Coffee & Crean Brownies

Ingredients:

(Recipe can easily be doubled--and usually NEEDS to be--they are THAT good!)
1/2 cup butter, cubed
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

FILLING:
1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup confectioners' sugar

(I always double this because we like a stronger coffee flavor).

GLAZE:
1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions
In a microwave, melt butter and chocolate; stir until smooth. Cool slightly. In a small bowl, beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla; stir in chocolate mixture. Combine flour and baking soda; gradually add to chocolate mixture.
Spread into a greased 8-in. square baking pan. Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean (do not overbake). Cool on a wire rack.
For filling, combine cream and coffee granules in a small bowl; stir until coffee is dissolved. In a small bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in coffee mixture; Spread over brownies.
In a small saucepan, combine chips and cream. Cook and stir over low heat until chocolate is melted and mixture is thickened. Cool slightly. Carefully spread over filling. Let stand for 30 minutes or until glaze is set. Cut into squares. Store in the refrigerator.

We prefer them slightly chilled.

Note: Sometimes when I make these, they "raise" around the edges of the pan and "fall" in the middle. When this happens, (which it did when I made them last night) I just take a fork and push the edges down so that it is all flat and even. I'm not sure what makes this happen sometimes and other times not. Maybe you have an idea?

PS. I even eat these sometimes, and I don't usually like chocolate. :)

Tiny Talk Tuesday

Welcome to Tiny Talk Tuesday~our contribution to it anyway. I'm hoping my link will work this week. I finally gave up on it last week.

This past week we attended church camp via livestream internet. It was a HUGE blessing to our family~even Kaite! I think she was very sleepy when I snapped this picture-she doesn't sit so still when daddy is preaching. She told me she was "joying" it. :)

Kaite does not hesitate to use her charms to her advantage. She has recently decided that she likes to sleep in mommy and daddy's bed, and will come up with all sorts of reasons why she "needs" to do so. Last night, as dark was wearing on she climbed up in daddy's lap and started in..."Daddy, you besst I ever seen!" And then, she started in on mommy..."You besst cooker, besst launnry, besst comb hair, besst painter" and so on.Kammy and daddy have school for Rancher in the evenings. Sometimes daddy is busy and Kammy has school by herself. She gives him treats when he "croperates". She told me that he got an A+ in sitting but failed in fetching.Kaite was putting handfuls of Rancher's dry dog food in his water dish, "making cereal" she said. One day recently, Kaite came and gave me the sweetest little kiss just out of the blue. I'm thinking, "wow...how sweet" and then she leans back, looks at me and says, "Princess. Kiss. Frog." Popped my balloon! :)Kammy received a surprise treasure this week from a distant (far away) second cousin of mine. Kammy is completely thrilled with the beautiful horse quilt Mary made her! I have no doubt she will treasure it always!

We were riding along in the truck listening to some bluegrass style music and Kammy said, "Ohh...that sounds like ranch music--music to my ears!"

In preparation for school, we all had our annual dental checkups this pat week. Kalli told the dental hygenist, "I really don't have a problem keeping my mouth open wide since I've been practicing for years and years!" Kalli is our now 9 year old conversationalist. :)

Today she misunderstood something I said and later when I repeated it, she said, "Sorry...I guess I misunderheard you."

How deep is the sea?

Of late, I have been troubled by the ever popular idea that God somehow lacks the power to deliver from sin--both sin committed and the sin nature. Perhaps we have failed our young people by making it look to hard, maybe they see pastors and christian day school leaders fall into gross sin and perversion all the while harping on "stuff and nonsense" -things that ought to remain strictly of personal preference or conviction. Maybe we try to hard to make everything black and white. Sin is black and white, God's Word is black and white, but there is a color known as gray--an area for God to speak to us as individuals. I am not a theologian, but God's Word is pretty simple.

He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Micah 7:19

So, our sins are cast into the sea....exactly what does that mean?

The story is told of a factory girl in Northern Ireland who was of frail health. The family doctor sent her on an extended vacation to the sea for the sake of her health. While there, she met the great physician and maker of the sea. He dealt with not just her body, but healed her heart. You see, she had a greater trouble, a spiritual one, old; yet ever new, universal; and yet oh so individual. Sheila O'Gahagan was not alone in this, for hers was the burden of a guilty conscience and unforgiven sin and we all have been one with her there. We ALL have failed to meet God's standards...His standard is the first and greatest commandment...that of loving Him with all our soul, mind and strength. We may attain to the 99% mark, but if we fail here, then we are guilty all along the line, on every count. Remember Pilgrim's Progress??? He did right in that he turned his back on the city of Destruction, but his journey toward the celestial city would have been much easier had he not the heavy load load on his back.

While on this vacation, Sheila was sitting one day by the cliffs of Giant's Causeway, one of the most beautiful spots on the coast of Northern Antrim. Below her the waves broke over the rocks showering up their silver spray. Sheila had her Bible open and read the verse above. She lifted her eyes and glued them for a moment to the distant horizon, in it's haze of blue. "Into the depths of the sea" she cried, "my sins are there!"

But what exactly does it all mean? Scientists tell us that there are parts of the sea too deep to be explored--too deep to even know their depths. The deepest known part of the sea is slightly less than 7 miles. You couldn't go down to the bottom. It is too deep for anyone--even for a scuba diver. The water pressure would crush you, just as the blood of Jesus 'crushes' our sin. If it were possible for the largest vessel in the US navy to be sunk there, it would be crushed like a child's matchbox car under a giant bulldozer. Light disappears 6,000 feet down and the water is inpenetrable by man-made light. It is as black as ink there and even darker. What an appropriate place for our sin, and this is exactly where God has promised to put them! "If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." It is also a promise of acquittal, which is much more wonderful even than forgiveness, as wonderful as that may be. The sinful past can be so dealt with that it is never allowed to raise it's head in condemnation again. "There is therefore now NO condemnation!" The past, with it's sins, mistakes, heartaches, sorrows, failures, dissappointments, ect., has gone and that FOREVER, buried in the unplumbed depths, NEVER to be remembered against us anymore!

Permit a word of warning here. If on the Divine side, our sins are to be remembered no more, then on the human side, they are to be committed no more. Amtinomianism is still an ugly word and in the realm of theology, it implies that "live as you please" spirit, using the grace of God in it's great abundance as an excuse. God grants salvation from sin, never salvation in sin. Salvation implies deliverance. "Shall we (justified ones) continue in sin?" asked the apostle Paul. Even though grace abounds? God forbid! Jesus said, "Go and sin no more!" A repentant person truly lives a repentant life! And why would we, after experiencing the matchless grace of God and the unfathomable depths of His forgiveness ever desire to return to the bondage of sin?!?!? It is not a matter of one day waking to the fact that he died to pardon, but waking to the fact that WE continue to slay him every time we sin. When we sorrow for that sin, he forgives like the scripture states AND He delivers--what other purpose would there be for his suffering if we had yet to live under the bondage of sin?