MEXICAN WEDDING CAKES

Just before Christmas in 1947 Vance [Dobson] and I were married and he began decorating outside. And that grew, too. Others were decorating, too, and various organizations encouraged lighting and this, too, grew. Vance made shapes, wreaths, and cut different pictures out of plywood. Once there was a horse and sleigh, once a Madonna and child. [Over the years] many different star shapes were used. The wreaths changed through the years, too, and the lights that he put up were never in the same pattern. I still did all inside decorating with lights in the windows and the two trees. Dorothy Dobson

This is my mother and dad's wedding anniversary: December 7, 1947. Daddy passed away in 1987, just ten days before their 40th wedding anniversary.


I thought these cute cards from the 1970s would be a good tribute to this couple who put so much effort into Christmas. The "Santa at the Piano" cards were just too good to resist, and Mother had some printed with "Grandma and Grandpa Dobson." She sent a card to each grandchild with a brand new two dollar bill enclosed. She did this for several years, and when my children were small, they received the same from her leftover stock. 



                                                                             What to do for a recipe that would properly celebrate a wedding anniversary? Why, Mexican Wedding Cakes, of course. I don't promise you that any of my recipes are the best you could find. This is a trip down memory lane taken by exploring old recipe boxes, and this recipe is from Mother's oldest box, the one she started with. But I know Mother often used her Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook for these old traditional cookies. Mexican Wedding Cakes were also called Russian Teacakes, and I always wondered how the Mexicans and the Russians happened to develop the same recipe. Hmmmm. Well, probably someone knows how that came about. This particular recipe does not call for finely ground nuts. I'm sure I remember finely ground nuts.


MEXICAN WEDDING CAKES
1 cup soft butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
powdered sugar
In a mixing bowl combine butter, sugar, salt and vanilla. Cream until light and fluffy. Mix in flour. Shape in one-inch balls. Bake at 375 -- 8 to 10 minutes. Roll in powdered sugar.


My mother was truly a fan of butter-type cookies -- the teacakes, spritz, shortbread varieties. "Isn't that just beautiful," she would say as she creamed the sugar and the butter. KW