Category Archives: Advent

As Advent Passes

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From Malachi 3:3-4

This year is not like every other year, when we would pile in the car and wind our way north to St. Clare’s Episcopal Church in Ann Arbor for the annual Messiah Community Sing. At the center of the circular sanctuary, a volunteer ensemble would just be winding up their rehearsal as the crowd was admitted entrance, dog-eared choral manuscripts in hand, and made way to their respective sections: soprano, tenor, bass, and alto. When the kids were little we would generally slip out midway, to make the event more enjoyable for everyone. But gradually they came to recognize the familiar arias, eager to make it to the finish line and the smorgasbord of sweets that awaited good little children who made it all the way to “AL-Le-Lu-YAH!”

This year, as I said, is different. Mom is tucked away in her group home, which is buttoned down with COVID restrictions. Sarah is spending the holiday with her birth parents. The rest of us (including all three dogs) are hunkered down at the cabin in East Jordan, looking through the frosty woods and craning our necks to see Lake Charlevoix. Chris is watching Lord of the Rings. We just finished watching the video we made for Craig’s mom for her Christmas gift — pleased that we thought of something to give the lady who has everything she wants. Everything but us — this year there won’t be any ocean views. And yet, so much for which to be thankful. Up to and including the fact that I managed to snag the last three seats at Christmas Eve Mass tomorrow. Yeah, me.

This year the familiar chorus from the book of Malachi takes on new and somber tones, as the prophet cries like a voice in the wilderness: “and he will purify the sons of Levi, refining them like gold or like silver that they may offer due sacrifice to the Lord.”

Generation after generation, we read of the painful purification of this priestly tribe of Levi, and think of the chastening God sends upon those marked for service. Including not just priests and church leaders, but all of us who name the name of Jesus. We have been stripped, our hearts laid bare and lives reduced to their simplest terms, so that we might be reminded of the things that matter most. So we might hear the words of the prophets calling us to “turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the land with doom.”

Maranatha. Come, Lord Jesus. Your servants are listening.

Night Driving

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night driveTomorrow afternoon we load up the car — kids, elderly mother, dog, and presents. Lots and lots of presents. Then we head down 75 for 20 hours or so for our annual adventure to visit my mother-in-law in West Palm Beach.

It’s Craig’s annual opportunity to see how many times we can let the house-sitter set off the house alarm. Just in case you’re wondering, the record is 6 in a single day. We had to get a new house sitter after that. Also a new bedroom carpet, which Gretta soiled with the ferocity of a fireman’s hose every time the alarm went off. Good times.

My favorite part of this drive is … the night driving. Late into the night, as one by one the rest of the family nods and dreams, I sit behind the wheel, listening to a book on CD, pounding Diet Coke and Christmas cookies. My personal record is eight hours without a rest stop … with luck, I’ll be able to match it.

With night driving, you don’t have to listen to kids squabble, or play endless rounds of the Alphabet Game, or stop every ten minutes for water and bathroom breaks (you’d think they’d catch on to the fact that the two are directly related after the first twelve stops). No snarky drivers, or traffic jams, or construction pile-ups. Just the hum of the engine, the gentle lull of the reader, and the faint illumination of my husband’s LED screen. It’s pretty perfect, really.

Of course, this doesn’t last for long. Sooner or later, the aroma of Christmas cookies hits the nose of my teenage son, who hones in like a drone (despite the fact that he can’t smell the underwear rotting in his room for months on end). Sarah argues in her sleep, even if no one takes the other end of the debate stick. It’s okay, though. This is what it means to embark on a family adventure.

I wonder if this is what it was like for the Magi as they followed the trail of the star(bucks) toward Bethlehem, to find the newborn King, their camels laden with gifts and provisions and their hearts full of hope.

St. Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar — patron saints of road trips — pray for us.

Cookie Chronicles

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blueberry zucchiniThis year, with Mom helping with the baking, I decided to dig out the old family receipe files and mix things up a bit from the tried-and-true gingerbread and candy cane routine.

In addition to the traditional banana bread (to use up the sour cream from the sugar cookie recipe I usually use), we are making:

Almond sugar cookies (my Aunt Lolly’s recipe), with crushed almonds and almond flavoring in place of vanilla. The scent was so heady, Chris wandered out of his room just to find out what was going on!

