Today’s recipe tastes even better than it looks.
Its name is Easy Cherry Dessert, and it comes from a very special cookbook in my collection.
After my grandmother died, I was allowed to go through her house to see if there were any things I would like before her estate was dismantled. In one of the cabinets was a large pile of newspaper clippings and what appeared to be random papers. I noticed that many clippings had recipes on them, so I stuffed the whole pile into a grocery bag and took it home.
Sorting through this pile of recipe clippings spanning thirty or forty years, I noticed colored sheets of paper that were all the same size. They turned out to be what remained of a recipe book so thoroughly used that it had simply fallen to pieces. I discovered the Index page and used it to organize the pages. What I ended up with is the cookbook shown here.
It has no organization name on it, but I assume that it was produced by Grandma’s church, Beaverdam Reformed Church in Beaverdam (Zeeland), Michigan. The cookbook contains the usual variety of home recipes found in such fundraiser publications. Favorite cookies, favorite pies, casserole dishes, and jell-O molds march through its pages, each with the contributor’s name dutifully listed below it.
What makes this book special to me is that it was used beyond all recognition even as a book. Even in tatters, it was saved and used. This book, to me, is infused with Grandma’s cooking prowess. Its dilapidated state is a witness to its earnest use.
And so I shall share it with you, Dear Readers.
A few notes on this recipe:
Thank you cherry pie filling is a brand, and its being listed merely indicates that it is meant to be cherry pie filling, not canned cherries. Also, Jiffy is a brand of baking mixes, notable in that their cake mixes are half the size of a normal mix. Therefore, if you decide to make this recipe and do not have Jiffy cake mix where you live, either use half a regular box of cake mix or use two cans of cherry pie filling in a 9×13″ cake pan and use the whole box on top.
1/4lb. of butter (or margarine) is one stick. (I use butter when I bake. Always.) If you decide to use margarine, never, ever bake with light margarine. The margarine is whipped with water to bulk it up, and your baked goods will turn out soggy. Very sad.
Although it says in the recipe to bake for about 45 minutes at 350F, mine took considerably less time to bake, more like 25-30 minutes. This is something to watch in these church cookbooks and handwritten recipe cards. Older ovens tend to cook more slowly. They run out of oomph, so what a cook thinks is 350F may actually be closer to 325F. So keep an eye on your cooking when making heirloom recipes.
This dessert turns out to be very rich, which should be no surprise, since it contains a stick of butter. Small servings work out quite well when accompanied by whipped cream, ice cream, or coffee.
I like this one. Easy, tasty, nostalgic.
Definitely worthy of Cookbook Obsession.
Lisa –
I love this post… just fantastic.
One of the things that is still a mystery to many of the women in my family is my grandmother in the kitchen. So often she worked in secret while baking, or wrote out recipes on the backs of soup can labels or random reciepts in an odd little shorthand that no one could recognize or understand. When she passed away (going on 13 years ago now), my mom and aunts were hoping to find some of her magic recipes in her home before they sold the house, but no luck. I certainly remember seeing some of the women get very excited while making baked beans, only to see teary disappointment on their faces once it was tasted… I didn’t get it then, but I do now. They’ve all spent so much time trying to re-create some of her best loved dishes all these years.
I’m so glad that you were able to find your grandmother’s recipes… that’s really fantastic and a great little legacy she left you.
Happy Thanksgiving… we miss you!
Noddea-
Thanks so much.
My family never made much of kitchen secrecy. We’ve always shared what we could, without leaving out That One Ingredient or That One Step. I never quite understood why you wouldn’t want to share your success and all the joy it brings.
I sort of understand now, though, that my grandma is gone, and there is one single cookie recipe that is just magic. I’m torn between sharing it with the world and keeping it just in the family, just for “us.”
Oh, I’ll share it eventually. My mom and several friends already have it. But I finally have an idea of what that kitchen secrecy can mean. It’s a little piece of history that nobody else has, like a happy family secret.
And simply *everybody* wants to know how to make those *fabulous* cookies.
I miss you all too. Happy Thanksgiving!
[...] I cooked them in my handy-dandy super-de-duper convection/toaster oven, which is capable of handling an 8-inch square baking pan. (Yes, just large enough for a Jiffy-cake mix!) [...]