My Grandma Mary grew up in an orphanage and didn't learn to cook until she got married. My grandfather's mother, Catherine taught her how to cook a dozen or so recipes that my grandmother pretty much stuck to her entire life. Fortunately they were all delicious.
Because of her Northern Plains training, she made cakes from scratch, but her baking started and stopped there. Except for Ranger Cookies, which she made for my Uncle Larry because they were his favorite.
She also never wrote down recipes. Everything was in her head. When I wanted a recipe, she’d tell me what she did and I’d write it down. My recipe writing skills weren’t so developed then so when I pulled out this recipe it was just a list of ingredients and the oven temperature. Ironically, this and pumpkin pie are the only baking recipes I have from my grandmother, neither of which do I think she ever made for me. When I baked the first batch though, I understood why my uncle loved these so much. Although, I think she must have added this recipe to her repertoire long after her lessons with Catherine. —Lori Lyn Narlock
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