A Goodbye Gift

Tomorrow, I fly off to Utah to visit my dear friend Michelle and her family for 2-1/2 weeks! I like to bake something special before I go...so they have "something to remember me by". I think I should think of something else though. What I made this time isn't going to last very long...I mean, good grief, they've already polished off a container of them, and I haven't even left yet! :) The goodie? It is what the picture depicts: Little Hannah Creme Pies. Following is the documentary, the "makings of", if you will, of these delectable treats.

Carrie was my little helper, so perhaps they should be called Little Carrie Creme Pies. Much cuter name! She's got quite an odd look on her face in this picture though. I think it's the trying so hard not to lick her fingers that caused the puckering of the brow. :)

Step One: Bake 180 oatmeal cookies

Step 2: Pair up all the cookies. Carrie loved this part...she kept finding interesting shapes. Mouse faces minus the ears, acorns without their caps. Who'd a thunk it?

Step 3: Use the back of a spoon to smooth some creamy white icing into the center of each cookie pair

Like so...

And slap on the lid.
DO NOT LICK FINGERS.

Step 4: Gaze upon all the cookies that still need filling, and wonder if you made enough filling. Realize you didn't. Raid the refrigerator to find any leftover icing from past goodie-makings. Find some cream cheese frosting, use it. Find some cupcake frosting, use it. Discover you still have 4 cookie pairs to fill, and in desperation, use peanut butter and nutella. Not too bad, really!

And step 5: Enjoy licking at last.

Votes, please, on what Carrie's favorite part about baking is. :)

The delicious rewards of our labor.

They'll be paying me to go away before long.

(Most of the picture credits, by the way, go to a Miss Abbie vdH...quite the pro with a camera, and why this documentary exists. She took over 50 pictures for me!!)

Hearts Sprinkled Clean

"Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, 'Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?' that is, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'...And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom, and the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, 'Truly this was the Son of God!"

Matthew 27:45-46;50-54

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"He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much MORE will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the LIVING GOD...

"Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful."

Hebrews 9:12-14; 10:19-23