Apologies

I'm very sorry that I haven't posted in such a long time. I hope to pick up that again next week. I do not bake near as much as I did when I started this blog, but I still do some. =)

Also, I am getting ready to return to America next month. But we'll return in January/February. While we're in America, I'll try to share healthier recipes that you can do! =)

You probably have noticed my new design. =) Britt @ Daughter of the King did it.

I apologize for not posting in so long!

Abrielle Lindsay Seattle

Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin is my most beloved ingredient. I love making things with pumpkin and everyone loves eating them. My mom had this recipe, I had never made it before, and I asked if I could make it. She said I could. And I’ll tell you, it was good! I’ve made it a couple times, each time it was great. My mom got his from Urban Homemaker, but I couldn’t get a link to it so I dunno’ if they have it or not. And here is what I did.

        Pumpkin Bread

4½ cups white sugar

1½ cups oil

6 eggs

2 teaspoons ground nutmeg

2½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 Tablespoon salt

3 cups fresh pumpkin glop (puree)

1 cup water

1½ teaspoon baking soda

¾ teaspoon baking powder

4½ cups all-purpose flour

·         Combine sugar, oil, eggs, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, pumpkin, and water.

·         In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and baking powder.

·         Preheat oven to 163C (325F).

·         Stir the flour mixture in to the pumpkin mixture ‘til well combined. Pour batter into prepared loaf pans or **muffin** tins.

·         Bake for 50 to 60 mins. Test for doneness. Cool 5 mins in pan then let cool completely onwire racks.

*** For Muffins, decrease baking time for muffins.***

Apple Sweet Bread

I, surprisingly, made this up. I just threw this and that in a bowl (writing as I went). The entire time I had a sickening feeling in my stomach and some voice in my head saying, ‘What if it doesn’t turn out good? What if you just wasted time, food, and effort?’ But I kept making it. I am very, very, very, etc. happy to say that it turned out wonderful and everyone enjoyed it. (Thank Goodness!!!!) You need to do the steps when the recipe says to so the bread will puff up a little. It was my mom’s idea to put the apples and the sugar/ cinnamon mixture on top. Plus, she made up the name. And here it is.

        Sweet Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

½ plus 3 Tablespoons white sugar

½ cup sour cream

¾ cup apple juice

½ cup butter, melted

2 eggs

        Apple Topping

3 apples

sugar/cinnamon mixture

cinnamon

·         SUGAR/CINNAMON MIXTURE: Combine ½ cup white sugar and 3 teaspoons cinnamon mix well.

·         APPLE SWEET BREAD: Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

·         In a separate bowl, combine ½ cup apple juice, sour cream, and melted butter. Add eggs in one at a time, beating well after each addition. Then add ¼ cup apple juice (the rest of it), mix well.

·         Add to the dry ingredients. Stir and then spread into a greased 9x13.

·         APPLE TOPPING: Peel, wedge, and cut the apple, very, very small. Then throw (not literally, but you know what I mean) them on top of the bread-mix-stuff (I can’t think of the name of-this).

·         Sprinkle the sugar/cinnamon top. And lastly, sprinkle cinnamon on top.

·         Preheat the oven to 180C (350F).

·         Bake for 20 mins or ‘til a knife comes out clean (a few crumbs are ok) in the four corners and the center.

Banana Cake

Everyone loves this recipe. Indonesian or not. Our friends (Indonesian) tasted this and asked if I could make on for their family. I made a whole 9x13. The mother, Ibu Bedah, was the one that asked for the 9x13. When we brought it over to them, her husband, Pak Lely, and their son, Rizal, answered the door. It was funny because apparently they had no clue that Ibu Bedah had asked us to make it. They were so surprised to see plate after plate come. BTW, we eat this as a breakfast food. We got this from The Wycliffe International Cookbook. Here it is.

        Banana Cake

½ cup oil

2 cups white sugar

4 eggs

6 medium-large bananas (if using real small bananas use 7 or 8)

1 teaspoon vanilla

2½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

·         Combine and beat the oil, sugar, and eggs. Add and mix well bananas and vanilla.

·         In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.

·         Preheat the oven to 180C (350F).

·          Add alternately, with the milk, to the banana mixture, stirring well. Then beat. Pour in a greased 9x13.

