Pay by the pound at annual Kennewick bake sale

Want to savor your favorite homemade holiday sweets without doing any baking?

The women at Grace United Reformed Church in Kennewick have you covered.

About 20 cooks were busy this week mixing, baking and decorating treats for the Confection Selection and Gift Emporium, now in its 13th year.

This is not your ordinary bake sale.

You’ll need to arrive early at the church Dec. 5 and grab a box. Then select your favorite fudge, cookies, caramels, divinity, candies, biscotti and chocolates.

Place your box on the scale. Pay $10 per pound for the tasty treats.

Chris Johnson of Richland baked three kinds of biscotti from scratch over two days: almond with dark chocolate glaze, walnut spice, and pine nut and fig.

Johnson, who has taken cooking lessons in Italy, has been making the twice-cooked biscuits for church fundraisers for about 20 years.

“I’ve always done biscotti. It seems to be the thing I do well. The thing we all do the best, we continue to do. We want it to be the best quality we have,” she said.

At last year’s Confection Selection, the church sold out of every available morsel. “Not even an ugly cookie was left,” said Marji Winckler of Pasco, who along her daughter-in-law Mystie Winckler of Kennewick, helps organize the bakers each year.

“When people come once, they come back each year,” Marji Winckler said. “It’s just really a fun time.”

She also thinks the Confection Selection is a great place for dieters to go. “If you’re trying to be a super hostess, and you’re trying to make it at home, you have to make a pan. Here, you can come in, make a platter in whatever amount you need, put them in a Ziploc and freeze until the grandchildren come over,” Marji Winckler said.

Some items do have set prices, such as pies, loaves of bread and the personalized gingerbread men, decorated with the name of your choice. They can be pre-ordered online so they are ready for pickup at the bake sale.

Each smiling gingerbread man holds a mini candy cane and wears a festive M&M bow tie.

Sarah Prein of Kennewick makes 100 of the 8-inch gingerbread cookies, and they sell out every year. For $5 apiece, they come packaged in a gift bag tied with a bow. About 20 are available at the church on the day of the sale for personalizing.

“They’re a favorite with grandmas. I know with my mom, it’s what sticks out of the kids’ stockings every year,” Prein said.

Prein stirs up 10 batches of dough and decorates each gingerbread man herself. “I go through butter in vast quantities this time of year,” she said. She also planned to make macaroons.

Customers also can buy a plate for gift-giving and select their favorite sweet treats. Volunteers will wrap the plate in plastic and decorate it with a bow.

In addition, items for sale at the Gift Emporium include handmade baby items, such as blankets, caps and receiving blankets, jewelry, wine barrel furniture, custom-decorated wreaths and Christmas decorations.

All proceeds raised go to the faith-based nonprofit Tri-Cities Pregnancy Network, which offers free pregnancy tests, counseling and prenatal and parenting education.

“Everyone’s so generous supplying the goodies. One hundred percent goes to the pregnancy center, which is just important in our community. They do really good work. If this is a way to support them, I’ll bake to my heart’s content,” Johnson said.

Last year, the church was able to donate $6,000.

The Confection Selection and Gift Emporium is from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Dec. 5 at the church, 2500 W. Fourth Ave. in Kennewick. Cash, checks and debit/credit cards will be accepted. To order a personalized gingerbread man, go to www.graceurc.org/confectionselection.

This story was originally published December 2, 2015 at 9:15 PM with the headline "Pay by the pound at annual Kennewick bake sale."