Molasses Drops & Coffee Cakes: Grandmothers' Treasures

I loved their home. Everything smelled older, worn but safe; the food aroma had baked itself into the furniture.  ~Susan Strasberg

I have in my possession a treasure. Its name is simply, Mamie's Cookbook. It belonged to my maternal grandmother.  Her parents christened her Alice Evelyn, but she was called Evelyn. Her grandchildren affectionately called her Mamie, the name my oldest brother - her first grandchild - gave her when he was a baby learning to talk. For the longest time, I thought it was her given name.

One quiet afternoon before Christmas, as Katie and I sipped tea, we carefully pored over each fragile page of Mamie's cookbook. I'm not sure where my grandmother acquired it. Across the top of each careworn page is inscribed: "D. of V. Cook Book". I asked my mother what "D. of V." meant, but she did not know. The book is covered in brown paper, frayed and torn in places and held together by twine threaded through the binding. The original deep blue paper cover is gone - only small, brittle fragments remain and continue to chip away. The pages, dotted with evidence of spills and splotches of sauces or batter, contain printed recipes from contributors whose identities are marked only by their initials. Mamie added her own favorite recipes clipped from newspapers and magazines or from packages of flour or baking soda boxes. The scotch tape securing them in place is golden-brown with age. Many pages are filled with recipes inscribed in pencil by my grandmother's own beautiful hand. Often there is a name of a friend or relative attached to a recipe along with a date - my great grandmother's recipe for spice cake is there ... add 1 tsp all kinds of spice. Most of the recipes were added in the 1920s and 30s. There are free standing pages typed or hand-written (some by my mom or my aunt) inserted here and there. Many of the recipes do not indicate oven temperatures and instruct the 'cook' to bake in a moderate oven until golden or browned. I love this cookbook.

I love this cookbook, because it keeps Mamie, who passed away when I was 12 or 13, alive in my mind and in my heart. I love seeing her penmanship. I love how her words are immortalized allowing me to introduce my children to a dear great grandmother they have never known. Katie has discovered how clever Mamie could be by whipping up a tasty dinner menu using only the ingredients she had stored on her 'emergency shelf' when a 1936 storm prevented her from heading out to the store to shop for food.

 

 A portion of her menu is hidden beneath the newspaper clipping. I am including her note and menu here:

The following menu was worked up from the emergency shelf on a storm day when I couldn't get to the store - 1936

 Very delicious menu

Creamed Shrimp Patties
Baked Spaghetti and Cheese
Scalloped Tomatoes
Hot Sour Milk Biscuits
Vanilla Pudding with Strawberry Sauce
Tea

Katie and I giggled at how well stocked my grandmother must have kept her emergency shelf. Not sure we could pull off on a whim as complete a meal as Mamie did with items stored in our pantries! 

Every Christmas I bake Freda Foley's Molasses Drops. Freda Foley's recipe is not included in Mamie's cookbook, but she was a friend of my grandmother's and the recipe has been passed down through the generations. No other baked goods conjure up the spirit of Christmas like these cookies do. The mere aroma of the batter, a fine mixture of molasses, cloves, ginger and cinnamon, has the power to melt the heart of even the most sour-faced Scrooge.

They are simply delicious and delightful.

 

There are a few cookies and cakes that we traditionally bake at Christmas time that we sometimes never get around to making. And that's okay. We almost always make Buckeyes, for example, but once in awhile it is permissible to not include them in our repertoire of holiday sweets. But not so Freda Foley's Molasses Drops! Christmas just wouldn't be the same without them. Another Christmas must-have is Margaret  McMahon's Coffee Cake. The recipe I have is written on the back of a yellow flier advertising an Oil Change and Lubrication Special for $7.95 at a Shell gas station that my husband, Jim, managed many years ago in Detroit, Michigan. It is written in Jim's handwriting and yes, he inadvertently misspelled the last name by omitting the Mc!

My family has been nibbling on Margaret McMahon's Coffee Cake every Christmas morning since we had babies in our house. My husband's Aunt Kathie (his mother's sister) was kind enough to send me a note informing me of Margaret Ann McMahon's identity. She is Jim's mother's first cousin. Her mother, Mary Sexton Mahoney is the sister of Jim's "Grandma K" (Catherine Ann Sexton Kilsdonk). A big slice of this coffee cake along with a few good, strong cups of coffee have provided much-needed stamina to my husband and me on many early Christmas mornings when the children were little and the opening of gifts could take hours. We nibbled on it this year as we waited for our breakfast casserole to come out of the oven. I can't show you a picture of it, because there is no more to show! It never lasts very long on the cake plate. However, I will include the recipe for it and the Molasses Drops at the end of this post.

And so, I am grateful for my grandmother and Jim's dear cousin, for introducing us to their own delectable recipes and those of their friends and relatives. Friends have mentioned to me how they, too, have old, family recipes that have been handed down through generations. Delicious recipes that have stood the test of time and connect us in a palpable way to those from our past; allowing great grandmothers to reach out to the great granddaughters they have never known, but perhaps dreamed of on stormy nights in 1936. May God bless all our Mamies, and Grandma K's, Freda Foleys and Margaret McMahons. May the souls of those who have departed this world rest in peace and may good health and cheer be granted to those who are still with us. 

Freda Foley's Molasses Drops

350 degree oven

3/4 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

4 tbsp molasses

1 egg

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp each cloves, ginger and cinnamon

1 tsp salt

Roll in small balls and dip in sugar. Bake 2 inches apart about 10 - 12 minutes. Cool on cookie pan a few minutes. (I bake them on parchment paper and a little more than 12 minutes so they come out crispy).

 Margaret Mahon's Coffee Cake

1 cup shortening or butter

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

3 cups sifted flour (I don't sift All-Purpose Flour)

3 tsp baking powder

1 cup milk

Mix in order, beating well after each egg. Fill angel food pan (or bundt pan) that has been well greased and floured with 1/2 inch of batter. Spread on batter 3 tbsp sugar, 3 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 cup chopped nuts (I usually use walnuts). Cover with remaining batter.

Bake for 70 minutes at 350 degrees. While warm turn pan upside down and let cake fall out.

ENJOY!