·         Bake for 20-40 mins.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Cookies are easy, but hard. I love the making of them, but I certainly don’t like putting them on the pan and cooking them. I don’t really know when cookies are done and when they aren’t. And I love the smell of cookies throughout the entire making. And of course, eating them. I got this recipe of All Recipes http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chewy-chocolate-chip-oatmeal-cookies/, which I am on lots to get new recipes to try. And, YUM, these cookies are AWESOME! Here it is.

       Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup (1 block) butter, softened

1 cup red sugar (if you have brown sugar you can use that)

½ cup white sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 & ¼ cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

¾ teaspoon salt

3 cups quick-cooking oats

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

·         In a large bowl, cream together the butter, red (brown) sugar, and white sugar til’ smooth (you can do this part by hand, they still turn out great). Beat in eggs ONE at a time, then stir in vanilla.

·         Preheat the oven to 165C (325F).

·         In another bowl, combine flour, soda, and salt. Stir into the creamed mixture til’ just blended. Mix in oats and chocolate chips. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto UNgreased baking sheets.

·         Bake for 8-12 mins in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for5 mins before putting on a wire rack to cool completely (if you don’t have a wire rack you can just put the cookies on a plate).

Vanilla Ice Cream

I’m sorry people in America can’t make this. L I truly am sorry. But I don’t think there’s Dream Whip in America. But I totally wish you could make this because it is so good. Our friends that live in The Philippines gave us this recipe (I don’t know if you can make it there or not). Here it is.

        Vanilla Ice Cream

1 packet Dream Whip

1 cup water

1 cup white sugar

2 cups milk powder

3 cups cold water

·         Whip the D.W. with the water in a stand mixer for 5 mins.

·         Add sugar, milk powder, and cold water and mix.

·         Freeze for 5 hours. Take it out and stir some more. *Freeze some more.*

*** This is best when you freeze it over night. Take it out when you are ready for it.***

Cream Cheese Iced Biscuits

Once, a long time ago, I made some Sweet Cinnamon Biscuits. They lived for their name. They were too sweet. I never made them again. My younger brother was like, ‘Can you make those biscuits again?’ I said no. I had never had too much of one thing. That was the first time. But I discovered another recipe. The pix didn’t look black from the sugar or cinnamon. So I tried it. They turned out really well. I made some the next morning to use some more of the icing. (We didn’t use it all) Anywho, I got this from Sweet Pea’s Kitchen, http://sweetpeaskitchen.com/2011/02/cinnamon-biscuits/ . And here is what I did.

        Cinnamon Biscuits

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup white sugar

1 Tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/3 cup butter, softened

¾ cup milk

        Cream Cheese Icing

1 3oz packet of cream cheese, softened

¼ cup butter, softened

1½ cups powdered sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon milk

·          BISCUITS: Line two medium pans with parchment paper or wax paper.

·         In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the flour, sugar, baking, powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon ‘til well combined. Add the butter. Turn the butter over ether using your hands or with a fork ‘til all sides are coated well with the flour mixture. Turn the mixer on ‘stir’. Do this ‘til the butter is no larger than a pea and resembles coarse cornmeal. Add milk, stirring ‘til becomes a sticky dough (do this by hand).

·         Turn the dough onto a floured surface; knead for 5 mins, adding more flour as you go to make it less sticky.

·         *With your floured hands, press the dough into a rectangle ½ inch thick. Fold the dough as if you’re folding a letter to put it in an envelope.* *Do this step two more times, beginning with flattening it out into a rectangle ½ inch thick.*

·         Preheat oven to 218C (425F).

·         Once you’re done, press the dough ½ inch thick on a floured surface. Cut into rounds (or hearts, haha) and place on the pans.

·         Bake 13 to 15 mins or ‘til biscuits are golden brown.

·         While the biscuits are baking, CREAM CHEESE ICING: Stir all the ingredients together. Just spread on baked biscuits.

Breakfast Time

3 recipes 1 post! You don’t have to eat these together, I mean barf. But you could eat the biscuits with the sausage or the biscuits with the chocolate gravy. Let’s not even mention the sausage and chocolate gravy tog… That wouldn’t be too good. It beats me where the sausage recipe came from, but the chocolate gravy came from Buns in my Oven, http://www.bunsinmyoven.com/2010/11/11/biscuits-and-chocolate-gravy/, and the biscuits came from a co-op my used to go to when we were in the Carolinas. Anyway here they are.

