One article was all about Red Velvet. The writer had taken several ordinary recipes and turned them into a "red velvet" recipe: Red Velvet Cinnamon Rolls, Red Velvet Cheesecake Swirl Brownies, Red Velvet Eggnog Cake, and Cream Cheese Stuffed Red Velvet Cookies. That cake is a sight to behold with top and bottom layers of beautiful red velvet cake and a middle layer of eggnog cheesecake, plus an Eggnog Buttercream Frosting. Just writing that down makes my stomach swoon—way too rich and far too much trouble. However, I have tried a couple of the other recipes. Both of them gave me trouble, either because of scanty directions or simply wrong ones.
The Cream Cheese Stuffed Red Velvet Cookies (which are also drizzled with melted white chocolate) were probably our favorites, but the recipe was definitely the most inaccurate. First I made the dough which had to then be refrigerated for a half hour. Then I made the filling which had to be frozen for 15 minutes. Then I carefully portioned the dough into 60 balls, flattened them into disks, put a heaping teaspoon of filling on every other disk, then put an empty disk of dough over the one with the filling, pinched the edges together and flattened them on the cookie sheet, thirty times. Then into the oven, 8-10 minutes the recipe said. The first batch made me wonder, "Is this done?" as I put the second one in. Usually a soft cookie will firm up as it cools on the cookie sheet. These did not, so when the ten minutes was up on the second batch, I added two more, then two more, then another. For the third batch I just put them in for 15 minutes—they were perfect. I crossed my fingers and put that first batch back in the oven for another 8 minutes, reasoning that it would take at least three minutes for them to heat up, then they needed another 5 minutes of cooking. Finally, they all turned out right.
So I am not sure about this new magazine and whether I can trust it or not. Especially when you consider that I made thirty cookies, measuring the dough exactly as told, when the recipe said it would only make 24, they should have taken less time to cook, not more. I guess we will see. I still have a couple more recipes I want to try out of this issue so it's a good thing it only comes every other month.
And that's just trusting your recipe sources. We need to be able to trust our sources on things that are far more important than that. Usually I can salvage a bad recipe and make it edible, but what about other things? What about your salvation, for instance?
I know some folks who completely trust their minister, or rabbi, or priest, or whoever. They never open their Bibles and check out what it says for themselves. Really? You are going to trust someone else for your soul's destiny? God has made it very easy for us to take care of those things ourselves. You have a Book that has stood the test of Time for thousands of years. The people who think they can find fault with it are again and again proven wrong. There is no other book of such antiquity that has been shown to be so reliable, not even the works of Homer, Aristotle, Pliny, Herodotus, or any of several others. You can know that what you read in your Bible is true and accurate.
So what does your preacher tell you that you need to do? "Pray the sinner's prayer," I often hear. Guess what? There is no such thing anywhere in the pages of the Bible. I have read it through several times and it is just not there. If that is what you are hearing, how can you believe any of the rest you have been told? You will also not hear about baptism most of the time, but get out your Bible and read the book of Acts and guess what every conversion included? Baptism! So who is telling you it isn't important and why would they do such a thing? Maybe you need to find yourself a new source—like the Book itself. God will not lead you astray. He does not "wish that any should perish" (2 Pet 3:9).
And after baptism, you still need to check things out. Everyone can make a mistake including the most sincere and knowledgeable preacher out there. Double-check what he tells you. You know what Jesus said about blind leaders and followers.
It's no big deal for me to give this baking magazine a few more chances, but your eternal destiny is a big deal. Don't trust anyone else with it.
This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; who would have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth (1Tim 2:3-4).
Dene Ward