Next up, peanut butter cookies, using the “natural peanut butter” Craig asked for, then decided wasn’t crunchy enough. I added some crushed peanuts, just to be safe. Then roll ’em in more crushed peanuts and sugar. Because … well, you just can’t get enough peanuts in a peanut butter cookie!

Finally, my grandmother’s (Dixie’s) oatmeal chip cookies. I remember making these with her when I was a little girl, measuring out the oats and dumping them in the bowl. I figured we need at least one kind of cookie that will satisfy the sweet tooth of someone with a nut allergy, right?

Tomorrow is Sarah’s first guitar concert. She’s only been playing a couple of months, but the teacher already has her in a group of girls playing Taylor Swift’s “Last Christmas.” Looking forward to the fun!

Rose Sunday Tea

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“Keep the joy of loving God in your heart

and share this joy with all you meet,

Especially your family. God bless you.”[ 

St. Teresa of Calcutta

advent cake

This week Franciscan Media posted my recipe for “Rose Sunday Chocolate Pound Cake” to promote my new book
Advent with Saint Teresa of Calcutta.  I wanted to offer a fuller explanation about Rose Sunday Tea for you here.

Saint Teresa often spoke of a kind of spiritual poverty in the West that was in some ways worse than what she found in the streets of Calcutta. This poverty is expressed not always in squalor and hunger, but in isolation and neglect, in fear and loneliness, in superficial relationships and broken families. That brokenness is experienced in a profound way at Christmastime. And so, at this time of year those who feel the pain of loneliness and loss are in special need of our kindness.

Are you looking for a simple way to reach out to your neighbors, acquaintances, and friends – perhaps especially those you’ve lost touch with during the rest of the year? Opening your home on Rose Sunday for just a few hours in the afternoon can be a lovely way to reconnect and to break away from the frenetic pace of the Christmas season.

The tradition can be as homespun or elaborate as you care to make it. Below you will find a few recipes that you can try, or bring out your tried-and-true favorites. If you’re not a baker, just break out your favorite tea pot and provide a selection of cookies or scones from your local bakery . . . or invite guests to bring some of their own baking for a kind of “cookie exchange.” The point isn’t to add one more high-stress activity to the last few days before Christmas, but to take a breather and enjoy the simple joy of the day.

Before guests arrive, cover your table with a pink or burgundy table covering or runner, and decorate with an Advent wreath and your favorite tea things. Depending on the number of people you invite, you may wish to set up a serving area with disposable plates and utensils. If possible, try to have one cup and saucer for each guest. (No need to match!) Provide a selection of teas as well as sugar, sweetener, lemon, honey, and milk or cream.

As guests arrive, make introductions (consider using name tags if needed) and invite your guests to pour themselves their first cup of tea, and to make themselves at home. You might choose to have carols playing quietly in the background, dim the lights a bit, or light a fire in the fireplace – anything to help you and your guests relax. If you choose to invite girls and teens, consider setting up a separate area where they can visit as well.

If your guests don’t already know each other well, you might try a simple icebreaker, such as a jar of candy canes with slips of paper attached that instruct them to draw a candy cane and give the candy to someone in the room who …

  • Knows at least three verses of Silent Night.
  • Can recite all twelve gifts from the Twelve Days of Christmas.
  • Has seen It’s a Wonderful Life this year.
  • Can make a gingerbread house from scratch.
  • Can name all eight of Santa’s reindeer.
  • Has made a snow fort.
  • Plans to see their whole family for Christmas this year.
  • Likes fruit cake.
  • Once received a pet (or pet rock) as a Christmas gift.
  • Can knit a Christmas stocking.

Prayers around the Advent Wreath

When you are ready to serve refreshments, it’s time to light the Advent wreath! Have everyone gather around, and invite four guests each to read one of the four prayers as they light the candle. After each candle is lit, the guests sing a stanza of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”:

Light the first purple candle and say: “O God, whose word makes all things holy, pour out your blessing upon us. Prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ.”

Light the second purple candle and say: “Lord, stir our hearts to receive your Son, that through his coming we may be made worthy to serve you with pure and undivided hearts.”

Light the pink (rose) candle and say: “Holy Spirit, pour into our hearts the light of gladness and thanksgiving, of peace and compassion. Make us aware of the needs of others.”

Light the fourth candle and say: “O God, our help in ages past, our hope in years to come. O come and stay with us at last, and make our hearts your home.”