        Biscuits

4 cups all-purpose flour

2½ Tablespoons baking powder

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup (1 block) butter, softened

11/3 cups milk

        Homemade Sausage

3 pounds ground beef (about 1½ kilos)

1 onion, chopped finely

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (or ¼ teaspoon Indonesian chili powder)

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon coriander

1 teaspoon ground pepper

1 teaspoon sage

1 teaspoon oregano

2 teaspoons salt

½ Tablespoon basil

2 eggs

        Chocolate Gravy

½ cup butter

5 Tablespoons cocoa powder

¼ cup all-purpose flour

¾ cup white sugar

2 cups milk

1/8 teaspoon vanilla

tiny pinch of salt (very small)

·         BISCUITS: Combine flour, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt. Cut in the soft butter with a knife ‘til it becomes crumbly (the mixture). The little balls should be no bigger than a small pea. Stir in the milk. And stir ‘til it becomes a dough.

·         Preheat the oven to 232C (450F).

·          Then put on a floured counter or whatever and knead about 5 minutes. Then flatten with your hands ‘til it’s about ½ in thick, and cut with cookie cutters. Bake for 12-15 mins.

·         HOMEMADE SAUSAGE: Mix together (I’m not going to name them all) all the ingredients. Shape into a log and wrap in foil. Let it chill for about an hour. Then cut into patties and fry in coconut oil.

·         CHOCOLATE GRAVY: Melt the butter in a sauce pan. Stir in the cocoa powder and flour ‘til combined well and bubbly from heat. Stir in the sugar until the mixture is nice and thick. Then slowly add the milk whisking constantly. Continue to cook over heat, stirring constantly, ‘til the mixture has thickened into a nice gravy like consistency. About 5 mins.

·         Stir in the salt and vanilla and remove from the heat.

Surprise Cake

Saturday I’ll be 12! And I’m making my cake. This is a great cake, it tastes excellent, and you get a great laugh. You ask your friends or family ‘Do you know what the secret ingredient is?’ They’ll never guess. And then you tell them and the look on their face is funny, especially if the ingredient is Indonesian chili powder. I made this last year for my birthday. ***I doubled this and put half of it in a 9x13 and the other half in two round 9in pans.*** We got this from, http://allrecipes.com/recipe/surprise-cake/. And here is what I did.

       Surprise Cake (this is not doubled for the waterfall cake)

2 cups white sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup (1 block) unsalted butter

1 cup water

3 Tablespoons cocoa powder

½ cup sour cream

2 eggs

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon Indonesian (or whatever chili powder) chili powder

·         Grease and flour a 9x13 or two round 9in pans.

·         In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, and salt. Set aside.

·         In a small sauce pan, bring butter, water, and cocoa to a boil. Remove from heat. Add to the flour mixture and beat ’til smooth.

·         Preheat oven to 180C (350F).

·         In a separate bowl, mix sour cream, eggs, baking soda, and chili powder. Add to the cake batter. Blend well. Pour the batter into the 9x13 or etc.

·         Bake for 20-30 mins or ‘til a toothpick inserted comes out clean. ***

***Tip. For this to be really good, bake the day before you are going to serve. Stick it in the fridge overnight (it’s already been cooked). The next day ice it.****

If you want to make the waterfall cake, click here and follow the instructions, http://www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com/cake_designs.html#c3. Or if you want to do it Indonesian style, make some icing, color it and just spread it around to make it look realistic. Follow the steps to building the cake at the website above, but to get it to stand all night stick sate’ sticks in the back of the cake.

New Design!

Hi!!! i did a new design, i guess u can tell. :P anyway, do u like it???? the background is a bunch of coffee beans. i plan on changing the template so u can see them better. ;] tell me what u think!


abrielle lindsay

dont pay ANY attention to this post!!! thx!

Chili

We love chili, but we never eat it on chili nights. I mean, we couldn’t if we wanted to!! Ha-ha! We don’t have this often but every once in awhile it pops up on the table. Of course, chili can never be chili without cheese. At least to me it can’t. My mom got this from kraftrecipes a long time ago (I don’t remember how long) I’ve helped make this before but never on my own, http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/double-cheese-chili. Here is what we did.

