Aunt Jenny's date and nut pudding.
Those six words send saliva into my soul.
Each Christmas we always had a Weaver gathering of some sort, at some part of the holiday, and my mother's brother's wife, Jenny, made this concoction that would make angels blush - it was so slutty with goodness. I don't think it required any special finesse to make - just a mass of sugar, butter, dates, nuts, flour, milk, baking soda, lard, salt - tossed with whipped cream. She always served it in a deeply cut, exquisite glass bowl.
Sometimes it was dessert at the big Christmas dinner at noon but other times, for an early evening supper before folks wandered home, we'd have this exotically rich dessert - with savories on the side like cheese, bologna, celery, etc.. Though it was probably the calorie equivalent of breakfast, lunch, and dinner in regular times, each sumptuous spoonful of that mixture of cream, date, nut and pudding was ecstasy, pure and simple.
My sister recently sent me the recipe. I studied it for a moment and knew I would be feasting on memories alone! At this point in my life, if I made a whole recipe of that I'd be needing to circle the lake ten times daily to fit into my clothes, while begging my arteries not to collapse in horror.
But oh those blessed culinary memories - how deliciously they linger!
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