If you have a dog you have rescued and/or a shelter you think does a great job of helping dogs find homes, let us know and we’ll add your dog’s photo or the shelter’s link to our site.

Ingredients for the bread pudding:

6 large eggs, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 4 cups milk (I used 1%), 1 cup heavy cream, 1 tbls. bourbon whiskey, 1 tbls. vanilla extract, 1 tsp. ground cinnamon, pinch of allspice, 1 (1 lb.) loaf day-old French bread torn into 1″ chunks, 4 tbls. butter melted, 1/2 cup Craisins (or any dried fruit).

Ingredients for the whiskey sauce:

1 cup sugar, 1/2 butter, 1/2 cup corn syrup, 1/4 cup bourbon whiskey or to taste.

Directions for making the pudding:

Preheat oven to 325 F. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until light and creamy.  Add the milk, cream, whiskey, vanilla, cinnamon and allspice. Whisk thoroughly until combined.

Scatter the bread in a 9×13″ baking dish, and drizzle the melted butter over the bread. Toss until coated. Top with the dried fruit. Cover with the custard mixture and stir until all coated. Let rest for at least 30 minutes to allow the bread to soak up the custard. (I let my soak for 6 hours in the refrigerator and it was perfection).

Bake about 40 minutes, or until the custard is set and the top is browned. Let cool for 15 minutes before serving. May be served warm, room temperature or cold.

Directions for the whiskey sauce:

Mix the sugar, butter and corn syrup in saucepan over low heat. Stir until the butter is melted, the sugar is dissolved and mixture is heated through.  Whisk in the whiskey. May be served warm, or at room temperature.

“These two baking staples are both leavening agents, but they work at different speeds and in different environments, so they are not interchangeable. Baking soda, or pure sodium bicarbonate, is required in recipes that have an acidic ingredient, such as molasses, sour cream, or chocolate. Baking soda reacts with the acid and moisture, releasing carbon dioxide and causing the dough or batter to rise, yielding fluffy muffins or cake.

Baking powder consists of baking soda, cream of tartar, and cornstarch. It is used in recipes without an acidic ingredient because it already contains an acid (cream of tartar). There are three types of baking powder: fast-acting, slow-acting, and double-acting. Most baking powder is double-acting, which ensures that the dough rises twice: first when the moisture hits it and again when it reacts with heat inside the oven.”

A note from me – baking soda will last indefinitely in your pantry, while baking powder has a shelf life.

It was so easy for us to participate.  My Kids’ Cookies just had to open it’s kitchen to the amateur bakers and let them get creative.  We had such a fun day.  The baker/contestants arrived laden with ingredients, recipes and enthusiasm.   The day was spent chopping, cutting, mixing, stirring, tasting and baking up a storm of unique recipes.  Our kitchen had the wonderful aroma of bread pudding all day long.  Everyone was great about sharing mixers, workspace, oven space and baking tips.  All for such a worthy (and delicious) cause. 

In addition to having the best amateur and Best of Show entry, the gold medal winner Katie S. also has a sweet heart.  She sent Thank You flowers to My Kids’ Cookies and The Island Gallery for putting on the event.  

With music playing during the event, heavy spoon lifting, friendly discussion, voting, and great photos of the tasty treats by Nick Felkey, the evening was a sweet and smashing success.

Bring a Bread Pudding Bake-Off to your town for your local charity and watch the event grow to be a well anticipated evening each year. 

            View This Poll

Would you believe… for Christmas we adopted Max, a 9 year tabby from our local shelter?

Would you believe… my daughter suggested that instead of our normal My Kids’ Cookies sale for her birthday, we donate a portion of sales to PAWS of Bainbridge Island so that other pets like Max can continue to be cared for until they find their new home?

Would you believe… for all online orders placed from now through Friday, January 14th, we’ll be donating 17% of sales to PAWS?

Would you believe…you can get a free cookie for your dog? For local pet lovers, drop off canned or bagged pet food at our cookie shop during January. We’ll drop it off at PAWS for you and your donation will earn you a free dog cookie for your favorite pooch.  We’re located at 400 Winslow Way E., Bainbridge Island, WA.

Would you believe… I love my kids, cookies and pets?

Barbara Reininger
My Kids’ Cookies

That’s what the 5th Annual Bainbridge Island Pro-Am Bread Pudding Bake-Off is all about. After skipping last year, it’s once again time to enter this fun contest that benefits Helpline House.

Mark you calendars and get your entry form ready. You can pick up entry forms at My Kids’ Cookies & Coffee Shop or The Island Gallery (right next door) – both on the corner of Winslow & Ericksen in downtown Bainbridge Island.

You don’t have to enter a bread pudding to have fun. Just come with an empty stomach and an open heart and you can taste away the evening of the event.  And, since we do Chicago politics, you can stuff the ballot box for your favorite entry.  Remember, it’s all in fun and for a great cause.