        Chili

½ kilo (1 pound) ground beef

1 small onion, chopped

2 15oz cans kidney beans, rinsed

2 14½oz cans diced tomatoes, undrained   

1 14oz can tomato sauce

½ Tablespoon chili powder

1½ cups cheddar cheese

·         Brown the ground beef in a skillet (duhh) on medium heat; drain. Add onions; cook and stir 5 mins.

·         Add the kidney beans, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and chili powder; mix well. Cover and simmer 30 mins., stirring occasionally.

·         Sprinkle cheese on top of the chili when it’s in your bowl.

Apple Syrup

Wahoo! First topping!! (Maybe the best one!!!) Always great if you’re out of syrup or don’t want that non-real stuff. This is so yummy I would eat it all if I could. Apple juice is so great by its self or in toppings. Please try it. You’ll love it! We got this from Lynn’s Kitchen Adventure’s e-book, Quick and Easy Breakfast Ebook: http://www.lynnskitchenadventures.com/ebooks/quick-and-easy-breakfasts. Here it is.

        Apple Syrup

½ cup white sugar

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup apple juice

2 Tablespoons butter

·         Combine sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon in a medium-small sauce pan.

·         Slowly whisk in the apple juice.

·         Cook over medium high heat, whisking constantly ‘til thickened and smooth, about 5 mins.

·         Remove from heat and stir in the butter.

Strudel Dough AND Filling

I only remember having a strudel at McDonalds, once. Plus I was real little, like, I can barely remember this. So I kept hearing things about strudels. Strudel this, strudel that, etc. I finely got myself on the computer and found this. BUT, it didn’t come with a strudel filling recipe. So I went to Cooks.com, cuz (yes I’m using poor spelling) I had enough of allrecipes for right then. And I found an apple filling. I didn’t use apples. I used labu siam (chayote) which can be a substitute for apple whenever. Great, right? I got the strudel recipe from here, http://allrecipes.com/recipe/strudel-dough/. Apparently I can’t find the filling recipe on Cooks.com. But here it is anyway.

        Strudel Dough

2½ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon white sugar

3 eggs

3 tablespoons oil

¼ cup water (maybe less)

        AND Filling

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

½ cup and 3 Tablespoons white sugar

3 cups uncooked labu siam (chayote)

·         STRUDEL DOUGH: In a large bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix sugar, eggs, and 2 Tablespoons oil in a small bowl.

·         Mix in about half the water. Knead into a soft dough using more of the water if needed.

·         Cover the dough while you make the filling.

·         Roll the dough out into a rectangle, the long way away from you,

·         FILLING: Put the labu siam, sugar, and cinnamon in a pot. Put on the heat and stir til’ bubbling. Cool for a couple minutes before spreading on the rolled out dough.

·         Preheat oven to 225C (400F).

·         ***Spread the filling while making a straight line, leaving equal amount of room on either side. Now with a knife, cut lots of strips on one side. Repeat this on the other side. Now on the right side, take on strip a fold it over to the left side. Do the same with the left side. Repeat all the way up.***

·         Bake for 30 mins.

***** Tip. Do this on the pan you plan to cook it on so you don’t have to move it to the pan and watch it break in half. J   

Pizza

Pizza, pizza, pizza, when are you going to make pizza?’ my dad asks. ‘I don’t know.’ I answer. My whole family loves pizza. I do, of course. Which we are so lucky that there just happens to be a pizza restaurant on our island. But we all still love homemade. And it’s pretty “simple” minus the whole afternoon. So I’ll just go ahead and tell you, this is not Really Simple Pizza Dough. I read the recipe for the first time about 1 year ago. ‘I’ll make it’ I told my mom. It sounded real simple. Forget the ‘real simple’ it took all afternoon! And it’s kinda’ salty.  I have no idea where this came from, but here is what we do.

        “Really Simple” Pizza Dough

6 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tablespoon salt (this is a little less than the real recipe says)

1 pouch (1 Tablespoon) dry yeast

2 cups water biasa (room temp.)

4 Tablespoons oil

        Ibu Yenni’s Pizza Sauce

1 8oz can of tomato sauce

1 6oz can of tomato paste

1/3 cup oil

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon sugar

2 teaspoons garlic powder

2 Tablespoons oregano

3 Tablespoons basil

6oz of water

        Toppings

2½ cups mozzarella cheese

pepperoni, optional

green peppers, optional

anything you want on your pizza

·         “REALLY SIMPLE” PIZZA DOUGH: Combine flour, salt, and yeast, in a large bowl. Add the water and oil. Stir til’ a dough forms. Dump everything that is in the bowl onto the counter on a floured surface and knead everything for 8 mins.

