"So Bring Us the Figgy Pudding . . ."

Welcome back everyone! Hope you all had a splendid Christmas and New Year! Can you believe 2014 is already upon us? Let's spend it bringing glory to God!

Happy New Year! Here's a thought: let's spend 2014 learning to serve God better!

In my last post, I said that I'd "set up" the posts a little differently in 2014: everything's now categorized! There are three different sections for each of the three "topics" we focus on from week to week to make reading and navigating these blog posts a little easier. So let's get cracking!

Special Day Countdown:

It is: 18 days till Martin Luther King Jr.'s Day

It is: 31 days till Groundhog Day

It is: 41 days till Lincoln's Birthday

It is: 43 days till Valentine's Day

Movie Spotlight:

Unfortunately, there haven't been any updates on the movies I've been writing about.

Now it's time for our "Topic of the Week", written by my co-author Joy Hammond:

Topic of the Week:

Ah the classic song, "We wish you a Merry Christmas", but wait . . . what in the world is figgy pudding? This question pops into the brains of most who sing the verse, "Now, bring us some figgy pudding . . ." but not many are willing to actually pursue an answer! The answer to this age-old question is: figgy pudding is a cake-like dessert with figs, of course.

I don't know about you, but maybe we should all start a tradition of instead of just singing about it, we could actually eat figgy pudding!

This must be a really delicious treat; find out for yourself! Here's the recipe to make this yummy snack:

You will need:

• ½ cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup molasses
• 2 cups mission figs (but 1lb. Chop yourself)
• ½ teaspoon grated fresh lemon rind
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 ½ cups of all-purpose flour
• ½ baking baking soda
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 cups brandy
• cheesecloth 

First, preheat the oven to 325 degrees and grease a 9-inch tube pan. Beat the butter until soft and add eggs and molasses and beat until fluffy.

Second, add chopped figs (try to use good quality figs), grated lemon rind, and buttermilk.

Third, in another bowl combine the rest of the ingredients (all the dry ones). Then pour the dry ingredients into the fix mixture and stir it well.

Fourth, pour the mixture into a tube pan and cook for about an hour or until a toothpick comes out pretty clean. After about fifteen minutes, try to take out the cake and put it onto a baking rack.

Fifth, soak enough cheese cloth to go around the cake a couple of times in brandy. When cake is cool, wrap it well and soak for twenty-four hours.

Last, finally go ahead and eat! Preferable served with hard sauce.

Well that's it for now! Hope your Christmas and New Year's Eve went well!

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