By Allie Webb
As the daughter of a church minister, I often was invited to go home with various families after church on Sunday morning to play with their children. It was always a wonderful way to spend the day. But as I think back to those days many years ago, I realize, I often ended up in the kitchen spending time with their mothers instead.
One of the ladies I adored was Mrs. Roebuck. A petite, energetic red head with four boys of her own, who never seemed to stop. But on my Sunday visits to her home, she would always take the time to bake cookies.
I’m sure I was more a hindrance than a help, but she always let me stir the cookies as they bubbled on the stove. Her wonderful recipe was one that is still my favorite fifty years later. And the cookies many of my friends still ask me to make today.
What they called a ‘No Bake’ recipe with chocolate, peanut butter and instant oatmeal. It doesn’t sound that appetizing, but the taste was delicious. The aroma would fill the room as I spooned them out onto wax paper to cool and harden. Once the glossy sheen appeared on the surface, you knew your taste buds were about to enjoy themselves.
And another family that was kind enough to invite me into their home was the Weavers. With six children to play with, I still managed to end up in the kitchen with their mother. A loving, motherly woman, she was an excellent cook.
Her treat for the day was white divinity. A small round ball made more of sugar than anything else. More of a candy than a cookie.
Mrs. Weaver would bustle around her small apartment kitchen, setting out pans and dishes along with all the ingredients. She was used to cooking for a large family and made sure no one would go without.
And don’t forget the wonderful pecans that she quickly set us children to shelling. Every candy had to be topped with a full pecan, like a royal crown.
We soon forgot that our hands were sore from cracking the hard shelled pecans as we rolled out the sticky white candy, dusting them with powdered sugar as though they weren’t sweet enough already.
Then stand back from the door as the entire family rushed into the small kitchen! So much fun –
Memories I’m sure many of us share from our childhood if we were lucky enough to have these kind gentle women in our lives. Then we grew up and passed the same delicious recipes along to the next generation of children to tempt their taste buds as well.
