So, what’s new, you ask?

Here’s the thing. I fell in love with canning and, as it turns out, I’m pretty darned good at it. I decided (with the support of my husband, who also thinks I’m pretty darned good at it) that I’m going into business to sell my jams, marmalades, and assorted other products I’ve been canning. I’m incorporated (LLC), having my logo trademarked, and even have a bank account! The name?

Freakin’ Flamingo.

That’s me – all over. (Thanks, Barb.) I’m working on a retail website right now which, when it’s ready, will be found at FreakinFlamingo.com. But not yet. Soon. I’ll let you know.

You may find this strange, but I want to keep this small scale. Really small scale. The basic premise is that my stuff is not only hand-crafted and small-batch, it’s micro-batch. Everything is prepared and canned during it’s proper season (usually local, or as local as I can get it), and no more than about a dozen half-pints or pints at a time, and with my own South Florida twist. I’ll be offering it to you as it’s prepared, and when it’s gone, it’s gone. Until next season. At my whim, or if you demand it. As I like to say, you never know what you’ll find until I cook it up and write it down.

So, why am I telling you this now?

Because it’s the holidays, I wanted to do a turn on the iconic cranberry sauce. I found myself inspired by tweets from my friend Maria (@ViceQueenMaria on Twitter), who as it turns out, kinda lives in my ‘hood. Maria’s been doing a lot of traveling around Florida lately, and has kind of gotten into the coastal and Caribbean pirate culture.

I got to thinking about my favorite pirate, Ann Bonny. Yes, there were female pirates, boys and girls, and she was one of the best. What would Ann Bonny do? Well, you know, after she got out of pirate prison, got married, and had a bazillion kids. She’d infuse those whole cranberries (acquired on a daring New England coastal raid, no doubt) with lots of limes and just a tot of Jamaican spiced rum. I present to you my first offering:

Ann Bonny’s Pirate’s Reserve Caribbean Cranberry

Half-Pints $8.00 each plus shipping
(5 available)

Perfect with your holiday turkey, pork, chicken, and equally delicious on toast or English muffins.

Blueberry Mojito Jam

Half-Pints $8.00 each plus shipping
(6 available)

Feeling a little chilly? Imagine yourself on a sunny, warm Caribbean beach, sipping Mojitos in the middle of January. Well, this Florida blueberry jam, infused with lime, a hint of mint, and the merest suggestion of rum, might not get you there, but if you close your eyes…

Carambola Honey Jam. Carambola, also known as Starfruit, is a crisp and sweet-tart tropical fruit that is usually only seen as a garnish. I used locally-sourced carambola and local wildflower honey to make this a treat you’ll want to spread on toast, stir into yogurt, and spoon onto everything in sight!

Carambola Honey Jam

Half-Pints $8.00 each plus shipping
(1 available)

See the Freakin’ Flamingo Facebook page for more flavors. All are half-pints and are priced at $8.00 per jar.

Um, want some?

**NOTICE**

This is totally embarrassing, but these stupid PayPal links aren’t working. Again. If you’re interested in ordering jam, please e-mail me at: FreakinFlamingo@att.net. I will be more than happy to accommodate you. So sorry for the inconvenience, but hopefully, the web site will go live soon – watch this space!

It finally came off! After weeks of rejection by every commercial venue down here you can think of, and acceptance with open arms by Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, the Miami leg of the National Food Bloggers Great American Bake Sale to benefit Share Our Strength, happened this past Saturday! That is, with a lot of help from my friends.

Sweetness Bake Shop donated dozens of delicious mini-cupcakes (red velvet sold out fast!). Thanks, Stephanie!

Our good friends at Dunkin’ Donuts South Florida (@DDSoFla on Twitter) were kind enough to donate dozens of doughnuts and boxes o’ joe (coffee) for us to sell, and believe me, the coffee was especially appreciated.

Friends Astrid W., Kristin H. (also known as “BooBoo” to my very long-time readers), Lynne (Miz Shoes of Girlyshoes), and Paula (of Mango & Lime), and I, baked into the night, resulting in dozens of cookies, brownies, biscotti, rugelach, healthy muffins, quick breads, and so much more! A couple of my co-workers even contributed baked goods (“Sheila, I need you to bake me about a half-dozen banana breads.” “What?!?”)

I even got a volunteer baker referred to me by Tasha of That’s So Yummy, who was running her own GABS in Orlando! Shana lives about an hour away in Broward county, baked some wonderful cookies and brownies, and then drove them all the way down to us. Thanks go out to both of them, too!

This little ladybug landed on my shoulder and stuck around for nearly an hour – a sign of good luck, right?

