As many know, I get busy and fall off the radar around this time every year. For five years now I’ve been doing seasonal SCUBA diving work. As interesting as that might sound, it’s anything but glamorous — chiefly, I pull weeds out of marinas and swim areas. It’s strenuous, exhausting, dirty work, and I’ve enjoyed every minute. I thought I might show a little of that — here are some pictures from the most recent job I was on pulling weeds and garbage at a swim area …
Empty tank — time to get a new one … and a sandwich!Time to pop back in…This looks so Baywatch — right?!This was at the end of the day — my boss asked me to do surface work, which involves swimming around and catching picked weeds floating around that didn’t get collected in our bags while under water.Get your mask in the right spot and don’t get water on the inside … it’s quite preferable!I usually work in the water for 4-6 hours — moving efficiently is key — even when swimming without gear.No matter how efficient one works, at the end of the day it can be difficult to get up and out of the water.
So why do I disappear in spring? Frequently, this work takes me away from the Whidbey Island Baking Company headquarters. The jobs are in the spring, so I have to go do the work when I can get it. Between jobs I’m busy staying on top of everything else. This keeps me a bit too involved for my Recipes Of The Month and working on my books … but it’s good to get away from time to time, right?
When just beginning in my bakery, I started with a small box of baking soda. On the back was a recipe for a combination I had never considered – Chocolate Cranberry Cookies. The bakery kept me busy, enough so that I had little time to experiment. Once I switched to writing recipe books, I have had more opportunities. Nearly nine years later, I finally made my version of this cookie – and it has proven to be a delightful combination!
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If you are reading this, you are also getting a sneak-peek! These delicious Double Chocolate Cranberry Cookies are one of the recipes that will be featured in my upcoming Thanksgiving / Christmas / New Years cookie recipe book. This project has been in the works for a few years now, and it is my plan to publish it around September this year. Keep an eye on this website along with my social media locations for updates. If you would like to know when this book publishes, I would be happy to add you to my notification list — email me! Don’t worry, I won’t send you newsletters — those things drive me bonkers.
INGREDIENTS
12 Tablespoons – 180 ml Unsalted Butter, softened
3/4 cups – 120 ml White Sugar
3/4 cups – 120 ml Brown Sugar
2 Large Eggs
5 Tablespoons – 75 ml Strong Coffee or Espresso
2 teaspoons – 10 ml Pure Vanilla Extract
1 1/2 teaspoons – 7.5 ml Baking Powder
1/3 cup – 80 ml Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
2 cups – 480 ml All-Purpose Flour
1 cup – 240 ml Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 cup – 240 ml Dried Cranberries
MIXING
In a mixing bowl, cream butter and then combine the two sugars. It may be necessary to stop mixing and scrape the bottom of the bowl so that butter and sugar are mixed uniformly.
Beat in eggs, coffee, vanilla extract, baking powder, and cocoa powder.
While mixing, add one cup of flour at a time. Avoid over-mixing the flour; if necessary, stop mixing between making measurements and adding flour.
Add the chocolate chips as the last of the flour becomes completely blended. Mix in the dried cranberries by hand.
BAKING
Heat oven to 375° F/190° C/Gas Mark 5.
Using a spoon, scoop small amounts of dough – 1 1/2 tablespoons or about the size of a ping pong ball – onto a cookie sheet. Space these apart, about 6-9 at a time.
Place cookie sheet in the oven for 9-13 minutes. The cookies should be done when the edges are slightly browned.
TIPS & THOUGHTS
Experiment with changing the extract – orange, almond, or rum should compliment the chocolate and cranberry flavours. Also, white chocolate chips might add a festive look if you want to use these as Christmas cookies.
PSST!!! You may notice that the ingredients above are similar to my Chocolate Ginger Cookie Squares in the Christmas cookie section. Yep – I just reused and modified my recipe and made it as a drop cookie. Which means, of course, that you can do either of these recipes as drop cookies or cookie squares!
A NEW Version of
Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies
For years I have wanted to get new cover-art for my debut book “Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies“. I have also wanted to find a printer who could affordably give me interior pictures in colour. I am excited to announce … IT’S HERE!!!
