bequeerpraisegod

[bequeerpraisegod]

Vegan Sugar Cookies

    While researching this recipe, I saw an ‘internet pastor’ talk about how women need men to spiritually lead them.  I admit to stumbling down a rabbit hole of anti-woman theologies.  Complaints of the church being too feminine, something I find a bit silly considering Paul calls the church the bride of Christ.  Or the claim of women not being called to preach, and I am not sure what Jesus asked Mary Magdalene to do if that is true.  For this devotional recipe I want to focus on biblical womanhood.  These cookies have been made with love, spite and the knowledge that the church benefits so much from the leadership of women.

   I made sure to make these a few time before posting and it has yielded varying results.  I have found that they do not spread as nonvegan cookie dough does.

Recipe Time

Ingredients:

The ingredients I used were gluten free as well as vegan.  This is not necessary, but the group I made them for contained folks with dietary restrictions.  I do not think regular flour with gluten will change the outcome.

1/2 cup of vegan butter

1/2 cup of sugar

1/4 cup of dark brown sugar

1/4 cup pumpkin puree (This is the same thing as canned pumpkin.  Be sure to check the ingredient label to make sure it only contains pumpkin.)

1 tsp of vanilla extract

1 3/4 cup of gluten free flour (regular flour is OK)

1/2 tbsp of cornstarch (Some cornstarch has trace amounts of milk, eggs, etc.  Be sure to check the ingredients label on the package.)

1 tsp of baking powder

1/2 tsp of baking soda

1/4 tsp of salt

1-2 tsp (or a small splash of) non dairy milk

Directions:

Add softened butter to a bowl and thoroughly mix it.  You may do this by hand with a whisk or with an electric mixer.  I found that doing this by hand helped me work out the frustration felt when some men mistake their misogyny for God.  If you choose to whisk by hand, use a fork to scrape out the butter that will initially get stuck inside the whisk.  Once the butter is able to smoothly slide out of the whisk, it is sufficiently mixed.

Add sugar, dark brown sugar, vanilla, and the pumpkin puree.  You may whisk this by hand or use an electric mixer.

In a separate bowl; combine the flour, cornstarch, salt, baking soda and baking powder.  Use a sifter to sift this into the butter and sugar mixture.  If you do not have a sifter, you can add this into the butter sugar mixture in small portions.  I did this but using a 1/4 cup measuring cup.  For this, it is best to use an electric mixer because the flour makes it very difficult to mix by hand.

Add 1-2 tsp of non dairy milk, or add a small splash.  Mix in with a spatula or a fork.  When the dough is done it should be soft.  If the dough is crumbly add a very small amount of milk.  If the dough becomes wet add some more flour.  The dough should either be slightly sticky, or not sticky at all.

Chill the dough in the fridge for 45 minutes or so.  You may also let it chill overnight.

While it is chilling you may work on the icing if you choose to add it.  (link for icing coming soon)  Or I recommend supporting women of the faith while you are waiting.  I love Brenda Marie Davies’ online presence through her YouTube and Podcasts. (x)  There is also the wonderful Nadia Bolz-Weber (x) and the amazing Rev. Jacqui Lewis (x).  And there is the writings of the late Rachel Held Evans, may she rest in peace (x).

Preheat oven to 350.  Place wax paper on a baking sheet.

Once the dough is chilled, it can be rolled out like ‘regular’ cookie dough.  It does tend to be softer than non-vegan dough, so I recommend using an abundance of flour.  I usually roll the dough to be about 1/4 of a knuckle or one shallow cookie cutter deep.  It helps to wiggle the cookie cutter around after pressing it to keep it from sticking to the counter. 

It is okay to place the cookies close together, as they will not spread out much. Bake for about 13 minutes.

     I love this because so many vegan recipes focus on being “healthy” and I do not have health in mind when baking cookies.  These are a great, sugary option for folks who can’t have gluten, eggs or dairy.  These cookies are also halal and kosher.  If you know any of the ingredients to be otherwise, please let me know.

     Praying for everyone to know that biblical womanhood is not an example of submission.  It is Jael putting a stake through the head of a tyrant  (Judges 4:17-22).  It is Rahab being a sex worker who harbors spies (Joshua 6:16-17).  It is Esther who lies to her husband to protect her people (Esther).  It is Junia in her apostleship (Romans 16:7).  It is Mary Magdalene, who was called by Christ to be the first person to preach the resurrection (John 20:10-18).  It is an example of leadership that the church depends on.

[bequeerpraisegod]

St. Luis Cake / Gooey Butter Cake

     This is a recipe that is very near and dear to my heart.  (It is also very easy to make!)  I got this recipe from my grandma, who passed it down to my mom who taught me how to teach it.  There is nothing inherently special or fancy about the ingredients.  The special thing about it is the people you have it with!  It was a tradition in high school where I made this for the last day, and sometimes throughout the year.  The most recent time I made this was for the young adult group at my church, and I brought the leftovers in the next day for a volunteering event that mostly grandma’s showed up for.