Host may offer the closing prayer: “O Blessed Mother, who rushed to the side of her cousin Elizabeth the moment she heard the good news, watch over us your daughters as we share our Advent joy. Help us to bring Jesus to others, and to see Jesus in others, everywhere we go.”

As a parting favor, print small cards for your guests with this prayer by John Cardinal Newman, which Mother Teresa and her Sisters prayed each day before they began their work:

Dear Jesus, help us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go. Flood our souls with your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly that our lives may only be a radiance of yours. Shine through us, and be so in us, that every soul we come in contact with may feel your presence in our soul. Let them look up and see no longer us, but Jesus. Stay with us, and then we shall begin to shine as you shine; so to shine as to be a light to others; the light, O Jesus, will be all from you, none of it will be ours: it will be you shining on others through us. Let us thus praise you in the way you love best by shining on those around us. Let us preach you without preaching, not by words but by our example; by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what we do, the evident fullness of the love our hearts bear to you. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

You can also order copies of Advent with Saint Teresa of Calcutta, which contains this prayer as well. God bless you!

Celebrate St. Mother Teresa at Dinner Tonight!

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mt-dinner

Today I’ll be talking with Jen Fulwiler on her radio show — if you’d like a free copy of “Advent with St. Teresa of Calcutta,” just leave a comment below about the show, and I’ll put you in a drawing for a free book!

For many people, the weeks leading up to Christmas are full of rich food, lavish parties, and mall hopping till you drop. So today I thought I’d share with you a simple vegetarian meal with flavors reminiscent of the adopted homeland of Mother Teresa, and my new book with Servant/Franciscan Media Advent with Saint Teresa of Calcutta.

Recently at our parish mission, I had a distinct sense of déjà vu. My daughter’s eyes lit up  as a middle-aged missionary (in this case, a priest) spoke in animated language about the needs of those he serves, and challenged those in the congregation to give and to go. Clearly, Sarah was eager to take up that challenge — and I offered to go with her to talk to the priest afterwards.

I’d had a similar experience when I was her age, and a missionary had come to the small non-denominational church my family and I had belonged to for years. The missionary had given a similar challenge, and my middle-school self could not wait to join the effort. After the service was done, I went up to talk to him . . . and I’ll never forget how his eyes scanned over my head, looking for older and more suitable candidates. Sadly I walked away, wondering why he didn’t want me — and promising God that he could still have me, if he wanted.

Turns out, God did. About five years later, the good people of my church rallied together to raise my support, and I spent an amazing year in Senegal, West Africa as a short-term missionary before going to work in publishing (a mission field of a different kind).

And so, when this missionary priest scarcely looked my daughter in the eye as I invited him to sit with us at lunch (he was unable to do so), I decided to take it upon myself to cultivate this hunger for missions. Last night we made a “Mother Teresa Dinner,” (the recipes have been posted on the Franciscan Media website), and talked about her life among the poorest of the poor as we made naan bread.familypicWe also talked about friends like Colleen Mitchell, a Catholic missionary who works (with her husband Greg and their children) among at-risk mothers and their children in Costa Rica, and her book
Who Does He Say You Are?

I don’t know if Sarah will wind up going to the mission field. But I want her to know that she can . . . if God wants her, and she is willing to go.

sarah

. “

Make a Gingerbread House!

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gingerbreadhouse

This week Franciscan Media is launching “Advent with St. Teresa of Calcutta,” and so I’m reposting one of my favorite Advent traditions here, to give you some extra tips and tricks on how to create your very own Gingerbread House for Advent. This originally appeared on my original blog, “Extraordinary Moms Network.” Enjoy!
On the Friday after Thanksgiving each year, we get started. (The project can be worked on over an entire weekend.) We mix dough, cut out and bake the cookies. The next day we make a batch of royal icing, and assemble the house. (I cheat and use the powdered kind available at my local baking store. You can also get it on Amazon.) The decorating is typically done the third day, but you can assemble and bake on the same day as long as you give the house time to dry before you start decorating. An excellent video tutorial on how to assemble a simple gingerbread house is available here at “Cookies, Cupcakes, and Cardio.”
You can make your own templates to cut out your cookies from poster board or laminated parchment paper. If you’re not architecturally inclined, you can also buy gingerbread house cookie cutters at a craft store or Amazon (I like the Fox Run Gingerbread House Cookie Cutter Set).
What do you do with your house once it’s done? That’s really up to you. We like to “smash” our house on New Year’s Eve, and enjoy it with hot chocolate or coffee. Some people like to make two houses, and give one to another family or to a favorite teacher. You can also create a little “village” for your mantelpiece or tabletop. Make this tradition your own — the scent is heavenly, and the fun is contagious.
Ready to start baking? Here we go!

