Passing recipes down from mother to daughter is a tradition as old as the Ozark hills. In honor of Mother’s Day, local women have shared old-fashioned recipes passed down from their mothers.

Judy Vaughn of Willow Springs recalls Sunday trips to the family farm, where Grandma Cora Cunningham grew her own apple trees and made homemade apple butter. “She had a woodpile for her wood cook stove. The pieces of wood Grandpa must have hauled in from a mill. They were small and we loved to play with them,” said Vaughn. “Poor Grandma, it probably took her all day Monday going around picking up the wood we scattered everywhere.”

Her grandmother passed along her instructions for making apple butter.

Cora’s Apple Butter

Peel, core and slice approximately 10 pounds of tart apples (such as Jonathan)

Sugar

Spices, if desired

Place a layer of apples in a saucepan, stockpot or roasting pan. Liberally cover them with sugar, amount depending on how sweet. Continue to layer apples and sugar until you reach the top of the pan. Put the lid on the pan. Set it on the cabinet or the back of an unheated stove overnight. The next morning, place the pan on the larger burner of the stove and turn it on low. Start cooking it really early, about 6 a.m. or 6:30 a.m. Let it cook for 12-14 hours. Don’t ever take the lid off of it and don’t stir it. After about 12-14 hours, take the lid off. Make sure the apples are cooked and hot. If you desire to add seasonings such as cloves, allspice and cinnamon, add them now. Ladle into jars. Put seals and lids on and it should seal as long as the apples are very hot.

“Grandma used to just ladle the apples into the jars and put a cinnamon stick down the middle,” said Vaughn, who noted the recipe can be made in a slow cooker today.

Vaughn also shared the noodle recipe her mother, Maye Thornton, used to make homemade chicken and noodles.

“She made the best chicken and noodles you ever put in your mouth,” said Vaughn.

“Momma always made everything,” added Vaughn, who remembered being envious of her fellow classmates who had store-bought bread.

“I could see in later years that I was the privileged one. We had everything right here at home,” said Vaughn. “I would not trade my raising for anything in this world. My mom and dad did not give us kids everything we wanted but they provided everything we needed. The best thing they provided us was a Christian home.”

Maye, who lived in the Oak Grove community outside of Willow Springs, died last year, but leaves precious memories behind.

Egg Noodles (used for Chicken & Noodles)

2 eggs

Pinch of salt

Pinch of baking soda

2-3 tablespoons fat, skimmed off of the top of the chicken broth

Flour

Stir the eggs, salt, soda and fat together. Add flour until it can be rolled out on a flour surface. Continue to add flour until it is good and stiff and not sticky. Cut into strips. Let the strips dry for at least an hour before dropping into broth.

“Mom would roll it really thin. Sometimes she would make it a day ahead of time. She would flour the top really well. Roll it up, wrapped in wax paper and put it in the refrigerator,” said Vaughn. “She would also make them and cut them up, wrap in wax paper and freeze them for future use.”

The broth should be at a rolling boil. Stir the broth as the noodles are dropped in to prevent them from sticking together. Turn the temperature down to low and let them cook for about 10-15 minutes. Stir again.

“When the noodles had cooked, Mom always poured cream into them to make them creamy,” said Vaughn.

Vaughn encourages young cooks to keep trying the recipes above, even if the first couple of attempts don’t go so well.

“It takes practice to make either one of them,” said Vaughn.

Jane McLaughlin of Mountain View said her mother, Rose Means, who lived in Illinois until her passing many years ago, instilled in her a love for reading.

“Mom was a hard worker,” said McLaughlin. “Her favorite relaxation was reading, a trait she passed on to me and to all her granddaughters.”

McLaughlin fondly remembers the big family dinners her mother hosted and a favorite dessert.

“This (pecan pie) is one of her favorites and one of mine because it is in her own handwriting on the back of a penny postcard,” said McLaughlin.

Pecan Pie

3 eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup blue label Karo syrup

1/8 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup pecan meats, coarsely broken

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup sugar

Mix all together; adding nuts last. Pour into a 9-inch unbaked pie shell. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce to 375 degrees and bake until knife comes out clean.

