Sweet Grammy - Blonde Brownie Recipe

My Grammy

Genevieve Charlotte  1918 – 2012

A generation is swept away with the fallen leaves on a chill breeze

No longer there to pass the time to

Share their wisdom, their view of a world that now travels at hyper-speed,

Sit with confusion and pain

Melancholy and fatigue,

Mondays are for washing and hanging clothes on the line

Tuesdays are for hair and shopping

Wednesdays are for lunch with the ladies at the diner

Saturday is for mowing

Sunday is for baking and family,

Famous for banana bread and blonde brownies,

Lover of ice cream,

Bestow smiles on the young

Hold a daughter's hand ever so tightly,

Hang on to this place, this time,

Hold sway at the kitchen table with coffee and english muffins,

Fret over a husbands misgivings and whereabouts

"Hon, what are you doing now!"

“Oh, hon!” with a small foot stamp and clenched hands,

Tackle the lawn with a fierce gusto

Take down screens and put up storm windows

Take down storm windows and put up screens

Close the windows when it rains,

Struck by lightning as a girl

Hard times and displacement,

Plant spring flowers with a great granddaughter

Lover of flowers and houseplants

Johnny jump-ups reseed every year, planted by her son when he was 5,

Look with delight at a babies and toddlers

Laugh with innocence at silly jokes

Ready for a hand of Old Maid

Busy grandchildren with coloring books and crayons,

Worrying,

Summer blueberry muffins

Store more "junk" in the attic,

Married for 74 years,

Poppy walked from New York to Connecticut to court Grammy,

Bent back and bent fingers,

Express frustration at your own elderly mother

Tipsy with a secret glass of wine

Wearing Emeraude perfume

Long hallway past the

Dark and quiet bedroom where Poppy slept into the afternoon due to his late hours playing cards or going to the casino,

Listening, always listening, listening for what is next, listening to stories of loved ones, listening to the radio, listening to know where loveds are and what they are doing,

Drinking black coffee, always

Until her final years when she switched to green tea,

Telling her troubles to the weeping cherry tree,

Bearing her arthiritis pain with nobility

Being ready to go when the "good lord is ready to take me"

Frustration exhalation of whfff,

Washing the dishes, drying the dishes,

Serving,

Making sure everyone is set,

A cookie for each hand

Reading mystery stories

Loving cardinals

Feeding the birds, squirrels and chipmunks,

I began this post  2 years ago and couldn’t find the right words, so I thought, but after re-reading, I thought it was like a poem.  My grandmother was a kind hearted special lady.  She lived a full life surrounded by her family – she was the glue that kept us together.  She baked blonde brownies, often and it seemed like she always had a batch ready in her rectangle Tupperware container on her dining room table.  I am certain she liked to make blonde brownies because they are so easy to make.  She sometimes liked to add coconut flakes and orange peel granules.

Grammy’s Blonde Brownies

Blonde Brownies

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup butter or margarine

2 tablespoons hot water, if using margarine

2 cups light brown sugar         

2 eggs                     

2 teaspoons vanilla

12 ounces chocolate chips

1 cup chopped nuts, if desired

Preheat oven to 350 °F.

Melt butter or margarine.

In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In large bowl, combine melted butter and brown sugar.

If using margarine add the hot water.

Blend in eggs and vanilla.

Add flour mixture gradually, mixing well.

Spread in 13"x 9” greased or parchment lined baking pan.

Sprinkle with chocolate chips and nuts, if using.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Cool in pan and cut into squares.

The last batch of brownies I received from Grandmother.