His Promises

Strawberries are now in season so my new recipe of muffins is strawberry flavour, of course. I used to make fresh strawberry jam to bake the cakes and muffins but I found a new brand of jam just like homemade from store recently. So this recipe isn't used fresh strawberries; however; it takes you less time to bake tasty muffins!

Ingredients (8 servings)
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup strawberry jam
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3 teaspoons strawberry extract

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F(150 degrees C). Prepare 8 muffin cups.
2. Beat eggs and sugar until light and then pour in oil, beat 2 more minutes. Combine strawberry jam and egg liquid and mix well.
3. Strain the dry ingredients and mix well.
4. Combine the liquid and dry ingredients and then spoon batter into the prepared muffin cups.
5. Bake for 20 to 25 munites in the prepared oven, or until the tops spring back when lightly touched.

In Taiwan it doesn't snow except on the top of the high mountains so people are excited about going to other countries to experience the snows. This recipe I made in my K2 and G1 classes and both of these classes liked it very much; moreover, children were having fun making their "eatable snowballs!"

Ingredients
500g oatmeal
100g butter
100g sugar
50g unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tbsps coffee
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
100g coconut flakes

Directions
1. Combine butter, sugar, oatmeal, cocoa powder, coffee and vanilla extract and mix well.
2. Roll the dough into small balls and then roll them in the coconut flakes.
You can eat the snowballs right away or refrigerate them if you prefer your balls taste like the real, cold snowballs with chocolate flavour.

I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.
I have set the Lord always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
(Psalm16:7-8)

This is my first time baking bread and I found the home-made bread is quite easy to make by using oven(not bread machine)! Moreover, I used to bake muffins and cakes because I prefer the smooth and moist texture of cakes to dry and hard texture of bread. Actually, I have had bought too much bread with bad taste so I didn't expect any bread could be tasty, honestly. However, this recipe changes my opinion of bread!

Follow me the directions and you can make the moist and fine bread as well.

Ingredients
3 cups white bread flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp salt
2 tsps active dry yeast
3 tbsps brown sugar
2 tbsps oil
1 1/4 cups lukewarm water
Butter, for greasing

Directions
1. Lightly grease a loaf pan with a little butter. (I don't have any loaf pan so I used baking pan instead )
2. Strain the flour and unsweetened cocoa into a large mixing bowl.
3.Stir in the salt, dried yeast, and brown sugar, mixing well.
4. Pour in the oil along with the lukewarm water and mix the ingredients together to make a dough.
5. Place the dough on a lightly floured counter and knead for 5 munites.
6. Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise in warm place for about 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
7. Punch down the dough and shape it into a loaf. Place the dough in the prepared pan, cover, and let rise in a warm place for a further 30 minutes.
8. Bake in a preheated oven, 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 30 minutes or until a hollow sound is heard when the bottom of the bread is tapped. Transfer the bread to a wire rack and to cool completely. Cut into slices to serve.

** The bread can be lightly toasted.**