·         Lightly oil the bowl that you mixed the dough in. Dump the dough in. Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit for 2 hours, undisturbed.

·         Re-flour the counter, dump the dough back on the counter, and gently press the air out of the dough. And let it sit in the same bowl under the plastic wrap for another 20 mins.

·         Preheat your oven to its top temp. Roll out the pizza dough,

·         PIZZA SAUCE: Mix tomato sauce, paste and oil together. Put on high heat; add salt, sugar, garlic powder, oregano, basil, and water. Mix well. Bring to a boil and boil 30 secs. Let cool a couple minutes before putting on the pizza.

·         BACK TO THE PIZZA MAKING: Put the dough on a greased pan. Spread as much pizza sauce as you want. Put the toppings you want on and then the cheese.

·         Bake for about 10 mins.

Banana Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin, banana, pumpkin, banana. Which should I do? How about both? I have never even heard of pumpkin banana bread. I don’t see how that is possible since I am baking banana things and pumpkin things all the time. I was looking for some pumpkin recipe I think (maybe banana) and saw banana pumpkin bread. I was shocked there was such a thing. I looked at it and we had all the ingredients so I said, ‘I’ll try it’. Sure enough, I was at my little counter the next morning making some bread. And what’s better is the taste is AMAZING!!! (BTW, I doubled this) I want it all the time. I got this from AllRecipes, . Here it is.

       Banana Pumpkin Bread

5 bananas, mashed

4 eggs

2/3 cup oil

22/3 cups fresh pumpkin mush (puree)

1 cup honey

1 cup white sugar

5 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon and 1 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

·         In a large bowl, combine the mashed bananas, eggs, oil, pumpkin, honey, and sugar.

·         Preheat oven to 163C (325F). Grease 2 loaf pans.

·         Combine the flour, baking powder, soda, salt, Pumpkin Pie Spice, and cinnamon, stir into the banana/pumpkin mixture til’ just combined. Pour in the prepared pans.

·         Bake for 90 mins. Cool loafs in the pans for 10 mins.

Taco Pasta

I helped my make this one evening when we were having a couple over. We had never made it before. NEVER. But it turned out great (thankfully). They loved it and so did we. It’s Mexican so of course we loved it! I wish we would make it again, BUT we went on this thing where we stopped eating beef for awhile. We finally started again! (YES!!!) We got this from http://www.lynnskitchenadventures.com/2011/02/gluten-free-taco-pasta.html. And here is what we did.

        Taco Pasta

½ kilo (1 pound) ground beef

1 package taco seasoning

2 cans tomato paste with enough water to make 15oz

1 package of cooked and drained macaroni noodles

1½ cups shredded cheddar cheese

·         In a skillet, brown the ground beef. Drain and add taco seasoning and tomato paste/water mixture.

·         Preheat oven to 190C (350F).

·         Stir in cooked macaroni. Place in a greased 9x13. Top with cheese.

·         Bake for 30 mins or til’ heated thoroughly.

'Snicker'doodle Muffins

Go ahead and say it, ‘they’re ugly’. BUT who cares? As long as they taste good right? I WAS going to make something else one Saturday, but we had just gotten back from Bandung. I asked if I could make something for breakfast. My mom said sure. I looked up breakfast items on allrecipes, my own blog, and another blog. And I found some cinnamon roll muffins. Sounded pretty simple. I got up the next morning and discovered there was no powdered sugar. I got on the same blog and found this recipe and, GOSH was it GOOD!! I want one right now. Everyone loved them, but, as I have said before, they have lots of sugar SO who wouldn’t like them? I don’t know. I got them from here, http://sweetpeaskitchen.com/2012/02/snickerdoodle-muffins/. And here is what I did.

        Muffins

2¼ cups all-purpose flour

3¾ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup (1 block) butter, softened (I used salted)

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup sour cream

¼ cup buttermilk

       Topping

¾ cup white sugar

2½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

·         Preheat the oven to 190C (350F). Line muffin cups with muffin liners. (Do not use cooking spray.)

