To save time I cut up the croissants the night before keeping them covered until the next morning! Also mixed up the milk mixture and stored it, covered, in fridge! Then just mixed together and baked in the morning. This is so moist and delicious!
You are probably wondering what a Fruitcake Friendship might be! Last night before I fell asleep I kept thinking how fortunate people are who have those friendships that, like the “fruitcake that goes back and forth between families every year” seem to keep on keeping on!
This past week I received an envelope that had 3 cards enclosed! The first card was sent several years ago from a dear friend who has been nothing but a blessing to me through the years! She has loved me, encouraged me, accepted me even though she knew “the real me” and has been the one who has continually told me to “put your big girl panties on and deal with it”, when necessary! Isn’t it so weird how we can hear peoples voices when we hear certain phrases spoken? Years ago when we had moved to California and we were trying to find a Sunday school class at the church we were visiting, I got discouraged after trying several classes only to find myself running to the bathroom one Sunday with tears in my eyes thinking that we would never find a good one. As I dried my face off I kept hearing her voice telling me just that …”put your big girl panties on and get back in there”. Well guess what.. I did and that was the class that became our greatest gift to us both while living there! That class gave us friends that are still like family to us and continue to bless our lives even now, no matter the distance between us! And another voice I always hear is Debbie Stuart’s voice when I hear “for I am Your handmaiden, let it be as You desire.” Or Dr Criswell voice when “the grass withers, the flowers fade but the Word of God will never pass away!” ,
Ok back to my story. When I had first received that first card a few years back, there was a sweet note she had written to me that was needed at the time as a source of encouragement! It was then that I decided to just add a note to her and mail the same card back telling her how much her words meant to me! Well that began a Fruitcake Friendship! Both of us seemed to know just when the card needed to appear in the others mailbox and on it went. When we would run out of room on a card, a new one would be added and included along with the original card! This past week the envelope appeared and I was just so blessed to read precious words from her that put a smile in my heart! I began to think about this and what it has meant to both of us through the years of knowing that some days we all need just a little lift in our spirits! Yes, texts are nice and so are phone calls, but going to the mailbox and opening up an envelope and reading words that somehow tend to be just what we are needing that day, are better than any fruitcake!
We all have different types of friends throughout our lives. Some are just there for a season, some are there to teach us and guide us during a difficult time! Some that keep us on our toes because they expect accountability, others seem to be gifted as giving us joy and encouragement! But other friends are like the Christmas fruitcake! They are filled with (spiritual)fruit for teaching us how to grow in our faith, making us learn how to laugh at ourselves, allowing us to vent when needed or just going back and forth with a desire to give back to each other what was given to us from the other, no matter the season! How sweet it is to go back and read all the encouraging notes in each card! Friendships are a blessing from God….much better than any fruitcake, no matter what recipe is used!
Proverbs 18:24 “there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother”
You know those nights when you are sitting in front of the TV and there is something that you begin to think about but you don’t know exactly what it is you want! You just know that it needs to something sweet and chocolatey (is that a word?) These little gems are made for those nights! Quick, easy and oh so chocolatey!!!! If you don’t have Rodelle baking chocolate on hand, use whatever is in your pantry but do yourself a favor and order some from Amazon! It will change the way you bake!!! I still use my clear Mexico vanilla because simply said ….it is the best vanilla in the world! Well I can’t say in the world because I have no idea what else is out there but on this side of the ocean, I think it is tops!!!! So put your computer down and go to the kitchen and make these. Recipe makes 6, just enough for you to have to get you through all 3 FBI shows tonight! Unless there are two of you then maybe you need to double the recipe!
Recipe copied from Rodelle Recipes
For Cupcakes
For Dark Chocolate Frosting
This is the filling I used for the Gob Cake that I posted on FB and YouTube yesterday. I used a French Vanilla cake mix and used green food coloring for St Patrick’s Day. Feel free to use any flavor of cake mix following the directions on back of the box! Bake in jelly roll pan and cut in half or 4ths (vertically) depending on how many layers you want, spreading filling in between each layer
FILLING:
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1-1/4 cups sugar( granulated not powdered)
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
Mix flour with milk whisking to combine and cook in small saucepan until mixture thickens! About 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cook to room temperature! While mixture is cooling, mix butter, shortening with sugar and beat for about 3 minutes. Add vanilla and cooled flour mixture and beat for about 10-15 minutes until it is very light and fluffy and sugar is completely dissolved assured that no gritty sugar remains! place filling between cake layers. Keep covered in fridge!
This frosting/filling is less sweet than typical buttercream frosting. Is excellent on red velvet cakes or carrot cake as well!
Last night I couldn’t sleep. Maybe it was the Dr Pepper I drank around 9 p.m. along with a brownie. Maybe it is all the agenda that was on my mind as I laid there and tried so hard to turn off the things that filled my “to do list” for today. As I laid there and tossed and turned, I found myself thinking of the words to the song, we often sing in church, “oh God, the battle belongs to You. Every fear I lay at Your feet, I’ll sing through the night, the battle belongs to you. I’ll get on my knees with my hands lifted high, O God, the battle belongs to You.” That song just kept repeating over and over in my mind. So I prayed and gave the desires of my heart to Him, as He tells us to do. It was then that I remembered that just yesterday, Randy and I stood in the living room and looked out the window at the tree we planted last spring. Among the dead looking branches were small, yet ever so green little sprouts of new life were beginning to sprout. We had wondered if the roots had gone down deep enough to allow this tree to survive the ice storms we have had this winter. It was then that I realized that the same was true of me this year. Has my roots in God’s Word gone down deep so that despite the storms that have come, my faith has little shoots of new growth? I can just imagine hearing the Lord say, “Trudy, delight yourself in me because, ” Psa 18:19 ” HE brought me out into a broad place, He rescued me, because He delighted in me.”
When I think back over the last few years, there were days when it was sometimes hard to see the sunshine of hope and light. But, through it all, God’s promise of always walking through difficult days, with us was so evident. In light of the circumstances all around us, some days it is hard to remember that God is in control, but it is on those days, that we have to stand on His promises and keep our eyes on Him. That grows our dependence on Him , our love for Him, and to lean into His mercy and grace. But it also allows us to see the new growth in us, spiritually. It is not only exciting to see that on those hard days now, my first reaction is different from what it use to be. That God has taught me that He is always there for me. No matter what. Instead of the worry that use to fill my soul, I give it to Him. Instead of anger and bitterness that use to come as my first response to an harsh word directed to me, it is easier now to just pray for that person and ask the Lord to help me reflect His love to them. Am I saying that I always do the right thing, of course not, but I can see that my reactions to things are slowly changing. Are those closest to me seeing new growth in my spirit and has New growth taken place among the hard ground of my heart? If so, it is all because of Christ and the new life that He promises to us. This Spring, may we all be reminded to look for the new growth that can be ours and allow the Son to shine through us to draw others to Him.
Ephesians 1:18 ” Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.”
Chocolate Castles 