J E Moores

Old Maine Recipes by Mammy Flanders J E Moores

This past Christmas we were all gathered around Aunt Faye's dinner table, enjoying our meal, when I asked if she had the recipe for Mammy's Date Balls. Aunt Faye made many of Mammy's dishes just as they had always been prepared, but because she did not like dates or raisins, Date Balls were always missing from the cookies and snacks on her counter. I have a fond childhood memory of making Date Balls with Mammy. I wanted to share Mammy's Date Balls with my family. Aunt Faye reached up inside a cupboard and pulled out Mammy's old recipe box that we all grew up with. All of us kids went "Awwwww!" when we saw it and started to reminisce the many times we had cooked with Mammy. Aunt Faye offered to let me bring the entire recipe box home so I could copy Mammy's old Maine recipes. Many of the recipes had only the ingredients, but the baking temperatures and times were in her head, not written on the card. We had to experiment with those recipes to figure out the missing information and do our best to fill it in, but that's part of the fun. Most are complete recipes ready to make and serve. You may also notice that most of the recipes are yummy snacks. Cookies, bars, cakes, candy, and pies fill up most of the recipe box. It is the snacks that stick in my mind most. Especially the sticky snacks. Helping Mammy as a child, I remember making Date Balls, Doughboys, Rice Krispie squares, and Poodle Turds together. I now enjoy cooking with my daughter. Having these family recipes add to the fun. When you cook with your children you are creating a lifetime of memories. Date Balls are an easy and fast no bake cookie. Takes about 15 minutes from start to snack. Kids love to roll them up into the coconut. They taste great, too. I hope these recipes inspire you to make something sweet with someone sweet in your life. I pass my family's recipes on to you, so you can share them for many generations to come.