top, click here to see my Lattice-Top Blueberry Pie with a few photos to help you out. Also, as always, I’m here to help you in any way I can, so leave me a comment below if you have any questions.
- 2½ cups Perfect Pastry Blend or King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup vegetable shortening
- ½ cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter
- 7 to 10 tablespoons ice water
- filling
- 8 cups peeled, cored, sliced apples
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- ¼ cup boiled cider or undiluted apple juice concentrate
- 2 tablespoons butter, diced in small pieces
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and salt.
- Cut in the shortening until it's in lumps the size of small peas.
- Dice the butter into ½" pieces, and cut into the mixture until you have flakes of butter the size of your fingernail.
- Add the water, 2 tablespoons at a time, mixing with a fork as you sprinkle the water into the dough.
- For the rest of this recipe card and the full instructions, please visit King Arthur Flour.
Click here for this complete recipe over at King Arthur Flour.
Now, I did not take any photos while I was in Minneapolis, other than the photos from my iPhone, so you simply must visit each and every blog down below, especially this one to read more about everyone’s #BakeforGood experience. Some were able to capture some beautiful photos and moments. I truly had the best time and feel so honored that I got to meet each and every person below and feel so grateful that I am able to be a part of #BakeForGood.
The wonderful bloggers I met and got to serve with:
Amanda from I Am Baker
Brenda from A Farmgirl’s Dabbles
Erin from The Law Student’s Wife
Jim and Jena from Little Rusted Ladle
Kathryne from Cookie and Kate
Kristin from Pastry Affair
Shaina from Food for My Family
Stefani from Cupcake Project
Taylor from Greens and Chocolate
The Real Work Begins Now
How will you bake for good? What will you do? Do you know anyone around you who needs help or someone you simply want to appreciate and bake for?
We’re inviting you to share your own #BakeForGood stories!
Take a picture of the plate of cookies you made for the senior center, the dog treats you baked for the humane society, or a picture of your happy recipient. Post to Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, tagging it with #kingarthurflour and #bakeforgood. We are asking for coverage on social media because we want to spread the word!
You can bake for good. What are you going to do?
THE GIVEAWAY!!
(this giveaway has ended)
Pledging to Bake For Good
The focus of this giveaway is baking for good. The winner must pledge to use the products they receive from King Arthur Flour to bake for good, and share their baked goods with others.
What You Can Win
- 1 lb bag of Barry Callebaut Chocolate Chips– We used these chocolate chips in the brownies that we baked. These chocolate chips are fabulous!!!
- Triple cocoa blend– The best cocoa ever.
- 1 5lb bag King Arthur Flour All-Purpose Flour– Hands down. The best flour. Ever.
- 1 bottle Boiled Cider– believe me, you want to enter this giveaway simply to win this. This is key for the apple pie featured above.
To Enter This Giveaway
This giveaway is going to operate very differently from what I’ve done before. . TO ENTER, this is what we are asking:
1) Make your pledge to Bake For Good (with a note about who you will bake for; you can obviously keep this general) on your own preferred social media channel (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+). For example, post a Facebook status that says, “I just entered to win a baking prize pack from King Arthur Flour and http://hipfoodiemom.com/! If I win, I will bake a pie for my daughter’s teacher. #BakeForGood” OR you can earn bonus points for posting a photo of baked goods you’ve baked with and mention of who they are destined for. All posts MUST include the #bakeforgood hashtag in order to be valid.
2) Example tweet: “I just entered to win a baking prize pack from @KingArthurFlour & @HipFoodieMom1! If I win, I will bake a pie for my neighbor. #bakeforgood”
3) Then, after you have shared over social media (you only have to share on ONE preferred channel), leave the URL in the comments section below in order to be a valid entry. And again, all posts, tweets must have the #bakeforgood hashtag in order to be valid.
4) I will personally be checking each entry so make sure your profile is set to PUBLIC.
Good luck!
Please remember to leave the link to your social media post in a comment below in order to be counted and valid. Giveaway ends Friday, April 25th at 12 midnight EST. Giveaway is sponsored by King Arthur Flour.
https://www.facebook.com/BarefootCountryGirl79/posts/1531389120420964?stream_ref=10
https://twitter.com/CarolYemola/status/457251049787891713
https://www.facebook.com/carol.yemola/posts/662606230473219?stream_ref=1
What a lovely post Alice! Such a gorgeous pie and so fun to hear about your experiences. Love #BakeForGood! 🙂
Thank you, Maria! Have you posted yours yet? Can’t wait to read. .
Not yet! Working on it this weekend so will post some time next week..
Very inspiring post Alice. Sounds like a good experience and I agree that there are unmet needs just around the corner in our own communities. Reality is sometimes just too….real.
Thank you for this post!
Amy
https://plus.google.com/u/0/104346338872498622972/posts/6kKj4iThf2P
Your pie looks beautiful. I made an apple pie just this week that while not quite as beautiful was pretty good!
PS: What does ‘never ripened’ mean in flour terms? (it’s on your apron, which I want)
You’ve brought years to my eyes reading this Alice! I’m smiling & applauding both you and these other incredible bloggers for getting involved with such a phenomenal project. Not only because you’re sharing a skill & talent which you all naturally have, but also because you’ve hit it right on the nail. Day to day life and giving is also about where we are and not in a far distant place or future. It’s the small things we do together that can make big differences! 🙂
Alice, I love and admire you so much. You’re one of the best people I know and I’m honoured that we’re friends. What an amazing opportunity to be a part of King Arthur Flour’s Bake for Good weekend. I have no doubt this was an experience that you’ll remember for always. I’m also a huge fan of all the other bloggers you listed here. I was following everyone’s photos on Instagram and Facebook and I cheered every time I saw your smiling, happy face in a picture. Your pie looks incredible and the message in this post is so important. I know how fortunate I am to have the things I have and the love and support of my friends and family. I have the ability to give back and I should. Thank you for the reminder!
https://twitter.com/animundi/status/457532125320052736 My tweet to bake for Steppin’ Up To End Violence. (ツ)
Love this, Denise!!
This is a beautiful post Alice. I love the commitment and heart behind #bakeforgood, it’s a fantastic mindset to have when baking in the kitchen. I’d love to support King Arthur Flour in this but I don’t actually think it’s sold over here in Australia. I’ll be cheering on #bakeforgood though, and spreading the word in my local community! Hugs to you and the other amazing bloggers involved xx
Awh, thank you so much Laura!! yes, please help spread the word!
Love this post! It was so great getting to know you! Good picks for your giveaway! Who wouldn’t want that boiled cider – I want to bathe in it! 🙂
haha, thank you Stefani! 🙂