Coffee Macarons with Chocolate Filling

I tried this batch of Coffee Macarons with Chocolate Filling yesterday. This time, I did not use a mixer but instead, I used the egg whisk and I also added some water to the coffee granules. The macarons turned out slightly chewier' than the Chocolate ones I made the day before. My daughter likes it and my husband says it tastes more like macarons now :)


Since we live in Singapore and we can find tropical fruits - how about Macarons with:
* Durian Filling
* Jackfruit Filling
* Mangosteen Filling
* Kaya Filling
* Savory Fillings like curry or ham and cheese ? ;)

Well, just let your imagination run wild and experiment - you might end up with a winner :)

Chocolate Macarons

This is my first try at baking French Macarons. I found this recipe on the website. Even though they are not petite-looking like those colourful ones you see in the shops, I am quite happy with the overall taste and outcome. In fact, they are quite delicious :)

Here's the recipe if you are game to try:

1 cup (100gm) icing sugar
1/2 cup powdered almond
3 tbsp (25gm) cocoa powder

2 egg whites
5 tbsp (65gm) sugar

Preheat oven at 175 degrees C. Line baking tray with parchment paper.
Whisk the egg whites for a while. Add in the sugar and whisk till stiff.
Shift all the dry ingredients. Fold the dry ingredients into egg whites.
Pipe out the combined mixture onto the baking tray and bake for about 15-18 minutes,
Remove them from the oven to cool.

Chocolate Filling:
1/2 cup (125ml) heavy cream
2 tsp light corn syrup
120gm chocolate finely chopped
1 tbsp (15gm) butter

Slightly boil cream with corn syrup. Add chocolate and let it sit.
Stir till smooth and add in butter. Mix well.
Sandwich the chocolate filling between 2 pieces of macarons.
Chill and enjoy :)

Banana Walnut Cake

I love this Banana Walnut Cake - it's simple and really delicious :)

Here's the recipe:
1 cup of mashed bananas
6 oz of butter
6 oz of sugar
8 oz of flour sifted with 1 teaspoon of baking powder
and 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate soda
2 eggs
1 dessertspoon of lemon or lime juice with 2 tablespoons of milk
1 cup of walnuts

1) Preheat oven to 175 degrees C. Grease and line your cake tin.
2) Cream butter with sugar and add egg one at a time.
3) Add milk mixture and bananas into the butter mixture.
4) Fold in the sifted flour and add in half the portion of walnuts.
5) Spread the rest of the walnuts onto of the cake batter and bake
for about 1 hour.

Enjoy :)

American Carrot Cake

A friend ordered this cake for her colleague's birthday. It took me close to 4 hours to bake and decorate this double-layer 10" American Carrot Cake. I use California walnuts and Philadelphia cream cheese on top of other quality ingredients. It was really heavy, rich in ingredients - full of walnuts, pineapple, raisins, etc.



I took a picture of the carrot cake without the cream cheese frosting to show you the amount of ingredients you get in one piece of muffin-sized carrot cake. Baked a dozen of this on Saturday morning for the praiseband this weekend :)

New and Old Covenant

At our Bible Study yesterday, we reviewed the differences in the old and new covenants we have with God. As we take a look at the comparison by colour below based on Heb 10:1-18, Jer 31:31-34 and II Cor 3:2-9, it gives us a better picture of the liberty we have in Christ Jesus:

Old Covenant
* The Law was only a shadow of good things to come.
* Sacrifices offered year by year.
Blood of animals impossible to take away sins.
* The Law given by God to Moses, engraved on tablets of stones (external)
* Heart of stone
* Our adequacy is in ourselves.
* Letter written in ink kills
* Glory seen on Moses that faded away
* Ministry of death (for those who cannot fulfil the Law)
* Ministry of condemnation

New Covenant
* Jesus Christ came into the world. Cross/ Grace
* Jesus Christ sacrificed Himself ONCE for all times
* Law put on the hearts of men (internal) by the Holy Spirit of God Who bears witness to us.
* Heart of flesh
* Our adequacy is in God
* Spirit of the Living God gives life
* Glory in Jesus that remains
* Ministry of life in Christ Jesus
* Ministry of righteousness in Christ Jesus

In Jer 31: 33b,-34 God wants to be our God and to make us His people. From the least to the greatest we will know God and He will forgive our iniquity, our sins He will remember no more! To have an everlasting covenant with God! And He will give us the Holy Spirit as our resident Teacher to help and guide us so that working out the Sermon on the Mount which Jesus taught in Matthew 5 in our daily living is no longer impossible!

Thank you God, for Your unconditional love and amazing grace through Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.



"In Christ alone, will I glory,
Though I could pride myself in battles won.
For I've been blessed beyond measure
And by His strength alone I overcome.
O, I could stop and count successes like diamonds in my hands.
But those trophies could not equal to the grace by which I stand.

Chorus:

In Christ alone, I place my trust
And find my glory in the power of the Cross
In every victory, let it be said of me
My source of strength,
My source of hope
Is Christ alone.

V2
In Christ alone do I glory
For only by His grace I am redeemed
For only His tender mercy
Could reach beyond my weakness to my need
And now I seek no greater honor in just to know Him more
And to count my gains but losses to the glory of my Lord."

I love chocolate, don't you?

My son and I made these Double Chocolate Cookies last Friday. I wanted to give them to a church friend who was going back to the missions field and he wanted to give his secondary one CG boys a treat. So we let our powers combine and the cookies turned out quite well :)



As you can see, these are handmade roti. The ones in the green box have chocolate filling and the ones in the translucent box have chocolate coating. They actually taste the same lah ;) I enjoy trying out different ways of making them.

Kingdom of Heaven

Today at BS we started a new book "Lord, I'm torn between 2 Masters". Sister Mimi took us through the week's lesson by drawing the below picture of the Kingdom of Heaven for us to better visualize for the things that has been fulfiled and what is to come.

I know and often say GOD loves me. Today in class, after looking at the list of events on the picture, I could not hold back my tears of gratefulness for GOD's GREAT and AMAZING LOVE. I was in awe of His Holiness, His Sovereignty, His Patience and His Mercy.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.... then He created man in His image. Because of our SINS He had to send His Son, the LORD JESUS CHRIST, to earth to be crucified for our sins. But due to our stubbornness and hardened hearts, many are not able to see the LIGHT. GOD took all the trouble and steps to bring man to Himself again - through the Tribulation, the Second Coming of JESUS CHRIST, the 1000 years of CHRIST's reign on earth, His Judgment Seat, The Great White Throne Judgment to give mankind the 2nd, 3rd and many, many chances to REPENT and accept HIS LOVE for us so that GOD can dwell amongst man in the New Heaven and New Earth.

Wow, from the beginning to the end it's all about HIS LOVE for us, HIS DESIRE for us to know Him, to have a FATHER-son/daughter relationship with us and to DWELL with us in the New Jerusalem.

Thou art worthy,

Thou art worthy,

Thou art worthy, O Lord

To receive glory,

Glory and honour,

Glory and honour and pow'r

For Thou hast created,

Hast all things created;

Thou has created all things.

And for Thy pleasure they are created;

For Thou art worthy, O Lord.