Essay: Mother's Day Recipes

NPR | By Liane Hansen,

Published May 9, 2004 at 12:00 AM EDT

Weekend Edition essayist Bonny Wolf suggests making a family recipe for Mother’s Day. She tells NPR's Liane Hansen the ingredients and instructions for gas company candy and her neighbor Bill’s mother’s war cake.

Mom’s War Cake

1 lb raisins

½ cup Crisco or lard (Bill uses butter)

3 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp baking soda

2 cups sugar

4 cups flour

Preheat oven to 325.

Stew raisins for 15 minutes in 2 cups of water. Add 1 cup of cold water. Stir and drain, reserving water. Add rest of ingredients, using water from raisins to moisten. Bake for 1 hour.

Gas Company Candy

Spread 1 cup of chopped pecans or walnuts in a 6”x10” pan. Boil ½ cup butter and ¾ cup brown sugar for 7 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour over nuts. Pour package of chocolate chips on top and spread with a knife. Let harden and break into pieces.

Liane Hansen

Liane Hansen has been the host of NPR's award-winning Weekend Edition Sunday for 20 years. She brings to her position an extensive background in broadcast journalism, including work as a radio producer, reporter, and on-air host at both the local and national level. The program has covered such breaking news stories as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the capture of Saddam Hussein, the deaths of Princess Diana and John F. Kennedy, Jr., and the Columbia shuttle tragedy. In 2004, Liane was granted an exclusive interview with former weapons inspector David Kay prior to his report on the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The show also won the James Beard award for best radio program on food for a report on SPAM.

Bonny Wolf

NPR commentator Bonny Wolf grew up in Minnesota and has worked as a reporter and editor at newspapers in New Jersey and Texas. She taught journalism at Texas A&M University where she encouraged her student, Lyle Lovett, to give up music and get a real job. Wolf gives better advice about cooking and eating, and contributes her monthly food essay to NPR's award-winning Weekend Edition Sunday. She is also a contributing editor to "Kitchen Window," NPR's Web-only, weekly food column.

See stories by Bonny Wolf