And good luck we had, too! After threatening us with rain that never materialized during the day, we had a very good day, indeed. Counting the donations, proceeds from our raffle (see previous post), and food sales, we were able to put $748.00 in the mail to Share Our Strength! If you include online donations, that’s a total of $828.00! Not bad for a week-and-a-half’s notice, eh?

Thanks to Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, our intrepid volunteers, and wonderful donors! Next year will be even better!

(Photos by Paula Nino, Renée Joslyn, and Lynne Cohen. Additional photos from our day can be found by clicking here.)

For more information, or to donate to my team (and we will happily accept your money, thankyouverymuch!), click here and visit my team page. To find a bake sale near you, click here

Rumors to the contrary, I have not disappeared off the face of the Earth! For the last couple of weeks, I have been immersed in baking and jamming in preparation for the National Food Bloggers Great American Bake Sale to benefit Share Our Strength.

After a few episodes of tearing my hair out to find a location, and being led down the proverbial garden path more than once, guess what? I should have gone down that garden path to start with – Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden, that is! I should have known that an organization that emphasizes education and children’s programs, would be familiar with SOS and might have a natural affinity for an event such as ours. I am thrilled and honored that Fairchild agreed to host our bake sale!

I’ve personally made strawberry jam, two different types of biscotti, my signature Framboise Brownies, lemon sweet rolls and even some strawberry sweet rolls (using my own jam!). If I get the time, I may even make some marmalade! But it’s not all about me – seven very talented local ladies are baking with me: Miz Shoes (of Girlyshoes), Paula (of Mango & Lime), Stephanie (of the newly-opened Sweetness Bakeshop & Cafe), as well as good friends Kristin H. & Astrid, and two of my co-workers.

We’ll be having a raffle, too! This fabulous full-size quilt, lovingly handmade by Tante Leah Handmades (a/k/a, Miz Shoes):

A beautiful Bromeliad plant, donated by Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden (the Bromeliad Show & Sale is happening that weekend at the Garden, too!); and a basket of my Framboise Brownies, together with a bottle of the elusive secret ingredient – Pacific Rim Framboise Wine – and the recipe, are all items being raffled at our bake sale!

For more information, or to donate to my team (and we will happily accept your money, thankyouverymuch!), click here and visit my team page. To find a bake sale near you, click here.

Hi, there! I’ve finally gotten around to Day 11 of The 12 Days of Cookies project. As a reminder, this is where our little Merry Band of Bakers endeavor(ed) to bake 12 cookies in 12 days from the Bon Appétit’s 2008 Cookie-a-Day collection!

This is also my post for PhotoHunt: Fast. How’s that? Well, I actually timed myself to see just how Fast I could bake this recipe. I needed a drop cookie recipe that can be whipped up quickly (like, so I could go to bed at a reasonable hour!).

White Chocolate, Cranberry, and Macadamia Nut Cookies

Preparation:

Notes:

First, mine spread more than the ones on BA’s site. I don’t know why. Also? 15 minutes was too long to bake these. The first batch came out over-baked. Not burnt, mind you, and still quite edible, but too brown and too crisp. Which might have something to do with their spreading and being thinner than perhaps they ought to have been. They just baked way too Fast! When I took the time down to 10 minutes, I got the softer, chewy texture I was looking for.

Oh. How long did it take me? It took 29 minutes to put this batter together and get the first two trays into the oven. I didn’t do any prep (except for taking the butter out of the fridge to warm) – I did it just like you might do at home, starting with thinking, “Hmm… Think I’ll bake some cookies…” all the way through loading up 2 baking sheets. Do we think that was Fast?

Please visit my partners in holiday baking, below, and see what they’ve got in store for you. And don’t forget to come back tomorrow (maybe!) for the twelfth and final installment!

Andrea of Andrea’s Recipes (honorary member and our founder but not participating this year)
Claire of The Barefoot Kitchen
Courtney of Coco Cooks
Di of Di’s Kitchen Notebook
Judy of No Fear Entertaining
Kelly of Sass & Veracity
Michelle of Big Black Dog
RJ of Flamingo Musings (hey! that’s me!)
Sandy of At the Baker’s Bench
Tiffany of The Nesting Project

Here it is, Recipe Monday, and timing being what it is, it’s also reveal day for the December HBin5 recipe.

To review, Michelle over at Big Black Dog, organized a new bread baking group, baking from the new book by Dr. Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe François, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. We’ll be starting to bake from the book officially next month, but till then, Dr. Jeff provided us with a special recipe to play with in December.

This month’s recipe is Whole Grain Challah with Cranberries and Orange Zest, and it ain’t your mama’s challah. Or mine, for that matter. For starters, the flour used is primarily whole wheat, and there’s much less egg. Honey is used as the sweetener and there’s dried fruit and orange zest. Very festive!