Available now through LuLu.com, I have re-released MYODGCookies — and it’s so new, I haven’t even received my proof copy yet! If you go to their site you will find 2 listings — look closely — one is standard-bound paperback, the other is comb-bound. Only the standard paperback will receive global distribution — which should start soon — so look for this new version through online book retailers and ask for it at your favourite local bookshop.
Do You Want To Try Before You Buy?…
Click the picture to get a copy of my FREE SAMPLE E-BOOK!
Also, check me out online at Facebook, Twitter, and now Instagram for further updates on my upcoming books.
Yeah, coffee lovers … you read that right — COFFEE JAM!
This jam is tasty and fun! It is easy to prepare and makes for a delicious spread, baked good filling, or ice cream topping. If you know how to can, it may also serve as a surprising gift.
NOTE – It is important that to read and fully understand how to prepare this recipe before starting to cook the jam. Also, have all ingredients measured and within each reach, along with a timer, utensils, and containers ready.
INGREDIENTS
2 cups – 480 mL Applesauce
2 cups – 240 mL Strong Brewed Coffee
About 1/2 teaspoon – 2.5 mL Butter
4 Tablespoons – 60 mL Pectin (see note below)
2 cups – 426 g Brown Sugar
DIRECTIONS
Follow
Put applesauce, coffee, butter, and pectin in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.
Follow
Add brown sugar. While stirring over medium heat, bring mixture to a boil that cannot be stirred down (this helps to get the sugar dissolved). Start timer for one minute and continue boiling while stirring constantly. Remove from heat; carefully and quickly, skim any foam off of the surface using a tablespoon into a bowl (later, discard or taste once cooled to sample).
Follow
Ladle the hot jam into storage containers then allow to cool. Use soon, store in your refrigerator for several weeks. This jam may be canned for long term storage if you know the process. If you need to learn how to can properly, look to the Ball Book Of Canning And Preserving (a classic!), also the USDA website has free resources online.
Makes about 2 pints worth of jam.
TIPS & THOUGHTS
Safety First! Accidents can happen in kitchens, and it is best to develop practices to avoid them in the first place. I suggest using a long wooden spoon or another implement that does not conduct heat, and cannot fall in when laid on an angle in the pan. Also – Word to the Wise – if you are canning, I advise against using tongs (below left) to get lid pieces out of hot water. The water can run down the inside channel and get on to you – OUCH! Instead, my suggestion is to use these other tongs (below right) or something similar.
Instead of storing this jam in your refrigerator, you could probably freeze it – however, I have not personally tried this.
Not All Pectin Is Created Equal — Read On …
In perfecting my recipe, I made batches using each pectin product pictured below. When I used the Ball pectin, my jam came out more like a spread – even to say, it was a little runny. I also had some of the Sure Jell on hand and I thought to make another batch, wondering how it might come out. When looking at the back label of both products, I noticed something – let’s get mathy …
Already we can tell that the Sure Jell weighs more by volume. Presumably, one product is denser than the other – and I figured if one is denser, likely there is more pectin present … making the jam thicker. This becomes even more obvious when one calculates out to the 4 Tablespoons of pectin this recipe calls for …
Ball – 4 Tbsp (33.6g)
Sure Jell – 4 Tbsp (48g)
48g – 33.6g = A 14.4 gram difference for the same volume of pectin.
What were the results of my batch of jam using the Sure Jell pectin? Sure enough, it was thicker! All said, there are various pectin products produced and available on the market – use different ingredients and you will get different results.
PAIRINGS
Click the picture to get a copy of my FREE SAMPLE E-BOOK!
No matter what pectin I have used, this jam tends to be soft – something to use more as a spread … okay, what I’m trying to nicely say here is that if you put this in a peanut butter and jam sandwich, I’m pretty sure the jam is going to run out. The choice is yours. In any case, due to the unique flavour of this jam, I prefer to put it on a baked good where the jam is the prevailing taste. One example I’m fond of — warm cornmeal muffins with a little bit of butter … they’re particularly good!
Updates & New Recipe Books — Coming Soon …
Wanna guess who’s my hand model?
My debut book “Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies” is getting new cover art and interior colour pictures.
Re-release Goal — mid-April 2023 … maybe sooner!
