Long time, no blog! Well, I've been busy! I hope you enjoy the picture of me and Emma baking Christmas cookies! She enjoyed cutting the shapes, though some animals ended up headless!
Today we went Christmas shopping. It was a perfect day atmosphere-wise,for that sort of pursuit here in west Michigan. Overcast, cold, slight wind and snow flurries. Just sort of made you want to prepare for Christmas.
When we arrived home after a pretty successful day of shopping, I decided to make an old recipe. Years ago I stumbled onto a recipe in one of my cookbooks for "Apricot-Walnut Steamed Pudding." This is the kind of old-fashioned "pudding" that is actually more like a fruitcake. It's delicious and one of those recipes that can be altered quite a bit and still turn out well. I've never done it the same way twice, today included. Long ago I learned to substitute and economize out of necessity. Instead of orange juice, I used some very old frozen orange/pineapple concentrate. I mixed it up and used that for part of the glaze as well as one of the liquid ingredients. It calls for chopped apricots and I had just barely enough, so I added dried cranberries as well. Long ago I discovered by accident that doubling the melted butter in the recipe doesn't hurt it a bit! I had made that note in my cookbook and so I just do it now as a regular part of the recipe and then add more graham flour.
Instead of baking one big "cake" I made them in 6 little bundt molds,(more efficient for gift-giving!) Turned out great and baked much faster. I made up a glaze for the cake including more of the orange/pineapple juice, powdered sugar, and butter. It was kind of runny so I dipped the cakes in it and then added more powdered sugar and glazed them. Dipping them really moistened them up since I'd overbaked them just slightly. It just seems that no matter what I do to this poor recipe, it still turns out ok! They can be garnished with apricot, orange peel, or I suppose cranberry sauce. Just lovely, elegant little Christmas desserts. I suppose they would freeze well too. Never tried that!
We are still adding decorations around the house daily. We are a little disorganized this year and behind schedule. Tonight we brought out the big nativity set and Emma helped set it up in the parlor. We left the baby Jesus out of the manger and will let Emma place the figurine in the manger on Christmas. She is very excited about babies this year since her momma is about to have another little girl any day. We almost thought the baby was arriving last weekend, but alas, it was a false alarm! Emma is also very interested in animals and reads her animal books over and over and over! So the manger scene is very intriguing to her.
Thanks for praying for me. The speaking last weekend went very well. I was able to speak without notes--a goal I've been wanting to reach. I felt that the Lord helped me tremendously. This weekend the kids and our church drummer and probably me, will do our rendition of a Christmas song during the offering. I can't wait! We are practicing and excited to try this! Blessings, LORI
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