     For this devotional recipe I want to focus on Jesus’ Parable of the Great Banquet as it is recorded in Luke 14:15-24.  The chapter context is that Christ heals someone on the sabbath and is accused of breaking the law by the Pharisees.  And then He tells a series of parables that challenge the Pharisees’ legalistic theology.  The parable is as follows:

That triggered a response from one of the guests: "How fortunate the one who gets to eat dinner in God’s kingdom!" Jesus followed up. "Yes. For there was once a man who threw a great dinner party and invited many. When it was time for dinner, he sent out his servant to the invited guests, saying, ’Come on in; the food’s on the table.’ Then they all began to beg off, one after another making excuses. The first said, ’I bought a piece of property and need to look it over. Send my regrets.’ Another said, ’I just bought five teams of oxen, and I really need to check them out. Send my regrets.’ And yet another said, ’I just got married and need to get home to my wife.’ The servant went back and told the master what had happened. He was outraged and told the servant, ’Quickly, get out into the city streets and alleys. Collect all who look like they need a square meal, all the misfits and homeless and wretched you can lay your hands on, and bring them here.’ The servant reported back, ’Master, I did what you commanded-and there’s still room.’ The master said, ’Then go to the country roads. Whoever you find, drag them in. I want my house full! Let me tell you, not one of those originally invited is going to get so much as a bite at my dinner party.’" (The Message)

Recipe Time

Ingredients:

One 18 oz box of yellow cake mix

One stick of butter

Three total eggs

One 8 oz thing of cream cheese

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Four cups of powdered sugar (or confectioner’s sugar)

Directions:

Gooey Butter Cake consists of two layers.

Preheat oven to 350

Grease a pan.  I tend to use a 10″ by 2″ circular pan.  I see other online recipes recommending a 9″ by 13″ rectangular pan.  The height isn’t terribly important because it does not rise much at all.

This is the bottom layer. Melt butter.  You can do this on the stove or in the microwave.  Stir together melted butter, yellow cake mix and one egg.  I like to mix the butter and cake mix together before mixing in the egg out of fear of cooking the egg prematurely.

The mixture should now have a playdough like consistency.  You can stick the entire thing into a your greased pan(s) and spread it out.  There is no shame in that.  But what I like to do is tear portions of the dough off and place throughout the pan.  And when you finish tearing the dough apart, press the pieces together to form the layer.  This method has helped me to make sure the dough is even across the bottom of the pan.

Additional Tip: You can slightly wet your finger tips to help prevent the dough from sticking to your hand too much.

Now for the top layer!  Mix together the cream cheese, remaining two eggs, vanilla extract and just one cup of powdered sugar to start.  I like to mix by hand with a fork, but mixing it with an electric mixer is also perfectly fine.  Cutting up the cream cheese makes mixing it with the other ingredients easier.

Add the remaining three cups of powdered sugar in one at a time.  The batter should be almost entirely smooth and easy to pour when completely mixed.  It is okay if small lumps remain, but there should be no large or divisible chunks of powdered sugar or cream cheese.

Pour the batter on top of the first layer in the pan.  Bake for 30-45 minutes.  When it is finished baking, the top should have a thin golden crust that has slightly browned in certain areas.  In my experience, the tooth pick trick doesn’t work for this coffee cake because the “gooey” top layer of Gooey Butter Cake will stick to the tooth pick.

While waiting for the cake to cool; take some time to reflect on the knowledge that you are loved, wanted and needed in the Kingdom of God and Body of Christ.

Make sure to let cool before cutting.  It is the easiest to cut after allowing it to sit in the fridge.

     This should easily feed 5 people who are very hungry an 10 people who have smaller appetites'.  This recipe is kosher and halal.  The best cream cheese to use to know for sure it is kosher and halal is plain philadelphia branded cream cheese.  This recipe does contain gluten, eggs, dairy.  Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or feedback!

One of the grandmas from the volunteering event I mentioned earlier asked me for this recipe.  She was so incredibly sweet.  The next time I saw her I was wearing a “Trans Liberation Now” shirt.  She cornered me to ask me if it meant transgender liberation.  Then she asked if the church I went to was LGBTQ affirming.  I clarified that it did mean transgender liberation and the church I go to is queer affirming.  And she responded with “that’s nice, I agree with that.”  There are not too many instances outside of God’s church where I would share recipes with someone else’s grandma and talk about transgender liberation.  It was most certainly not the interaction I expected to have.  But I felt like the Lord had opened the doors to the banquet and let us in.  God invites different and unexpected people to sit down and have meals together, and They grow strangers into friends. I pray that you know there is always a place where you are not only welcome, but invited.