Tag: Cookies

Cemetery Recipes: Memaw’s No Bake Cookies

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Cemeteries have a way of surprising me.

I expect to find history, love stories, and sometimes even a bit of mystery—so it’s always surprising to me to find a recipe carved in stone before its creator has even passed.

This isn’t the first gravestone recipe I have tried where the person is still alive, and that fact has made it a bit tricky to find more information about who the gravestone belongs to.

I stumbled upon this gravestone recipe while browsing Reddit. It caught my attention right away—not just because it featured a full recipe, but because the person behind it, Memaw, is still alive. I’ve learned that this gravestone is located in Maple Hill Cemetery in Huntsville, Alabama, but I still have so many questions!

Who is Memaw? Why, did she decide to engrave her cookie recipe before she passed? I have no idea, but you know I had to try out the cookie recipe for myself.

  • Memaw's No Bake Cookie recipe on a gravestone.
    Memaw’s No Bake Cookie Recipe on a gravestone. Photo by Reddit user HighImpedence-AirGap.

Here is the recipe, as inscribed on the gravestone:

Memaw’s No Bake Cookies

  • 2 C. Sugar
  • ¼ C. Cocoa
  • ½ C. Milk
  • 8 T. Butter
  • 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
  • ½ C. Peanut Butter
  • 2-3 C. Oats

Mix sugar & cocoa in a saucepan. Add butter and milk. Bring to a boil for 1 ½ minutes. Add remaining ingredients & mix well. Drop by spoonfuls on wax paper.

Peepa Approved.

In the Kitchen

This isn’t my first time trying out a no-bake cookie recipe from a gravestone. Last time, I tested a recipe for Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies, which turned out to be an easy and delicious treat. (You can read all about that kitchen adventure here.) Since I had a great experience with those, I was excited to see how Memaw’s cookies would compare.

Since I already had experience making no-bake cookies, I knew what to expect, but I still followed Memaw’s instructions exactly. The recipe is very straightforward, using just a few ingredients I already had on hand, so the mixture came together quickly. Within minutes I had a batch of rich, chocolaty cookies setting on my counter.

Making Memaw's No Bake Cookies

They are so tasty, and the peanut butter adds just the right amount of creaminess.

I haven’t been able to track down any information about Memaw or Peepa, but I can only imagine the stories behind this sweet little tribute. Maybe Memaw is a master cookie-maker in her family. Maybe she wanted to leave something fun behind for future generations. Either way, I love the idea that her recipe will live on—literally carved in stone.

If you’ve never made no-bake cookies, Memaw’s recipe is a perfect place to start. They’re quick, delicious, and don’t require an oven—what’s not to love? This recipe is also proof that food, family, and tradition can be just as lasting a legacy, as a date and name.

With graving season now in full swing, I’ll be taking a little break from cemetery recipes for the summer. Between road trips, photography, and tracking down stories in person, I just won’t have time to be in the kitchen as much—but don’t worry, I’ve got a bunch of great cemetery adventures to share with you along the way.

Until then, happy graving—and don’t forget to pack snacks!

Thanks for reading!

Cemetery Recipes: Annabell’s Snickerdoodles

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Today’s gravestone recipe is another one I have seen floating around on the internet pretty frequently. Since the success of last month’s cookie recipe, I thought it might be time to try another one, this time with some baking involved. 

I am pretty sure I have had a snickerdoodle before, but I don’t recall when. I asked my mother if she had ever made them before, and she said yes, quite often actually. So for today’s gravestone recipe, I try my hand at making Annabell’s Snickerdoodles.

This tombstone treat comes from the gravestone of Annabell R. Gunderson of Willits, California. Found in Willits Cemetery, this gravestone recipe takes up the entire backside of Gunderson’s grey granite gravestone.

Annabell Gunderson passed away at the age of 87, in 2007 after a battle against an unidentified illness.1 In life Gunderson was very active in her community, volunteering her time to multiple organizations. In particular with the St. Anthony’s Ladies Guild.1 Gunderson was known to especially love helping with the yearly enchilada feed—a fundraiser where trays upon trays of enchiladas are made and sold.1 

She is lovingly remembered as a great cook and for her hugely popular snickerdoodles. A recipe that now lives on, etched in stone.

  • Annabell’s Snickerdoodles recipe on the back of Annabell Gunderson’s gravestone. Photo by Find a Grave contributor JDFH. Photo used with permission.

Here is the recipe as engraved on the tombstone:

Annabell’s Snickerdoodles

Mix thoroughly:

  • 1 c shortening
  • 1 c margarine
  • 3 c sugar
  • 4 eggs

Sift together and stir in:

  • 5 1/2 c flour
  • 4 tsp cream of tartar
  • 2 tsp soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Roll (softly) into balls the size of small walnuts.

Roll in mixture of 6T sugar and 6 tsp cinnamon.

Place 2” apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 375° for 8-10 min. or 400° for 6-8 min. until lightly brown, but still soft.

Secret is: Keep dough fluffy!

Making the Recipe

I spoke to my mom about making this recipe, and right away she was surprised at how much this recipe makes. She suggested I cut the recipe in half to make a smaller batch. Normally I do try to make the recipe as it is written, but I thought making half of this recipe would be more manageable for me in my small kitchen. After learning about Gunderson’s love of community and cooking, I think I understand why this recipe makes such a big batch. 

