There's nothing more comforting from my childhood than the memory of Sunday lunches and holiday meals at my grandmother, "Mama Jo's" house. She resides in memory care now and didn't write down many of her recipes, so I cling to the comfort of her handwritten banana pudding recipe I do have. I hope these Thanksgiving snack and dessert recipes we've collected from a few residents at Blakeford Senior Living give you a little taste of comfort to this holiday season.
Sugar ‘n Spice Nuts
Resident’s Name: Jan Musik
Resident’s Age: 77
Number of Grandchildren: 4
Unique Fact: “This has been requested yearly by my family since I first made it in 2008. I also
sent it with my grandchildren when they went off to college!”
Reference: Taste of Home Magazine, Holiday Recipes 2008
Ingredient List:
¼ cup of packed brown sugar
½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1 egg white
1 cup of salted cashews
1 cup of pecan halves
1 cup of dry roasted peanuts
½ cup of dried cranberries
Instructions:
1. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, and cayenne; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the egg white; add nuts and cranberries. Sprinkle with sugar
mixture and toss to coat.
3. Spread in a single layer on a greased baking sheet.
4. Bake at 300 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown, stirring once.
5. Cool.
6. Store in an airtight container.
Yield: 3/12 cups
Pumpkin Pecan Cookies
Resident’s Name: Judy Castle Stubs (the following two recipes are from her)
Resident’s Age: 86
Number of Grandchildren: 1 granddaughter who lives in Cookeville
Unique Fact: “I love baking cookies and trying new recipes. My friends here are my ‘jury,’ and
all of them seemed to particularly enjoy these cookies.”
Ingredient List for the Cookies:
1 egg
1 cup of brown sugar
½ cup of white sugar
1 tsp. of cinnamon
2 ½ cups of flour
1 ½ cups of pecans, coarsely broken and toasted
½ cup (one stick) of butter, softened
¾ cup of pumpkin puree
1 ½ tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
Ingredient List for the Butter Cream Icing:
½ cup of softened butter
1 tsp. of good-quality vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
1-2 tbs. of heavy cream (or milk)
Instructions for making the cookies:
1) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2) Line baking sheet(s) with parchment paper.
3) In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugars.
4) Beat in the egg, pumpkin puree and vanilla.
5) In a separate mixing bowl, combine the salt, baking powder, cinnamon and flour. Add
these dry ingredients to the other mixture and mix until well combined.
6) Add the pecans and mix well.
7) Using a medium size cookie scoop, place cookies on the prepared cookie sheet. If you
don’t use a cookie scoop, you can drop them from a large spoon.
8) Bake for about 12-14 minutes. Don’t overbake!
***While they are baking, make the icing. Using a stand or hand mixer, combine ingredients
until fluffy and smooth.
9) When cookies are done and completely cool, put a big “dollop” of icing on each cookie.
The easiest way to ice the cookies is to put the icing into a sandwich-size plastic bag
and snip a tiny portion of one corner.
Bread Pudding Pumpkin Pie
(also from Judy Castle Stubbs)
Unique Fact: “This recipe was given to me many years ago where I grew up in the panhandle
of Nebraska. It is easy to prepare and a great combination of bread pudding and pumpkin pie –
the kind of ‘stick to your ribs’ food that can be enjoyed when a blizzard rages outside… or not.”
Ingredient List:
½ of a loaf of raisin bread, cut into cubes
2 eggs
1 cup of pumpkin
Ginger, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg to taste
1/3 cup of pecans or walnuts – big pieces
½ cup of brown sugar
1 can (12 oz.) of evaporated milk
1 tsp. of vanilla
Instructions:
1) Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
2) In a 9-inch pie plate or round baking dish sprayed with Pam (or buttered), place the
bread cubes.
3) In a medium bowl, combine the sugar, eggs, milk, pumpkin and spices.
4) Pour mixture over the bread cubes – lightly toss to coat all cubes with this mixture.
5) Sprinkle with nuts.
6) Bake for about 25 minutes or until the knife comes out clean.
7) Cut into wedges.
8) Serve with whipped cream.
Cranberry Fruit Conserve
Resident’s Name: B.J Taylor
Reference: originally from the kitchen of friend Mary Dickson
Ingredient List:
1lb of fresh cranberries (picked over and washed)
1 ½ cups of water
2 ½ cups of sugar
1 cup of seeded raisins, chopped
1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped
Grated rind and juice of 1 orange
Grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
1 cup of chopped walnuts
Instructions:
1) Cook cranberries in water until skin pops open.
2) Add sugar, raisins, apple, orange rind and juice and lemon rind and juice.
3) Boil together for fifteen minutes.
4) Remove from heat and add walnuts.