Contest is Friday, February 4th from 6-8pm
All amateur entries must be prepped and baked in My Kids’ Cookies kitchen on 2/3 or 2/4.  Reserve your time slot soon by calling 206-780-3091

$20/entry fee
$1/per tasting fee at the event

All proceeds benefit Helpline House.  Any questions, feel free to call and ask – 206-780-3091.

Small businesses across the country are joining more than a dozen advocacy, public, and private organizations in declaring the Saturday after Thanksgiving as Small Business Saturday. Small Business Saturday recognizes the importance of small businesses to the overall economy and local communities, emphasizing  that small business is the heartbeat of local communities and the engine of the US economy and serving as a day to support the small, independently owned businesses that help preserve the unique character of our towns’ main streets across America.

Over the past two decades, small businesses created 65 percent of net new jobs. In addition, for every $100 spent in locally owned independent stores, $68 returns to the community through taxes, payroll, and other expenditures.

Here are the top five reasons to support a small business on Small Business Saturday:

Pass these five reasons around your community –

1. Buying local creates jobs:

We all want more jobs, but no one seems to be able to create them.  Buying  local is YOUR chance to do something about it.

Did you know that half of all employees in the U.S. work for small business, and that small businesses create 60 percent of all new jobs? By participating in Small Business Saturday you foster job creation in a very real and tangible way.  Buy local, create a job.

2. Small business fosters community:

If you go downtown in your city, the community you will likely find is one of small business owners. When a downtown has a bustling small business district, it is usually said there is a strong community there. By buying local then, and supporting your neighborhood small businesses, you are fostering a strong community in your community.

3. Buying local keeps the dream alive:

A small business is someone’s dream.  Being an entrepreneur is a risky enterprise that usually happens when someone’s passion is so overpowering they cannot help but start their own business.

By supporting small business, you are allowing someone to live the dream another day.

4. Buying local boosts your local economy:

There is an economic ripple effect that occurs when you support a small business.  First of all, as indicated, it fosters jobs; the owner needs to hire people to service his customers.

But the economic ripple goes far beyond that. There are the employees with money in their pocket; they spend that money with other small businesses. Moreover, there is the business owner with profit in her pocket. She spends that on buying more goods to sell, on taking care of her family, and on growing her business. Then, there is the business. That business pays taxes, which helps build roads and fund schools and the police.

Buying local creates an economic cycle that helps everyone.

5. Buying local creates a ripple in society: Think about throwing a pebble into a still pond. It creates a concentric circle that starts small and then ripples out bigger and bigger, right? Well, that is exactly what happens when you support a local small business, and this ripple is different than the economic ripple. This is a spiritual/psychological ripple.

When a small business person succeeds, it is noticed. It may be a child who sees that dreams do come true. Or it may be the entrepreneur’s neighbor, who sees the successes and decides that he could do it too. The ripple grows.

One successful small business begets others. New entrepreneurs create more entrepreneurs. Enthusiasm breeds imitation. Suddenly, that blighted block downtown is bustling with energy.

And it all starts, literally, when you choose to spend some money at a local small business.

On Bainbridge Island, we’re fortunate to have two local organizations that provide wonderful help and service to human and pets –  Helpline House and PAWS of Bainbridge Island and North Kitsap.

A small way we’re able to help these organizations is to encourage generosity in others.  We can do that through baking.  From now until Thanksgiving, My Kids’ Cookies is sweetening the incentive to support these organizations.  Anyone that brings in canned food donations for people or pets will get a FREE cookie for them or their dog.  And we’ll drop all the donations off to the organizations in time for Thanksgiving dinner.

Wishing everyone a bountiful Thanksgiving!

When I moved to California in the mid 1990s, I tried to find a soda fountain/luncheonette/corner candy store that could make an egg cream.   Since the soda fountain/luncheonette/corner candy store is, for the most part, from a bygone era, I’d ask for them at Baskin Robbins.  What I got were blank stares.  I think the word ‘egg’ in a drink was confusing.  Finally, I figured out if you described it as an ice cream soda without the ice cream they could make it for you, but they’d charge for the ice cream that didn’t get added to the soda.

I’ve just added egg creams to the drinks menu at my cookie and coffee shop on Bainbridge Island.   The sign on our front counter is generating a lot of questions about what an egg cream is.  I’m happily explaining and introducing the egg cream to the people of Bainbridge Island unfamiliar with this liquid dessert.  Everyone that has tried one has loved it with the most common feedback being how ‘refreshing’ it tastes.

Long live the egg cream.

During the month of October, My Kids’ Cookies will donate 10% of all website baked goods sales to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Send someone a Red Gift Box and support the Pink Ribbon and The Cure.

Everyone benefits.

Treat yourself, families and friends to a gift of baked treats this month. Not only will they enjoy the treat, but we’ll be one step closer to finding the cure.