 

Gingerbread House

Each recipe makes one house, with enough to make a few gingerbread men or women for the tree.  You will need…

5-1/2 C unsifted flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
3 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp nutmeg
1 C shortening
1 C sugar
1-1/4 C molasses (dark)
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla

Combine dry ingredients into a bowl; stir and set aside. Cream sugar and shortening. Beat in molasses, egg, and vanilla until smooth. Gradually stir in dry ingredients into the molasses mixture. When it becomes too stiff to stir with spoon, work dough in with hands until completely blended. Divide dough into 4 parts. Shape into a flattened round, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill at least 1 hour and up to 2 weeks. Place a disk of chilled dough on a foil-lined cookie sheet. Cover with waxed paper or more plastic wrap and roll to 1/4-inch thickness. (Paper keeps the dough from sticking, so you don’t need flour for rolling.)

Remove plastic/waxed paper and place templates on dough, leaving 1/2-inch border around pieces. Use a small, sharp knife to cut around pattern edges. Use fingers or knife to remove scrap dough pieces, leaving house pieces intact on the foil. Cut out doors and windows as desired.

Bake at 325 degrees for 10-25 minutes, depending on the size of the pieces. Gingerbread will darken, especially around edges, and feel firm to the touch. While cookies are still warm, put templates back on each piece and trim any extra cookie around the edges (it will expand during the baking process). Cool and peel off foil. Store in a cool, dry place.

To Make the Gingerbread House, You Will Need:

Pre-baked (trimmed and cooled) gingerbread cookies. (You will need at least six pieces: One base, two pointy front and back pieces, two windowed side pieces, two roof pieces.

Foil-covered cardboard. (Should be large and sturdy enough to support not only the house but any surrounding “landscaping” you choose to do.)

A couple of soup cans. (Use them to support the walls while they are drying, and remove before you put on the roof. The YouTube tutorial shows how to do this.)

Royal icing. One batch for each house you are making. When you are not actually using part of the batch, keep the icing covered by a clean, damp paper towel and dishtowel, to keep it from drying out prematurely. You will also need something to “pipe” the frosting (disposable pastry bag or Baggie with the tip clipped off). If you choose to color the icing (I usually don’t), paste gives you bolder colors than liquid food color.

Decorations! It’s really up to you what you choose to use. Tinted coconut for grass (or white for snow), frosted sugar cones for trees, Vanilla wafers for roof shingles, wafer cookies for window shutters, front stoop, benches, or door. M&Ms or pastel mints for brickwork or around garden beds (I often pipe a “tree” or “lattice” onto the back of my house, and use M&M’s for “flowers.”) Red hots and sprinkles to decorate the tops of roofs and trees. Let your imagination go wild!

To construct house, pipe or spread royal icing on the front, side, back, and other side walls (in that order), both on the bottom of each cookie and the side where it will adhere to the pieces that are already in place on the foil-lined cardboard. Once you have all four pieces in place, let rest at least 30 minutes before you place roof cookies on top. Once the roof pieces are in place, allow to dry completely (even overnight) before decorating.iv>

On Arriving: Thoughts before Christmas

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cropped-road-trip.jpg Two days in the car with two kids and a dog. Two days, twelve hours a day.

Suddenly I have a whole new appreciation for what Mary and Joseph must have gone through those final days before the angels sang to the shepherds.

Mary: “Please, honey. Lay off the Diet Coke. My legs are cramping from riding on this blessed donkey, and my ankles are swelling to the size of small watermelons. It’s Bethlehem or bust. NO MORE PIT STOPS!”

Joseph: “Yes, dear. I’ll let my throat parch if you can talk that kid on the next camel into stop whistling that inane tune: ‘100 wineskins of wine on the wall.’ Honestly, one more round and I may have to toss him to the robbers.”

