Thursday was our last day of baking. We made 12 dozen Dunkable Brownies (don't mix double batches by hand, fools!).
We also made 8 dozen Lime Meltaways, a recipe in Martha Stewart's Holiday magazine. We messed up one batch by somehow adding powdered sugar instead of corn starch!
A week later, I drove Dad up to Bettsville, Ohio, to visit his relatives. We stayed at his sister, Judy's, house for a few days. He enjoyed it very much because he was surrounded with family and he enjoyed some of his favorite foods that he associated with home, including Sugar Pie and Rivels (a noodle and potato soup). Aunt Judy also had the traditional Baker favorites on her cookie platter: Chocolate Chip Cookies, Buckeyes, Whoopie Pies and more. He was extra tired, though, from all the medication he was on for his multiple myeloma.
One afternoon while he was napping, I brought out the Cookie Diary and a few of my cousins asked to read it. We flipped through the pages around the dining room table and had a few laughs. Aunt Judy copied her Buckeyes recipe into the diary for me and my cousin, Jill, added her recipe for No Bake Cookies. My sister and I had always called that School Fudge, and I didn't know what happened to my recipe so I was tickled to get Jill's version. And even though it wasn't a cookie recipe, I copied Aunt Judy's Sauerkraut Balls into the diary (there's that German heritage again!). I have yet to try them but they sounded yummy at the time.
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| Aunt Judy, Dad, Grandma Baker and Uncle Bobby, 1998. |
It was a nice visit - Dad's last, as it turned out. And little did we know it would be his last Christmas as well.
2 c sugar
1 stick oleo (margarine)
4 T cocoa
1/2 c milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c peanut butter
2 1/2 c oatmeal
Boil sugar, oleo, cocoa and milk for 1 1/2 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla, peanut butter and oats. Drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper.
Aunt Judy's Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls (Buckeyes)
1 stick margarine (1/2 c)
2 c peanut butter
3 c powdered sugar
1 12-oz package chocolate chips
Mix first three ingredients together and roll into small balls. Place in refrigerator to chill.
Melt chocolate in double boiler (or microwave for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes). Drop each peanut butter ball in chocolate to coat. Place on waxed paper to dry. Let cool and enjoy!
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