My heart always rested well on a small country gravel road that lead to a farmhouse nestled on top of a hill. Wooded lands, and rolling hills as far as the eye could see. I spent many years playing in the wooded area of my hometown. I felt at peace as the winds carried me to different places in the woods. As the winds swept me further into the woods, the aroma of her cooking swept me back into her kitchen. Softly I landed on an old worn out and tattered kitchen seat. Duct tape held the frayed seats together, with piles of Nashville Banner newspapers for seating comfort.
In Mammie's kitchen, the kitchen table had piles of unique kitchen spices and flavors. Food that had sat out since morning and a pitcher of sweet tea sat in the middle of the antique kitchen farm table.
I sat at the table taking in all the aromas and sounds of the kitchen. The turn knob radio played in the background, as Bill Monroe and Hank Williams songs graced her kitchen.
I watched Mammie as she cooked. She placed a lot of love and detail in what she loved to do most. Her arthritic stricken fingers never slowed her ability to grace us with some of her delicious home-cooked food.
She not only cooked for us but for many in the home town that she grew up in. She was Mammie to me, but to others, she was Aunt Sally or Mrs. Sarah. Mammie knew what good food was and she also knew what bad food was. Bad food was following a list of directions that were not her own design. If it didn't have lard or sugar, it wasn't good.
In the summer of 2009 my world collapsed as I watched her casket gently being lowered to the 6th foot mark. The bright red roses on her casket faded as dirt was being thrown on top of her casket. I sat as I remembered the breezes of the hill that swept me to and from the woods were like. I longed for the touch of her beautiful brown fingers and the comfort of her voice.
For those who knew her most, knew some of her best dishes. One that I just discovered this week. Nearly 11 years after her passing, I discovered a recipe that she had written down. Her recipe required commercial size cafeteria equipment that fed an army of people. I had to break down her recipe to make it compatible with a standard kitchen mixer. A Facebook page, Bread Baking, helped guide me into breaking down her recipe to one pound, instead of 10 pounds. 10 pounds of flours is close to 43 cups of flour! Converting grams to cups was rather an extensive challenge, but praise God for modern technology and Alexa.
Mammie's Sweet Roll Cinnamon Rolls:
Mix yeast into warm water for 2 minutes
Pour yeast mix, eggs and vanilla together. Mix well.
Add flour, sugar, salt and dry milk. Mix well and gently add in butter as mixer is on.
Pour out dough and knead for five minutes. Place in an oiled down bowl and flip. Let dough rise in an warm area for four hours or until dough has doubled.
Punch down dough and knead again for a total of five minutes. Let the dough rest.
Ingredients for filling:
Roll out dough into a thin layer. With two tablespoons of melted butter (or more), lather the dough with butter, but don't drench the dough down with butter. Sprinkle with sugar. cinnamon and brown sugar. Drizzle with 2 TBSP butter. Roll dough, and slice. Allow cinnamon rolls to rise again for another hour.
Icing Recipe:
Mix confectioner sugar, milk, salt, vanilla, and melted butter. If the icing is too thick, you can add a little more milk if desired. But once poured, icing will gradually thin out. It depends on what you like most.
Place cinnamon rolls in a 375 degree preheated oven for 10 minutes. Checking on cinnamon rolls. Do not allow rolls to overcook. They need to come out before they start to brown. While the cinnamon rolls are hot, pour icing on rolls.
