Not your usual suspects : Grandma B’s recipe #13

My youngest loves trying new things in the kitchen with me. Last week we decided it was time to try another recipe from Grandma’s box. It’s been a while since we tried one of Grandma’s recipes because the past few months have been a little nuts around here.

We looked thru some of the cards and decided to try something we hadn’t ever heard of before. “Graham Wafer Squares”. My mom informed me that she remembers these as “Funeral Squares” because it was something mennonite women would bring for the funeral dinner after the service. We weren’t sure if this was promising information or not.

At any rate, we made sure we had all of the ingredients and got started. In the midst of beginning the recipe, we decided to make some changes and make the squares our way.

You can see the recipe below. To those ingredients, we added chopped pecans to the filling, and a chocolate ganache sort of layer before the final graham cracker top layer. One issue: we weren’t sure what “ice” meant – glaze? royal icing? frosting? We used a cream cheese frosting to top the squares and it was a little too much. In the future, we may do something a little less rich.

Side note: I was especially happy to make a recipe that was credited to my Grandma’s sister, Aunt Betsy – who I loved dearly and spent a lot of time with in my childhood. Also, I can tell you that I think Aunt Betsy would have endorsed our changes. I believe I may have seen her “gild the lily” in her kitchen on more than one occasion.

Friends, these squares, especially with the chocolate and pecans, were wonderful! We loved them and will definitely make them again. Just reading the recipe, it’s hard to know what they will be like. I mean, graham crackers, with graham cracker filling doesn’t necessarily sound promising. But, I can tell you they are worth making – and you should try them! If you do, let me know what you think! 🙂

A few tips: We made these in a 9×9 pan. The chocolate layer was simply about a 1/2 cup of hot cream, poured over a 1/2 cup (ish) of chocolate chips, let the mixture rest a bit til the chocolate melts, whisk and ladle over the graham cracker mixture. I think a nice mixture of milk and powdered sugar with a bit of vanilla extract would work nicely for the glaze.

Grandma B’s Christmas recipes #12

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Well hello! I bet you’ve been wondering what happened to me? I’m so sorry to disappear for a bit – but the month of December was a whirlwind of craziness- but it was so much good and fun, I didn’t mind! So here we are and I haven’t blogged for a while! How about we talk Christmas?

When it comes to Christmas goodies – my girl, Mackenzie and I love to bake. I dare say that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, because my mom does too – and so did Grandma! This year we decided to make several of Grandma’s cookie recipes for our treats that we share with friends and family.

Here’s the list of what we made that were in her recipe box – some of which I’ve featured here before!

Ginger Cookies – always warm, chewy and delightful
Dad’s Oatmeal Cookies – which we dressed up for Christmas with coconut, pecans, craisins and white chocolate chips
Magic Layer Bars – some call these 7 layer bars – but Grandma’s version didn’t have 7.
Sugar cookies – we did a half batch of cutouts and had fun frosting them with my mom a few days after Christmas, so they didn’t make it onto the tray below.
Rocky Road fudge – This is the fudge with graham cracker bottom and marshmallows mixed in.

We also made Oreo Balls, Buckeyes, Egg Nog Cookies and rice Krispy treats. All of these goodies together made for a festive tray to share at Christmas! Here’s a Christmas hack for you: I also purchased a few goodies from Trader Joe’s to decorate the tray- mini chocolate mint stars and peppermint meringues. Man, do I love a pretty tray of Christmas Cookies.

Here’s the recipe for the Magic Bars – so simple, but definitely yummy! It won’t take much effort to try these! Let me know if you do! And Happy New Year!

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Grandma B’s recipes #4 & 5: Gilding the Lily

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A long time ago I learned the phrase “gilding the lily” from my Aunt Jean. (Of course it was in reference to food.) She told me about how her husband, my Uncle Ernie, used to spread preserves on the already magnificent cream buns that Grandma made.

Let’s pause here for a moment. My Grandma Brubacher used to make the best treat ever known to man. The cream bun. It is a sweet yeast roll with a delicious fluffy cream spread in the middle. Nothing else needed. Spreading preserves on a cream bun is a quality example of “gilding the lily”.

With that in mind let me tell you about my creations from Grandma’s recipe box this week. I made cookies: Butterscotch Oatmeal Drops. And I also made a fruit concoction called Polynesian Fruit Fluff.

Sunday after church we had company over for lunch- our pastor and a mutual friend of ours who was visiting from out of town. I’ve never felt so confident about using Grandma’s recipes in this setting, following her example of hospitality. Sunday lunch – what could be more like Grandma?

We had a cold lunch of sandwiches and pasta salad, that kind of thing. The fruit fluff and cookies were perfect on the menu! But, let me tell you what happened! Our pastor, Al, loved the cookies and the fluff so much – and he pulled an Uncle Ernie! He scooped a spoonful of the fluff right onto his cookie.

That’s right. He definitely gilded the lily. And he was quite happy about it!

Here are the recipes – and a few pictures for you to enjoy!

A few quick notes about the recipes: I added mini chocolate chips and white chocolate chips to the cookies instead of nuts. It seemed more festive. For the fluff, I did not use dream whip – I guesstimated the amount of cool whip and it seemed right. Also – I added mini marshmallows to the fluff!

Let me know if you try any of these recipes! I’d love to hear about it!

a bit of history · friends and loved ones · in my kitchen · Uncategorized

Begin Again

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2017 was one of the good ones. It was such a fun year for me. Really- it was probably pretty good for my friends and family, too. That was the year I baked a cake a week. Fifty-two bundt cakes in 2017. Many folks enjoyed my endeavors!

Not long after that I had a health situation and I just couldn’t do the extras. Things like cake baking were set aside – and I stuck to the basics. Since then – I’ve baked some here and there – but I’ve longed for a project like “Cake-a-Week”. I knew when the right thing presented itself, it would be obvious and it would feel right to dig in again!

Well, here we are and it’s time!

How do you make a fresh start? How do you begin trying something again, without putting too much pressure on yourself? I had so many thoughts about all of these questions, but I realized I just needed to stop over-thinking things.

So, in an effort to enjoy the process, I got out the recipe box. I read through the cards of several sections and picked out the first 45 recipes that I want to make! Goodness, I have no idea how long this project will take. And, I haven’t set many parameters at this point- only that I will NOT bake with raisins. Among all the cards, there are recipes with hard-to-find ingredients. There are recipes without instructions, only ingredient lists. And unfortunately, there are recipes that do not appeal to me. How will this all turn out? I DO NOT KNOW!

But do you know what I DO know? My heart has already been completely overtaken by these cards. They are handwritten by my grandmother, and the friends and family who loved her. Even more, they are a part of my history, and I’m learning so much about where I’ve come from. It is literally THE BEST!

Ready or not, I’m jumping in the deep end and getting started. Hopefully I won’t drown. I’m starting with the first recipes this coming week, so keep watch! You never know what I might make first! Whatever it is, it probably will have coconut in it – that or Dream Whip- both are very popular ingredients in Grandma’s recipe box.

For my Brubacher family: I’m being very careful to put the recipe cards in page protectors in a notebook for the duration of the project. That way I will be able to reassemble the box when I’m finished!