I love desserts that you can make on the spur of the moment, with ingredients you already have in your kitchen (like the recipe for coffee cake below). The ones where you don’t need to make a special trip to the store to find an uncommon or rarely used ingredient.

For instance, I love the flavour of pistachios, but rarely keep them on hand in my cupboard. Walnuts, on the other hand, are more likely to be found year-round in my kitchen. If a recipe calls for nuts, I know I’m bound to have some walnuts I can use.

Or what about an ingredient like rosewater? It sounds like it would create an exotic dessert, but who keeps rosewater in their pantry?

Sometimes a recipe might call for an unusual tool or utensil. If you don’t already have it on hand, you may not bother going to the trouble of buying one. You’re more likely to simply skip a recipe which calls for a giraffe-shaped cookie cutter or a UFO-shaped baking pan.

A few times at country fairs I’ve bought rosettes, a scrumptious German/Scandinavian dessert which is like a sweet fritter. Making it requires having a special utensil called a rosette iron. You dip the iron in batter to create the rosette shape and then deep fry it. I love those fritters, but I think I’ll pass on buying the utensil; I just wouldn’t use it often enough.

Sometimes we think that God can only use us if we have some special skill. If we don’t have a certain talent, we figure God will just pass on using us. We sometimes think He’s only interested in using those gifted with high-profile abilities.

But rest assured that you already have everything you need to carry out the tasks God has for you. You don’t need some hard-to-acquire skill or unusual talent. He’s already equipped you with the tools you require to fulfill the mission He has in mind for you.

Hebrews 13:21 says: “May he equip you with all that you need for doing his will. May he produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to him.”

Along with the innate qualities God has instilled in us, He’s also given us the Bible to supply us with the wisdom we need to live out His will.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

If you don’t have a certain quality or skill in your “cupboard” that others have, don’t worry. You don’t need it. With Jesus living inside you and with the wisdom of the Scriptures to tap into, God has supplied you with all the ingredients needed to create a masterpiece out of your life!

The Faith Cafe’s “You Already Have What You Need” Coffee Cake

Here’s a recipe that you can probably make with ingredients you already have on hand in your kitchen. Many coffee cake recipes call for sour cream, which I usually don’t have in my fridge. I rarely have buttermilk, either, so I just use the milk/vinegar shortcut offered here.

2 cups brown sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup butter
2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup buttermilk (or 1/2 Tbsp vinegar and enough regular milk to fill 1 cup)
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Combine the first four ingredients to make a crumbly mixture. Take out 1/2 cup of this mixture and reserve it for the top of the cake.

Beat buttermilk (or soured milk) and egg together lightly. Stir in soda. Add all of this to the crumbly mixture, blending thoroughly. Fold in nuts.

Pour into a greased 9-inch square pan. Sprinkle with the reserved 1/2 cup crumbly mixture.

Bake at 350º F for 45-50 minutes or until a tester inserted in the centre comes out clean.

© 2020 Lori J. Cartmell. All rights reserved.