Being out of regular whole wheat flour, I used white whole wheat, and my fat of choice was canola oil (which is what I use in my regular challahs). Instead of Craisins, I used a mixture of dried fruit packaged as “Antioxidant Fruit Blend”, containing dried cherries, cranberries, plums, and raisins. I also used flax seed meal instead of the wheat germ, and used demerara sugar as my topping. Otherwise, I made the dough exactly as in the recipe.

Conclusion? Well, frankly, I think I need to make this again to be sure.

In all honesty, I think my dough “aged-out.” That is, the recipe says that it should be baked within 5 days, or you should freeze it. I had good intentions, really I did. It was the cookies! I blame the cookies!

I didn’t freeze the dough, and I didn’t bake it until 8 days later. I didn’t get the rise I was looking for, except in those little ones I made in my mini-bundt pan, just for fun. And the flavor is pretty strong. MJ said it tastes almost rye-like, and I agree.

On the other hand, this dough was a pleasure to work with, and although a bit softer and stickier than “normal” bread dough, it was much easier to shape than last month’s Pumpkin Brioche. As I said, I will make this again and bake it within the proper amount of time, to see if I get a better rise and milder flavor. I want it at its best.

Want the recipe? Click here to get all the instructions and try it yourself!

If you’d like to join in and try baking healthy breads in a whole new way, click here to visit Big Black Dog and learn about our monthly “Bread Braid”.

How convenient, right? Here we are on Day 7 of The 12 Days of Cookies, our quest to bake and blog 12 cookies in 12 days from the Bon Appétit 2008 Holiday Cookie-a-Day collection, and we’re gaining momentum!

First the recipe, then my notes:

Cranberry Orange Drop Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 cups (packed) dried sweetened cranberries (about 10 ounces)
• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange peel
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 3/4 cup chopped unsalted natural pistachios
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh or frozen cranberries

Preparation:

Butter 3 baking sheets. Combine dried sweetened cranberries and orange juice in small bowl. Let stand until dried cranberries soften slightly, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes.

Whisk all purpose flour, ground cinnamon, baking powder, ground ginger, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl until just blended.

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Using electric mixer, beat room-temperature butter and golden brown sugar in large bowl until smooth. Add 1 egg, minced ginger, vanilla extract, and grated orange peel and beat until well blended, about 2 minutes. Beat in flour-spice mixture. Stir in chopped walnuts, chopped pistachios, coarsely chopped fresh or frozen cranberries, and dried cranberries with any juices that have accumulated.

Drop cookie dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets, spacing tablespoonfuls about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake cookies, 1 baking sheet at a time, until golden and almost firm to touch in center, about 18 minutes. Cool cookies on baking sheets 5 minutes. Transfer to racks; cool cookies completely. (Cookies can be made 2 days ahead. Store cookies in airtight container at room temperature.)

Notes:

This is one terrific cookie. The combination of Craisins (sweetened dried cranberries) and fresh cranberries (I used some I’d stashed away in the freezer before Thanksgiving), with the orange zest, walnuts, pistachios, and ginger, make this a standout drop cookie.

I changed nothing about this recipe, so I’ll just offer this one tip in the name of efficiency. You can chop the nuts and fresh cranberries altogether in the food processor. Just drop the walnuts, pistachios, and cranberries in the food processor, and in about 10 – 15 pulses, it’s all done, mixed together and ready to dump in the batter.

Another tip I picked up somewhere along the way (probably on Food Network) regarding the ginger: I don’t know about you, but I buy fresh ginger for something, and wind up throwing away half of it, because I don’t use it up before it goes bad. Try this – when you buy ginger, cut it up into one-inch or two-inch pieces, peel it, and put it in a freezer bag and put it in your freezer. When you need ginger for a recipe, take out a piece and grate it, frozen, directly into your recipe.

Well, that’s it for Day 7 – a whole week’s worth of cookie recipes tested in real home kitchens, before you break the first egg. Thanks for stopping by!

Please visit my partners in holiday baking, below, and see what they’ve got in store for you. And don’t forget to come back tomorrow for the eighth installment!

Andrea of Andrea’s Recipes (honorary member and our founder but not participating this year)
Claire of The Barefoot Kitchen
Courtney of Coco Cooks
Di of Di’s Kitchen Notebook
Judy of No Fear Entertaining
Kelly of Sass & Veracity
Michelle of Big Black Dog
RJ of Flamingo Musings (hey! that’s me!)
Sandy of At the Baker’s Bench
Tiffany of The Nesting Project