OK, so the Holy Family didn’t have this exchange exactly. After all, they were the perfect couple — the kind that radiated in each other’s sunshine. I’ll bet Joseph never drove Mary crazy by loading up on electronics until the camel blew a fuse, and he never rolled his eyes when Mary couldn’t resist one more cute little trinket from Matzo Barrel.

Our family is not so perfect. We do not practice the virtue of detachment when we travel . . . The other virtues like kindness, neatness, and sweetness get quite a workout as well. And yet, these trips are the stuff of our family history. Years later, the memories are whitewashed and recalled– like the new mother, we forget all about the pain once we hold our loved ones in our arms. (Probably better that way, or there would be no more road trips.)

Halfway through ours, I’d simply like to give thanks for the highlights:

* For parents who are always happy to see us at the end of the road, no matter how late we arrive or how disheveled the house is when we leave.

* For a seven-passenger van, so that the person most in need of solitude can hide in the back seat with a Supersized set of headphones.

* For two kids and a dog who can ride for four days in a car without anyone getting carsick. Even when Sarah bathes in the Justin Bieber perfume Michi’s friend gave her for Christmas (thanks, Matthew).

* For traveling mercies — including the angels that sat on our bumper yesterday, so the Budget truck that swerved into our lane did not hit us (and the SUV in Michi’s blind spot in the next lane sustained only a small dent). It could have been much, much worse.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Advent Begins: A season of tiny lights

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advent wreath 2Happy Advent!

“Blogger Mom” Sherry Antonetti, suffered a miscarriage this week. This energetic mother of ten is walking a “valley of shadow” that is unknown to me. A car accident when I was eighteen caused such extensive internal damage, my doctor informed me I would not be able to have children. (The only silver lining to this was that my then-boyfriend, an Argentinian jackass, dumped me the minute I came out of I.C.U. because “You’re not a real woman anymore.”)

In a way, the knowledge that pregnancy was not in the cards for me made it a bit easier when I got married. As much as I would have liked to have a child, knowing it was not possible gave me the freedom to check that particular dream off my “wish list” and find a new dream with my husband, which we could envision together.

And yet, I’ve come to realize that the pain of the not-quite-realized dream has a special place in the spiritual life. Those of us who never buy a lottery ticket, do not experience the let-down of those who splurge on $20 in tickets without a single hit. That tantalizing possibility causes us to hope in God’s goodness . . . the excruciating aftermath leads us to trust in his mercy.

As we enter the season of Advent, we recall the most extraordinary of all of divine interventions: the Incarnation, the moment in history when God definitively intervened in human history, to remake a future infinitely better than we’d imagined for ourselves. “O felix culpa …” O happy fault, that won for us so great a Savior.

This year, as we enter the Church’s new year, let’s take a moment to reflect upon those moments when we experienced a tiny point of light, a brief moment when possibility turned into disappointment. The angst of childish choices. The agony of free will turned on end. The inexplicable shadow of nature at its worst.

Bless us, O Lord, and these thy gifts,

Which even now, we receive from Thy bounty,

For better or for worse, in sickness and in health,

As long as I shall live. Amen.

Advent Blessing for Extraordinary Moms

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Last Sunday was our annual Advent Tea, and at my table was a woman who had adopted two children. She had heard me speak on Al Kresta’s program about the Extraordinary Moms Network, and said she’d hoped I was still helping adoptive parents. It seems she was looking for a little support involving some changes her daughters were going through right now.

To be honest, I’ve become a bit gun-shy, and haven’t been writing as extensively about the subject of adoption for a while. For one thing, I recently resigned from the board of the foster/adoption agency because I didn’t agree with their recruiting practices, and was wondering God might be pointing me in another direction.

Over the years I’ve sometimes been denounced or outright attacked by others in adoption circles who disagreed with my position on reunification. (I believe that the adoptive bond should remain protected even in adulthood between parent and child, and that biological parents should be able to prevent the release of identifying information if they do not wish to be contacted by their grown children. I have no objection, however, to releasing this information if the biological parents ARE willing to be contacted, and agree that adoptees of all ages should have mediated access to medical information.)

Judging from comments I’ve received on this, and from the prevalence of open adoption, mine is not the popular opinion. I can live with that. What grew tiresome was the necessity of arguing endlessly with highly vocal and often disrespectful individuals who believe passionately that adopted children have the RIGHT to know their birth families. Always. Without exception. Even in cases of rape and incest, as this “Faith and Family” story shows.

