Flashback Friday ~Family Heirloom

This week's Flashback is very special to me. While visiting my family in Louisiana we stopped in to see my Auntie Gussie. She is my Dad's only sister and never married. She lived with my grandparents most of her life and she and my grandmother were bakers and cooks extraordinaire! They cooked three meals and day and desserts too. There was always something yummy on the stove, in the oven or on the table when you arrived at their house. Christmas time was over the top with so many goodies it was hard to sample them all.

My visit happened to correspond to my brother's birthday and since I knew he'd be there as well, I made a Banana Cream Cheesecake for him - combining two of his faves. Because of this the conversation turned to baking and recipes. One thing led to another and before we left Auntie had given me a little book where she kept clippings and handwritten recipes.


I was so thrilled and honored! She has always been one to share good recipes with friends and family but this was over the top for me :-) I don't want to be stingy with these recipes and plan on sharing many here. I had twinge of guilt when I was able to go through the pages and I saw the inscription in the cover. My cousin Ray also loves to cook and has a blog of his own with his wife Peggy, Cappy and Pegody's World. Lil Ray...if you read this - we can share okay? Love ya and thanks for giving Auntie this cookbook to fill in.



In side are recipes written on the pages, magazine and newspaper clippings and my favorite of all - the recipes written on whatever was handy.


Some of the recipes on the pages I recognize as things Auntie made many times - like Date bars. Some are recipes I recognize as things other family members made many times like my grandmothers Hot Ziggerty Nut Bars. It was hard to decide what to make first, but I settled on this recipe for Old Fashioned Tea Cookies which I thought might be a version close to my Grandmother on my other side's and I do think it's close except my MaMa Nezat used more flour and rolled them flat.


The end product was fluffy, soft and old fashioned. The kind you'd love to fill your cookie jar with~



I also took some photos of some old photos while there, so I could have a copy too including this old one of my Auntie and Uncle Ray - Lil Ray's Daddy. She has it in a frame that says Po' Folks! Weren't they cute?


Old Fashioned Tea Cookies - as written

2 cups sugar
2 sticks oleo
4 eggs
4 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp soda
2 tsp vanilla

Mix in order given, beating each egg in well. Then add other ingredients. Roll out to 1/4 inch . Cut out as desired or in long strips. Bake in preheated oven (350°) about 15 minutes. Makes about 7 dozen. Note in parentheses after: I don't roll mine out. I drop from teaspoon on ungreased cookie sheet and flatten out with a glass dipped in sugar. (Suzy's note - I followed the directions in the parentheses!)

If you have a flashback of ANY kind that you'd like to share, please add your link below.



I'm joining in this week for
Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum

Don't forget about the Ice Cream Social I host every July - this year the weekend of the 16th & 17th. Any Ice Cream related posts are welcome. Here's a link to the previous years Socials.