Christine Steele of Willow Springs chose to honor her mother-in-law, Florence Steele, wife of Harry B. Steele Sr., who taught her how to cook when Christine married her son.

“I was fortunate with my mother-in-law, Florence Steele,” said Steele. “When I married, I had just graduated from the University of Texas Medical School in Galveston as an x-ray technician and did not know how to cook anything. I made delicious toast.”

Florence, who was raised in Slater, Mo., where her family had the Chevrolet agency, graduated from Central Methodist College and taught school until her marriage and four sons and daughter were born.

“She was an excellent cook and the three meals a day that she provided were culinary gems – no lie,” said Steele.

Since Florence’s husband was the University of Missouri agriculture extension agent in West Plains, the family had a wonderful garden.

“I learned to cook from scratch from watching her,” said Steele. “I had some terrible disasters in the kitchen like any young bride, but with a family of five boys and one girl I soon learned to cook palatable meals.”

Steele selected her mother-in-law’s “Brown Sugar Pudding” recipe to share.

“My recipe box is filled with cards marked ‘from the kitchen of Mrs. Steele’ and the reason I have chosen this one is that it is simple,” said Steele. “If you need a quick dessert, it can be baked in a 350 degree oven in 30 minutes or less. It is not expensive; in fact, it is a cheapie, and quite tasty if you like caramel.”

Brown Sugar Pudding

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Butter, the size of an egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup pecans

Mix the above and put in a greased 8-inch by 8-inch pan.

Heat 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup water and 1 tablespoon butter until sugar dissolves and butter melts. Pour mixture over batter in pan. Bake at 350 degrees until the cake is done. The cake will rise to the top and the pudding will be on bottom.

“This was always served with real whipped cream, not Cool Whip, but I use Cool Whip because I usually don’t have whipping cream on hand or a cow!” said Steele. “I have refined this old-fashioned recipe that Florence Steele said their African-American cook at home made up.

“I make a box of spice cake mix from the recipe on the box, put it in an 11-inch by 15-inch or 9-inch by 13-inch pan and pour double the sauce over the batter,” added Steele. “It takes longer to cook so I have to plan ahead of my meal when I use cake mix.”

Joyce Dixon of Mountain View fondly recalls her mother’s reaction to company.

“As far back as I can remember as a little girl, my mother, Janet, always said when company came by unexpectedly, ‘If I’d know’d you was comin’, I’d a’ baked a cake,’ and in about 30 minutes she’d have one served up,” said Dixon.

The following recipe is one that Dixon’s mother, Janet Phillips Ellis, received from her mother, Flossie Hall Phillips.

“As a real small child, I could smell that cake baking in my Grandma’s kitchen wood-burning stove,” said Dixon.

Quick Mayonnaise Cake

1 cup mayo (or salad dressing)

1 cup sugar

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking soda

4-6 tablespoons cocoa

1 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup boiling water

Optional 1 teaspoon baking powder (lighter cake)

Mix mayonnaise or salad dressing and sugar. Add flour and cocoa, mix thoroughly. Stir in water, soda and vanilla. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve warm or cooled.

Debi Larson of Mountain View lost her grandmothers when she was very young. However, Grandma Schumacher left a lasting memory with her thoughtfulness and a little snack.

"When I was very small, we used to go out to the farm to visit Grandma and Grandpa," said Larson. "It was a big, old log farmhouse with lots of interesting nooks and niches. And just outside the east door was a huge patch of daylilies, in the middle of which was a huge flat rock that fascinated me; like an island in a mysterious sea. This daylily patch was where the banty hens used to hide their eggs sometimes, too."

Her grandmother always tried to make the visits special.

"Grandma Schumacher used to make picnic lunches for me to take on adventures to that rock," recalled Larson. "Ritz crackers and peanut butter; always three of them, each with two crackers with the peanut butter in the middle. She would line a small basket with a napkin, tuck in my picnic, and away i would go."

"I have many fond memories of dreaming away the afternoon, sitting on that rock, surrounded by daylilies & talking to the bantys, eating those very special peanut-butter sandwiches from Grandma," added Larson.