·         In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cream of tartar, nutmeg, and salt; set aside.

·         In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract. Beat in half of the dry ingredients. Beat in the sour cream and buttermilk. Beat in remaining dry ingredients until just incorporated (batter will be soft).

·         To make the topping, in a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon.

·         Using a muffin scooper or ice cream scooper, drop the scoop of batter into the bowl with the sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle the dough with the mixture and roll it around until it is covered completely in cinnamon sugar. Place the ball into the muffin liner. Repeat with remaining batter. Sprinkle the leftover cinnamon sugar onto the tops the muffins.

·         Bake until muffin tops are golden brown, 18 to 22 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Set on wire rack to cool slightly, about 5 minutes. 

Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling

These are very good, BUT…. You know? There’s always that big ‘BUT” after you say, ‘Yum’ these are good’. This big ‘BUT’ is you can’t taste the cream cheese filling very well. I ate these and said, ‘YUM, these are so GOOD!’. BUT my mom said, ‘They don’t taste very much like cream cheese.’ I realize I went through all that work making the cream cheese filling and then half to put it in the muffins and you can’t even taste it!! Anywho, I got this from Buns In My Oven (or my mom got them and told me to make them), http://www.bunsinmyoven.com/2012/09/23/pumpkin-muffins-with-cream-cheese-filling/.    And here is what I did.

      Pumpkin Muffins

¼ cup butter, softened

½ cup sugar

¼ cup red sugar

2/3 cup fresh pumpkin, glop (puree)

½ cup milk

2 eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ginger

1/8 teaspoon cloves

¼ teaspoon salt

        Cream Cheese Filling

4oz cream cheese, softened

2 Tablespoons white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

·         Pre-heat oven to 190C (350F).

·         Cream together butter and sugars until creamy.

·         Beat in pumpkin, buttermilk, and eggs.

·         Combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl and mix into the batter. Stir just until combined. Set aside.

·         Combine the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla and mix until smooth and creamy.

·         Grease or line a muffin tin with papers and drop one to two tablespoons of the batter into each muffin cup.

·         Drop one teaspoon of the filling in each muffin cup.

·         Add one more tablespoon of batter to each muffin cup to cover the filling.

·         Bake for 24-27 minutes or until baked through. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.

Cake and Icing

CAKE, yummm! I’ve never known anyone who does NOT like cake. Of course if I ever do meet anybody that does not like cake, I just might faint. I think this recipe came from a friend that’s in Bandung. And the icing came from off the internet (DUHH). We used it to do our Jesus Birthday cake when our package didn’t get here in time. This tasted pretty good, but nowhere as good as a box cake does! Anywho, here it is.

        Master Cake Mix

4½ cups flour

1/8 cup baking powder

¾ teaspoon salt

11/8 cups *Lard thing* (come on you people in Indonesia, you know what I’m talking about) or Blue Band

        White Cake

2 cups Master Cake Mix

¼ cup white sugar

½ cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 egg whites that have been beaten 2-4 mins.

        Chocolate Cake

2 cups Master Cake Mix

1 cup sugar

5 Tablespoons cocoa powder

3 Tablespoon oil

2/3 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg, beaten

        Butter Cream Icing

½ cup *Lard thing*

½ cup (half block) butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 cups powdered sugar, sifted

2 Tablespoons milk

·         MASTER CAKE MIX: Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in Lard thing.

·         WHITE CAKE: Mix together Master Cake Mix and sugar.

·         Preheat oven to 175C (350F).

·         Add milk, vanilla, and egg whites and beat til’ well mixed.

·         Grease and flour 2 round 9in pans. Pour the batter in the pans.

·         Bake for 30 mins.

·         CHOCOLATE CAKE: Mix together the Master Cake Mix and sugar.

·         Keep the oven on at the same temp.

·         Add cocoa, oil, water, vanilla, and egg. Beat til’ well mixed.

·         Grease and flour 2 MORE round 9in pans.

·         Bake in the preheated oven for 30 mins.

·         ICING: Cream together Lard thing and butter in a mixer. Add vanilla.

·         Gradually add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed.

·         Scrape the sides of the bowl of and on (I bet you would do that even if I hadn’t put it on).

·         When all the sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at same speed til’ light and fluffy.

**Lard thing comes in plastic and you can find it almost anywhere.