Also Coming …
Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Cookie Recipes – Fall 2023
2020 & 2021 Recipe Of The Month Collection – Fall 2023
Scot-Irish Recipes – in time for St. Patrick’s Day 2024
2022 & 2023 Recipe Of The Month Collection – Early 2024
Are you a writer with a manuscript who wants to become an author? Intimidated by the process of traditional publishing? Want to keep your creative control? The world of self-publishing is alive and thriving, and you can become a part of it!
October 15th, 2022, Tom Trimbath and I — co-hosts of the Writing On Whidbey Island podcast — are holding a day-long how-to self-publish workshop in Coupeville, WA. Along with other writers and authors, we plan to show how to prepare your manuscript for self-publication, and take it through the steps to make your own book, and what you need to do afterward. If you want to sign-up, contact Tom or myself for more information and to reserve your seat!
Want more information on our upcoming self-publishing workshop? Read Tom’s blog post!
You can also watch this video of one of our previous From Inspiration To Publication self-publishing workshops …
From time to time I’ve seen other authors online do book giveaways. These fine folks set up little competitions, and in the end someone wins something from their library of books — YAY! I became an author four years ago, so I figure it’s about time I give it a try …
What’s at stake? A copy of my debut recipe book — “Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies”! This book features over 50 proven recipes including cookies, biscotti, coffee, some breakfast items, and other comfort foods. It also has 3 of my original compositions for Highland bagpipes … somehow I suspect most people get use out of the recipes.
Allow me to clarify a few things up front …
To enter my book giveaway you must e-mail me your answer to the following challenge. I will put your e-mail address on my book-release notification mailing list. I dislike mailing lists — and I figure you do to — so I will only e-mail if …
You won — YAY!
To notify you of my book releases (obviously!), &/or …
If there is something I think you really need to know.
Later, if you want to get off my book-release notification list — no problem — just email me and ask! Oh, and I have to say, please give everyone else a fair chance — only e-mail me with one answer to the challenge, and only message me from one e-mail address. I will disqualify anyone I find sending in multiple answers … so … don’t do it … or at least don’t get caught … but come on, play fair and let’s keep it fun!
Also, I have no intention of starting a news letter. I will not be emailing people weekly or daily or monthly or yearly — those drive me bonkers! I’m busy enough publishing a free recipe of the month as it is.
My Upcoming Books
I am working to release 5 (yes, five) new books with the following release goals …
Thanksgiving / Xmas / New Years cookie recipe book — September 2022
2020 Recipe Of The Month Keepsake book — October 2022
2021 Recipe Of The Month Keepsake book — November 2022
Scot / Irish recipe book — February 2023
2022 Recipe Of The Month Keepsake book — March 2023
Find the error — or what you think is the error — and e-mail me with your answer. If you give me the right answer, your name / e-mail address will go into a ‘hat’ (figuratively speaking) with the other correct entries. At the end of April 2022 one of these entries will be drawn along with a few runners-up. I will e-mail and notify the winner — I will wait 7 days to hear back from this individual as to where to mail their book and if they want their copy signed (and so-on down the list of names drawn). I intend to further announce the name and city of the winner on social media after making contact by e-mail.
If this goes well … I just might do more giveaways in the future!
What if I just want to get on your new book notification list, Don?
Great — no problem! Just e-mail me with a note saying that you would like to be added to my new book notification list — and … Voilà!
What if I don’t win?
CONGRATULATIONS! You have the opportunity to grab a copy of my FREE SAMPLE e-book “Let’s Bake Cookie Squares and Biscotti!” — available through most major e-book retailers! Within this fabulous first free e-book edition are 2 recipes from Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies. You will also see a step-by-step photo section that guides you through a few processes that some folks might find a little more tricky. Check it out!
Watch here on WhidbeyIslandBaking.com for further updates on my upcoming books along with my Facebook and Twitter online locations.
In a mixing bowl, cream butter and then combine the two sugars. It may be necessary to stop mixing and scrape the bottom of the bowl so that butter and sugar are mixed uniformly.
Yeah, coffee lovers … you read that right — COFFEE JAM!
NOTE – It is important that to read and fully understand how to prepare this recipe before starting to cook the jam. Also, have all ingredients measured and within each reach, along with a timer, utensils, and containers ready.