So after getting out my ingredients and figuring out the new measurements on my kitchen blackboard, I got started on mixing up a batch of Annabell’s Snickerdoodles.

The recipe is very easy to follow, and is very well written. I did have to soften my margarine and shortening in the microwave a bit so it would combine nicely with the sugar and then the eggs. I made sure not to heat them too much though, as I didn’t want to cook the egg at all. 

After that, I sifted in the dry ingredients till the mixture was well combined. I tried my best to not overwork the dough, keeping Annabell’s secret in mind.

Making Annabell’s Snickerdoodle gravestone recipe.

Now came the fun part! 

I made sure to mix the sugar and cinnamon very well and put the mixture into a dinner plate so I had lots of surface to roll the dough around. To form the cookies, I pinched off small parts of dough, rolling them between my hands into a ball and then rolled them in the sugar and cinnamon mixture. Then I shaped them a little more with my hands before placing them on the ungreased cookie sheet.

Making Annabell’s Snickerdoodle gravestone recipe.

I did flour my hands now and then while rolling the dough to try and stop it from sticking to my hands. I tried my best to space the cookies out evenly between two cookie sheets. I didn’t realize that the cookies would spread, so if I made them again, I would space them out a little more between multiple cookie sheets instead of only using two sheets.

I then placed both cookie sheets in the oven to bake at 375° for 10 minutes. I did a bit of washing up while I waited for them to turn a golden brown. 

Even though they did spread out a bit on the cookie sheet, it wasn’t terrible. After cooling on top of the stove for 10 minutes I was easily able to break them apart without ruining their shape too much. 

  • Annabell’s Snickerdoodles, fresh out of the oven.

These cookies turned out amazing! I was a little bit daunted by the amount of work that had to go into these. But, it turned out to be not as intimidating as I thought, and the result are some of the best cookies I’ve ever tried—especially right out of the oven.

They are soft and buttery, sweet with a hint of cinnamon. I don’t think they will last too long in my house, as I couldn’t eat just one. I love how they turned out and will definitely be making these again!

  • Annabell’s Snickerdoodles

This recipe would be great for someone looking for the perfect cookie for a bake sale or cookie exchange. They would also be a fun cookie to make in the kitchen with kids, as I am sure they would love rolling the dough around into the sugar and cinnamon. 

Have you tried this recipe before? Do you have a favorite snickerdoodle recipe? I would love to read about it in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

References:

  1. Annabell Gunderson obituary | The Ukiah Daily Journal

Cemetery Recipes: Peanut Butter Cookies

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I have been craving peanut butter lately so I thought it would be a perfect time to try another gravestone recipe. This recipe went viral in June of 2023 after Twitter (now X) user SoloFlow786 replied to a Stephen King tweet with a photo of a peanut butter cookie gravestone recipe. The photo quickly went viral, amassing 500k views and over 5,000 likes.1 

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to learn much about this recipe, or whose gravestone it is written on. According to Rosie Grant, of Ghostly Archive it might be inscribed on a gravestone somewhere in Raymond, Maine. I did find that after this tweet went viral, many folks tried their hand at making this recipe, with great success. 

Interestingly, some users on Reddit think this recipe is a variation of an old Betty Crocker recipe from the 1950s. From what I could find, the recipes are a bit similar. The gravestone version does omit a few things and has the added touch of the chocolate kiss.

  • Gravestone engraved with peanut butter cookie recipe. Photo credit: Twitter/X user @SoloFlow786

Here is the recipe, as written on the gravestone:

Peanut Butter Cookies

  • 1/2 C Brown Sugar
  • 1/2 C White Sugar
  • 1 Tbsp Sugar
  • 1/2 C Crunchy Peanut Butter
  • 1/4 C Butter Shortening
  • 1 Egg
  • 1 C Flour
  • 1 Tsp Baking Soda

Mix in order given. Roll into balls, then roll in sugar. Cross mash with fork. Bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Place chocolate kiss on top of cookie while still warm.

This is a pretty straightforward recipe with few ingredients. So it didn’t take long to whip up a batch. The longest part of the process I found, was rolling the cookie dough into even-sized balls. 

The extra tsp of sugar that the recipe calls for, is for rolling the cookie dough into. For my batch, since it was St. Patrick’s Day on March 17th, I decided I would try adding a touch of green to be festive. I managed to find some green sanding sugar, but unfortunately, it was more of a pastel green. More for Easter than St. Paddy’s, so after baking the green colour had pretty much disappeared.

I spaced the cookies out evenly on two baking sheets. My batch made 19 cookies. I found my dough was a bit crumbly, so after mashing it with a fork, they didn’t keep a round shape and some crumbled a little bit. They didn’t spread out too much and kept their crumbly shape. They still taste delicious though. 

I found making this recipe was a little different for me. I often find myself talking aloud to the person whose gravestone the recipe comes from, but this time I don’t know who this recipe belongs to. I find talking out loud while I bake or cook helps me connect to the person. I hope one day I can find out where this gravestone recipe comes from. It would be lovely to be able to put a name to the gravestone.

Until then, I will highly recommend this delicious peanut butter recipe to anyone craving a sweet peanut butter treat.

Have you tried this recipe? What did you think?

Thanks for reading!

References: 

  1. This Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe Is Too Bizarre To Digest | Zee News