Modern Wife

Tag: Mammy Flanders’ Recipes

We inherited Mammy Flanders’ Recipe Box. My husband transcribed her handwritten recipes for everyone to enjoy. Click to download the ebook. We are trying each recipe out one by one, making adjustments as we go along.

  • Date Balls

    Date Balls

    Last Christmas, while gathered around the dinner table at Aunt Faye’s, we got talking about Mammy Flanders’ Date Balls. My husband said it was one of his favorite snacks Mammy made. Aunt Faye didn’t like it much, so it was always missing from her dessert spread during the holidays. My husband wanted to have a taste of them again.

    Aunt Faye brought out (gasp) Mammy Flanders’ recipe box, filled with handwritten recipes from several generations back.

    “Here,” she said. “You can take that home and go through it. It’s gotta be in there somewhere.”

    The cousins all looked longingly at Mammy Flanders’ recipe box. I myself was astounded at how easily it was to pry that heirloom recipe box from Aunt Faye’s hands, but she must have known it was in good hands. My husband felt a responsibility to give back to the family, so he transcribed Mammy’s recipes and posted it as an ebook for everyone to enjoy.

    Since then we’ve been going through the recipes one by one and trying them out. Give this one a try.

    Date Balls

    Ingredients:
    1/4 cup butter
    1 cup sugar
    2 eggs
    1 teaspoon vanilla
    ¼ teaspoon salt
    1 ½ cup ground dates
    3 cups rice crispies

    Cook all ingredients except rice crispies in frying pan over high heat for 10 minutes, stirring constantly to keep from burning. Remove from heat, then add the rice crispies and mix well. Once cool enough to touch, form into tight balls and roll in shredded coconut.

    Enjoy!

  • Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

    Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

    This recipe was passed on to me from my husband’s grandmother, who sent us care packages of her special Pumpkin Cookies every Halloween. Mammie used Crisco Oil and it made her cookies very moist and last for weeks. I used organic canola oil as a healthier alternative, and this makes the pumpkin cookies moist, light and fluffy. If you like your cookies crispy on the surface, use organic butter instead.

    This was previously posted at Pumpkin Cookies, but the way I had written it was confusing. I’ve revised the recipe to make it easier to follow. These Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies have become such a family favorite that I have a feeling I’ll be making several batches of it throughout the holiday season.

    Mammie’s Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

    Ingredients:
    2 cups organic sugar
    1 cup organic canola oil (or softened organic butter – 2 sticks)
    2 organic eggs
    2 teaspoons organic vanilla
    2 tablespoons raw organic milk
    1 can organic pumpkin
    2 teaspoons baking soda
    2 teaspoons baking powder, aluminum-free
    1 teaspoon salt
    2 teaspoons cinnamon
    4 cups organic all-purpose flour
    1 large bag semi-sweet organic chocolate chips

    Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

    Preheat oven 375 degrees F. Whisk sugar, canola oil, eggs, vanilla, milk and pumpkin together until well incorporated.

    Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

    Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and stir slowly with a spatula or a wooden spoon until smooth. Add chocolate chips and mix.

    Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

    Spoon rounds onto buttered cookie sheet (use wax paper covers to grease the baking sheet) and bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Take the cookies out as soon as they are showing a bit of brown around the outer edges.

  • Poodle Turds

    Poodle Turds

    Okay, they’re not really poodle turds. This is my mother-in-law’s recipe for no-bake chocolate-oatmeal cookies. The lady had a sick sense of humor, and played many pranks in her day. A few years back she used to sell homemade Poodle Turds at PoodleTurds.com. My husband Photoshopped my smile on a poodle and Buttons, the smiling mascot was born, selling Poodle Turds like hotcakes.

    Ingredients:
    2 cups organic sugar
    1/2 cup raw milk
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    1/2 cup (1 stick) organic butter
    5 level tablespoons cocoa powder

    Combine the ingredients above in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Let it go to full boil for 2 minutes while stirring continuously.

    Remove from heat and quickly mix in:

    1 teaspoon vanilla
    3 cups instant oatmeal

    Scoop cookies onto wax paper and let it harden as it cools.

  • Pumpkin Cookies

    Pumpkin Cookies

    This recipe was passed on to us from my husband’s grandmother, who sent us care packages of her special Pumpkin Cookies every Halloween. Mammie used Crisco Oil and it made her cookies very moist and last for weeks. I used organic canola oil as a healthier alternative, and this makes the pumpkin cookies moist, light and fluffy. If you like your cookies crispy on the surface, use butter instead.

    pumpkin cookies

    Mammie’s Pumpkin Cookies

    Ingredients:
    2 cups sugar
    1 cup canola oil (or butter – 2 sticks)
    2 eggs
    2 teaspoons baking soda
    2 teaspoons baking powder
    1 teaspoon salt
    2 teaspoons cinnamon
    2 teaspoons vanilla
    2 tablespoons milk
    1 can pumpkin
    4 cups flour
    1 large bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

    Preheat oven 375 degrees F. Mix well all ingredients, except flour and chocolate chips. Add flour slowly until smooth. Add chocolate chips and mix. Spoon onto greased cookie sheet and bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Take the cookies out as soon as they are showing a bit of brown around the outer edges.