Kingdom Baking!

I enjoy baking. Not that I am an incredible success at it. I have shed many a tear in the kitchen from my flops! Yet I am a sucker for punishment and I carry on baking up a storm.

Unlike Jesus, baking is not very forgiving! If you do not follow the recipe as it is laid out, you will end up with a flop. And extra salt from the tears. Jesus has His own recipe for giving, and He uses as much flour as He can squeeze into that cup.

“Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” Luke 6:38

This is how baking reminds me of Luke 6:38

These are the rules to measuring flour (men bear with me):

1. You have to scoop the flour into the measuring cup until it overflows. You then have to use the back side of a knife to level off the flour.
   BUT when we give, our rewards are not leveled off. What we receive will be good measure and running over! And I’m not talking about monetary rewards – but joy and blessedness in Christ!
2. Do not tap or shake the measuring cup, as this causes the flour to settle in the cup and become more dense. 
   BUT Jesus says our reward will be so good that it will be ‘shaken together’ – He wants to fit so much in that a little shaking is necessary to make some space… for more!
3. Do not press the flour down to add in more – extra flour will make your baked products heavy and tough. 
   BUT Jesus says what we are about to receive will be pressed down – pressing flour down in a cup compacts it and you make way for more!
   

That’s my little experiment in my kitchen:

Jesus wants us to cheerfully open our hearts to give to others. As we give, God is so gracious and He rewards us far better than we could ever reward ourselves! Serving others means we are serving Jesus and we are left with an abundance of deliciously rich, chocolately, sprinkle-covered kingdom cake!

The evil tempter caramel muffin

Fasting is difficult, but I love it. It is such a blessing, to open your spirit to the wonders of God. Satan knows how beneficial it is that he will do anything to interrupt it. This day was no exception! I will never forget the cunning way he literally devised this.

It was during my annual fast and while at work I was craving a caramel muffin. Now I never eat caramel muffins. I adore caramel, but not as a muffin. I run for the lemon poppy seed or the beloved chocolate. Never ever caramel. But the craving was insatiable. My mouth was watering thinking about it, to the point of frustration. I could taste it. I tried praying it away but it just never went. I can’t tell you how crazy I was for a caramel muffin!
Eventually I just tried ignoring it.

I also started wondering where my Manager was, she was almost an hour late. She never called in like she usually would if she was running late.
Much later, in she storms, carrying a brown paper bag. She exclaimed excitedly, “Wow! Traffic is bad this morning! On the way to work, I don’t know why, but I wanted to get some muffins. The traffic jam to get into the place was impossible! I had to wait 20 minutes just to get a parking. But I really wanted to get us some muffins! Here – I got you a caramel one.”

Errrm…I kid you not. How sneaky was Satan’s plan? She was over an hour late for work trying with all her might to get, not just  a muffin, but a caramel one! I did not want to tell her I was fasting, so I thanked her for the muffin and kept it for my daughter when I got home. I was so shocked but I saw it immediately for what it was. I was being tempted to have my blessing taken away for a muffin. Red lentil stew anyone?

She would also never eat lunch at work, she was just one of those people. I also badly craved pizza that week and she came and sat at my desk with a pizza to ‘chat’. Eating in front of me! In the four years I worked there that never ever happened again!

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 1 Peter 5:8

In what ways have you been tempted during fasting, Reader?

Dedicating bits of myself to God – a Lamb cake

With Easter upon us, I was reminded of the cake I made going through old photos of my church’s 1st birthday in 2011. It was a lovely celebration and I was so happy to have found a church I was in love with. One of our elders received a vision of our church of a beautiful waterfall flowing with jewels. I do feel my church is very special. We did not have to bring anything but I asked my Pastor if I could bake a cake . I wanted to honour the Lord for a wonderful church, and also for bringing me to it.

I had decided on a little Lamb made of carrot cake and cream cheese frosting, with white chocolate curls to make up his fur. “Worthy is the Lamb” was decorated in fondant below him.
I’m no baking pro, but it was one of those little things I wanted to do for the Lord 🙂

What sort of little things do you like to do for the Lord, dear Readers?

Spread the Love:

Teachers have an exceptional responsibility towards their students and Jesus warned that they will be judged with a greater strictness than others (James 3:1-2). Jordan attends a strictly Christian crèche where the Word of God thrives.
I decided to honour her teacher this Valentines, as she serves her students and leads by example. She handles the truth correctly and instructs her kiddies respectfully.
Teacher Zee got treated to a mini marshmallow bouquet today – all individually dipped by Jordan herself!

Thank you Christian teachers, for all you do to make God’s Word alive in our children!

