Photo © 2009 Ampersand Industries // David Mandel Photo © 2009 Ampersand Industries // David MandelPhoto © 2009 Ampersand Industries // David Mandel

Overboard.

I think that word sums up the bulk of my creative impulses. The tale that follows is no exception.

Today is the bake sale at my son's preschool. This is my first bake sale. The mere fact of this bake sale has me reeling a bit that I am someone old enough and responsible enough to be charged with providing goods for a bake sale. Wha?!

And, of course, any reasonable person would think to herself, "Hmm. What's the easiest thing I can whip up in the least amount of time?" But, surely, by now we have dispensed with the notion that I am anything approximating reasonable. So what did I do? I decided that it would be a good idea to make four (four!) recipes I'd never tried before.* On a weeknight. I adapted each of the recipes from Deb (first name basis? why not?) at Smitten Kitchen who had, in turn, adapted them from various cookbooks."To adapt," in my case this means "1. to read in haste; 2. to inadvertently mismeasure; 3. to skip or ignore ingredients and steps altogether." Which is why I usually don't use recipes. But in the baking arena, they are at least marginally necessary to me.

The citrus sablés are based on SK's margarita cookies. Since this is a kid-centric event, I thought it might be a wee bit inappropriate to offer tequila-laced cookies for sale. So I replaced the liquor with vanilla and lime juice. I did keep the margarita-esque cookie edges rimmed in sugar and sea salt. And added, inadvertently, an extra egg yolk. I think these would have been a less rise-y without the extra egg yolk, but I'm not convinced that it doesn't make the dough a bit more forgiving than it otherwise might be. These are by far my favorite of the recipes I made. Shatteringly crisp, ridiculously rich, and beautifully fragrant. A total keeper.

Now, the deviled brownies. These are based on SK's baked brownie, spiced up. I called them "deviled" because "baked" also sounded potentially inappropriate for a kid event (even though the "baked" in the title refers to the bakery, baked, which has one of its two outposts here in Charleston). So, the thing that makes these brownies spiced up is chipotle powder. I know, right? But I was fascinated. They also contain espresso. So whatever kid-centric benevolence I demonstrated by forgoing the tequila and changing the name of the brownies is clearly out the window now. Because, friends, this really is a spicy brownie. I mean, not a burn the skin off your lips kind of spicy, but definitely not something you can ignore. Hoping no parents buy these and give them to their kids. A point in the "test-your-recipe-before-you-foist-it-on-an-unsuspecting-public" column. Here's hoping I'm not run out of the PTA for this one.

I also made SK's salted, brown butter crispy treats. Because everyone hates the original recipe. Or not. I used an organic brand puffed brown rice instead of the well-known blue box option, and I think they were a little bit drier than the standard puffed rice cereal. They taste fine, but I'm not totally wowed. My husband, on the other hand, is more of a crispy treat aficionado than I, and he has proclaimed them an important new development in the world of food, so don't take my word for it.

The fourth item, cheese straws, are not pictured here, because I was packaging and sending them out the door as soon as they came from the oven. The recipe is based on one by the Lee Brothers, also known as people-I-actually-do-know-on-a-first-name-basis. Their recipe is perfect and very authentic. (Matt and Ted are lovely people and great writers. They have a new book, Simple Fresh Southern,  which promises to be just as good as their first book, for which they won a coveted James Beard award. Check them out!)

Once I was finished baking I headed to the computer to hash out a label for each of the recipes. I am really happy with the simplicity of this solution: 1-inch strips of paper printed with some of my patterns and with white space on either side. One side has the name of the item, and the other side has an ingredients list. I ran each strip through my Xyron create-a-sticker (best $10 ever!) and wrapped them around cellophane bags secured with twist ties. The tags cover the twist ties and stand up happily on their own. I am definitely going to hold on to this packaging method for the future.

A wise counselor advised me on Wednesday night before I embarked on all of this nonsense, "Back away from the inkjet printer and baking sheet." She was probably right, and yet I had a lot of fun doing this and would probably do it all again. With slightly less chipotle powder.