Grandma Leora came to Colorado with my folks to meet our son, her great grandson, who was fourteen weeks old. When Mom arrived, she had a cold so was afraid to interact with baby Dan, so Grandma kept him busy while I cooked. I was amazed that this 84-year-old could heft him! (The pediatrician had just called him “mighty mite.”)
I made whole wheat muffins for one meal. “Graham Gems,” she remarked. What a delightful name for them.
Among her keepsakes was probably her first “cookbook,” a tiny memorandum book where she jotted recipes and pasted in others from newspapers. Just seven pages in is her recipe for Graham Gems.
Grandma would have had a wood or cob burning stove so the temperature isn’t listed, but often in other recipes, “moderate oven.” Faint note at the end: “1 doz. Georgia,” so she got the recipe from her sister, Georgia Goff, who was a few years younger, still living at home.
Graham flour is ground more coarse than wheat flour. Something I didn’t know: It was named after Sylvester Graham (1794–1851), who was disgruntled when nutrients such as germ and bran were lost when making white flour for white flour. He believed that using all of the grain in the milling of flour and baking of bread was a remedy for the poor health brought on by changes in diet during the Industrial Revolution.
I don’t make them anymore since I’m gluten intolerant, but if I did, I’d call them Graham Gems.
Whole Wheat Muffins
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup melted butter
Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. In another bowl, mix milk, eggs, and melted butter. Fold into to dry ingredients just until combined, then fill an oiled dozen-cup muffin tin. Bake at 350 degrees 20 minutes.
Back then people ate concoctions we refuse to eat today, but look at the strength and stamina they had!!
You are so right, GP!
I was kind of surprised neither recipe uses any baking soda. All the leavening from an egg or two?
Hmm, you’re right.
The recipe calls for a whole tablespoon of baking powder which helps considerably.
Although I don’t see it in the handwritten recipe. 🙂
Having a recipe in the person’s own handwriting makes it all the more special.
It sure is!
The muffins sound delicious.
They were. I wish I could still enjoy them. Gluten free flour just isn’t the same.
Truly a gem.
Bless you, Alan.
What a memory, Joy and what a recipe! I find the simpler the recipe and the fewer the ingredients, the better the outcome. I’ll need to whip up a batch…they sound so wholesome and just the thing to have with a cup of tea. xo to you! 💕
Finding the recipe triggered the memory, and guess who is the caretaker of Grandma’s diaries as well!
Love it!!! 🥰
I immediately noticed the heft of Baby Dan as Great-Grandma held him. I like whole grain bread. I should look for graham flour.
Breast fed and no solids at this point. Guess he needed more exercise!
That’s a lovely photo of Leora with your son. She was so organized with her recipes! 🙂
They were really kind of a mess, a lot like mine.
You and me both. I have a pile of recipes in the cupboard under the cough drops. 🤣
Missing you. Is all OK?
Thank you, Gail. We’re both aging gratefully, with a couple of health challenges each, but we’re doing okay.
Gracefully too, I bet. Us too. Looking forward to actual spring here in Southern Ontario. Prayers and hugs.🙏🤗
With the better weather here as well, he took a tumble while raking leaves out of ground cover and has abrasions on top of his head and one arm. Of course, he’s seen enough doctors so we patched him up her at home. Blessings to you, Gail! (Meadowlark Songs: A Motherline Legacy is due out next month–7 generations of grandmothers!)
This is a rather late comment to this post. I think I recognize a “large” box of Drew,s Chocolates on the table. Helen Drew used to come out to the farm and I would go with her to the pond and help her fish. I don’t think I have had Drew’s candy since high school.
I knew Helen Drew loved to fish, but I didn’t know where. What fun!
Do you think I am right about the white box with black print and graphics ? I remember a sketch of the home/“candy factory”.
It sure could be, but I don’t remember them bringing any that trip. Those boxes were sturdy enough to keep things in. I still have some in the basement!
https://joynealkidney.com/2018/11/01/drews-chocolates-dexter-iowa/
Oh, I see. Maybe a “button box”. Mom’s button box was a favorite to search through as a pastime on a rainy day. It was a round tin with lid, maybe an empty fruitcake box. Buttons, pins. bobbins, etc. it was kept in the “cubby hole” above the stairway to cellar. I went through it so many times I had the buttons memorized ! Next time we are in Dexter we’ll try to get a pound of Drew’s for old times sake. I hope someone still operates it. For many years it was Mom and Dad.’s friends, the Tegges family.
Drew’s is doing quite well these days, about the only place in Dexter that is. Folks also mention eating at the Rusty Duck, which is next to where Eisenbergs was. They’re only open for supper but they are terrific.