 “Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven” Matthew 5:19

“As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” 1 Peter 4:10

“ in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility” Titus 2:7

Hamantaschen cookies (International Holocaust Remembrance Day: 27.1.2013)

In further honour of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Sunday, I decided a sweet treat would be a perfect inclusion! When are they never a perfect inclusion?

These little Jewish Hamantaschen cookies appear to be simple but they are incredibly delicious! Hamantaschen cookies are shaped into a triangle – and it represents the hat of Haman. Remember him? The anti-Semitic Hitler of ancient Persia whose main aim was to wipe out all the Jewish people in the land? Thanks to the obedience of fasting and prayer of Queen Esther, his plan backfired and he was hung from the gallows. Tsk tsk.

I got the recipe from my friend and substituted all -purpose flour with whole-wheat flour. The whole-wheat gives it that extra crunch!

To make these yummies you need:

• 2 1/2 – 3 cups whole-wheat flour
• 2/3 cup butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• dash of salt
• Filling of your choice – usually preserves such as jams, apricot jam, plum jam, prune jam or even Nutella! I used apricot jam and sesame seeds

1. Cream the butter with sugar. Add egg and continue creaming until smooth.
2. Add the vanilla. Stir in the sifted flour, baking powder, and salt until a ball of dough is formed.
3. Chill for 2-3 hours (overnight is ok too)
4. Preheat oven to 375F/190C degrees.
5. Taking 1/4 of the dough, roll out on a lightly floured board to a thickness of 1/8 inch. Cut circles of dough with a round cookie-cutter. Fill with 1 teaspoon of your choice filling and fold into three-cornered cookies.
   It takes some practice and still mine weren’t that great after they finished baking. Press two sides together at the top, and then fold the bottom side up and press the ends together.)      
6. Bake on a well-greased cookie sheet 10-16 minutes, until the tops are golden.

Some tips I can give you:
– Don’t use a filling that is too runny, try use a thick consistency filling or it will run out during baking
– Don’t use more than a teaspoon of filling, for the same reason as above
– Try shape your triangles better than mine! As you can see, my triangle shaping needs some, well a lot of work, haha! But no matter the shape they are yummy supreme!

These make 24 cookies and will be gobbled up in one day. I actually made some thumbprint cookies with the left over dough!

International Holocaust Remembrance Day: 27.1.2013

It is International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Sunday the 27^th January!  The most vicious injustice to humankind ever. It never seizes to shock me what one person managed to do to an entire INNOCENT nation! I am not Jewish, I’m Christian, but the God I serve made a promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob- a friend of God’s is a friend of mine!

So I decided, in honour of Jewish people all over the world on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, to make some matzah!
I was so skeptical to try this because I was convinced it would flop – I flop things a lot in my kitchen. I replaced all-purpose flour with chick pea flour for a wheat free and gluten free option and I think that was the best decision I made! It is so tasty, the batch I made was supposed to be for snacks for the week but my family gobbled them up as soon as they were out the oven. I’m not kidding – this matzah is better than store bought types! I’m so used to lathering on a layer of butter on matzah but with this one, there honestly is no need!
The awesome thing about chick pea flour is that it doesn’t have the gluten that help breads rise high – which is perfect for matzah!

I always like to keep matzah around the house for communion! Blessed be to Jesus for the special gift of taking communion! And blessed be all Jewish people!

You need:

• 1 cup chick pea flour
• A little less than 1/3 cup of water
• ½ tsp salt (optional)
• 1 tsp olive oil (optional)
• 1 tsp chick pea flour for dusting

Method:

1. Place an oven rack near the top of oven and preheat oven to 475 degrees F /245 degrees C  and preheat a baking sheet.
2. Dust a clean work surface and a rolling pin with 1 teaspoon flour, or as needed. Place 1 cup of chick pea flour into a mixing bowl; pour the water, 1 tablespoon at a time, into the flour. Stir the water and flour together with a fork until the dough forms a rough ball, remove the dough to the prepared work surface, knead quickly and firmly until smooth, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. I found it quite sticky so add more flour as you need.
3. Divide the dough into eight equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Roll each piece of dough out into a 5-inch pancake, dusting the pancake and rolling pin with flour as needed. Gradually roll the pancakes out to a size of about 8 inches. Let the dough rest for a few seconds before rolling again to the finished size. Be sure to roll from the centre out. They should be very thin. Using a fork, quickly pierce each matzah numerous times, all over and the fork should go completely through the bread. Flip the bread over, and pierce each piece again with the fork.
4. Remove the hot baking sheet from the preheated oven, and place the matzot onto the baking sheet. Place the baking sheet onto the rack near the top of the oven, and bake for 2 minutes; turn the breads over and bake an additional 2 minutes, until the matzot are lightly browned and crisp.
5. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Brush a quarter tsp of olive oil onto each matzah and sprinkle with a little salt if you wish.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!