And so, for a time I backed off on writing on the subject of adoption, to collect my thoughts a bit more systematically on the subject. To that end, my Master’s thesis is going to be about adoption as a metaphor for conversion — how the fact that the Scriptures speak of God adopting us as His children (Romans 8:14-15), giving us an inheritance we cannot lose (Galatians 4:4-6). The relationship is a permanent one. Here … read it yourself.

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption. As proof that you are children, 4 God sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.

Just as biological families reflects in a unique way the life-giving love of the Trinity, so adoptive families uniquely reflect the redemptive love of God. Working together, parents and children, we help one another to grow in the perfection God first created in us, the perfection that was distorted by the sinful influence of our first parents.

So today, Rose Sunday, I wanted to share with any adoptive parents out there who are feeling a bit overwhelmed (the extended family time associated with the holidays can bring out other issues in our children, can’t they?), a bit of encouragement. This is my Advent Blessing to you.

You are doing God’s work. Right now, right where you are. Whether that means drying a tear or baking a cookie, creating memories that will always be a part of your child’s story.

Being an adoptive parent doesn’t mean being a perfect parent. If that were true, none of us would be qualified to take any child into our homes.

Being an adoptive parent also doesn’t mean being a second-best parent. You have no reason to apologize for your decision to adopt. Not now, not ever. Your child may never thank you for the sacrifices you’ve made — and in the years to come, their drive to find their birth parents may make you wonder if you’d done everything you could to give them a secure sense of love and identity.

Don’t worry. You have done your very best, and your children have reaped the benefits. Your reward in heaven will be great, for Jesus says, “Whosoever welcomes a child in my name, welcomes me.”

Just as the Blessed Mother had to relinquish her precious Son when he became a man, so the time will come when we have to let go, too. Sooner or later, our children — all children — must make their way in the world, guided by the things we have taught them.

But for now, yours is the unmistakeable privilege of forming your child. Forming him not in your own image, but in the image of the Father who loves us all. One day, sometimes one minute, at a time.

May all the blessings of this holy season fall upon you and your home, today and every day.

Don’t forget … You are an Extraordinary Mom!

Advent Cake … Good Anytime!

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This evening the contributors of AnnArbor.com will be gathering for a potluck, and I’ve decided to bring out a special recipe I make each year for my annual Rose Sunday Advent Tea. For several years I hosted one at my house, last year I made it for the tea at church. It takes a bit of time, but totally worth the results! It is a slightly modified version of a recipe I found on Allrecipes.com.

One of the things I like best about this recipe is the fact that it makes 4-5 cupcakes in addition to the cake. That way the family can “taste test” without ruining the picture-perfect company treat! The picture is my special “Advent cake plate” the day after I make my Advent Cake. Enjoy!

You will need …
3 C flour (all-purpose)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 C shortening
1 C butter, soft
3 C white sugar (it’s once a year, so live it up!)
5 egg yolks
5 egg whites, beaten stiff
1-1/2 C milk
1 tsp vanilla
1-1/2 tsp Amaretto (almond flavored liquor)
cinnamon sugar for dusting the pan

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 10 inch tube pan, and dust it generously with cinnamon sugar. Shake out excess. Line 4-5 muffin/cupcake holes with liners, set aside.

Sift together dry ingredients, and set aside. Add flavorings to measured milk, and set aside.

Cream shortening and butter in an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy, gradually adding sugar. Add egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mixture should be light yellow and light.

Alternate dry ingredients and milk, stirring well to combine. Gently fold in beaten egg whites, mixing just until no streaks remain. Fill bundt pan to 1″ from the top, pour remaining batter into muffin tin.

Bake 1 hour 15 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. (Cupcakes come out after 30 minutes.) Rest in pan 10 minutes before inverting on to cake plate. Glaze while still warm. Serves 14 or so.

GLAZE:

5 Tbls cocoa
2 Tbls vegetable oil
4 Tbls butter
3 C powdered sugar, sifted
1 Tbls Amaretto
boiling water

In small saucepan over low heat, combine cocoa, oil and butter. Stir until melted and smooth, remove from hea. Stir in powdered sugar and Amaretto, adding water 1 Tbls at a time and beat until smooth and “glazy.” Dip your cupcakes in first, then pour the rest over warm cake. Sets with a nice sheen almost instantly. Now try to resist cleaning out the pan with your finger. I dare you.