Monday Motivation: Chocolate & Caramel

Friends

What does love taste like? Is their a particular food that reminds you of being well loved?

 

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“May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.”

1 Thessalonians 3:12 – NIV

 

My grandmother was a fabulous gardener, but she was an even better cook. She grew all manner of vegetables in her huge summer garden, and from the bounty of her harvest, she canned her delicious vegetable soup.  Because she knew it was my favorite, that soup was on the table every time I came home to the farm. Not only that, but she would pull out her black-iron frying pan and whip up some of her incredible cornbread. My mouth is watering just contemplating that hot golden cornbread dripping with butter. Oh my! Still, the meal wasn’t complete without popping a couple of her chocolate chip cookies in my mouth. Those cookies were wafer-thin, the chocolate chips rising out of that perfect crispy crust like mountains rising from the sea. I am not sure I have had a better meal in all the years since the last time I sat at her kitchen table.

 

Without a doubt, my grandmother was an absolutely amazing cook, but her food offered far more than just a fun festival for my taste buds. Her food communicated love. The love was in the twinkle of her clear blue eyes as she stirred the soup on the stove. Her love was in the age-spotted hands that pulled the steaming yellow cornbread from the oven. Her love was in the smile that spread across her kind face as she sat beside me and watched me sip my soup. No doubt about it, there was love in that food, a grandmother’s love for her granddaughter.

 

I am not the cook my grandmother was, but I do love to bake. I’ve never managed to master my Grandmama’s chocolate chip cookies, but I have mastered a few sweet treats that my friends and family adore.

 

One of my signature baked goods began with a photocopied recipe that arrived in the mail nearly thirty years ago. My mother-in-law’s Richmond address appeared in the upper left corner of the envelope, and tucked inside was a photocopy of a newspaper recipe with the hEADLINE  “Caramel Bars Make Raves.” My mother-in-law had added a note at the top of the recipe, “these were really good!”

 

I recall reading the recipe and nodding my head in approval: yellow cake mix, evaporated milk, walnuts, butter, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and caramel topping. Since by nature, I am a 5-ingredient cook, the slim list of six ingredients fit my preferences to a tee. The steps didn’t sound too complicated, but my husband wasn’t a walnut fan. Could I substitute peanuts instead? It seems like they might go well with the chocolate and caramel. Maybe I could strike the semi-sweet chocolate chips, and go for the full-on milk chocolate morsels instead. I mean, more chocolate is always better, right?

 

Yep, just like that, my signature caramel bars were born. From the first pan out of the oven, my family was hooked. At the next covered-dish meal at church, I took a batch, and with the first bite, my friends began moaning with delight.

 

That was it. For nearly thirty years, I have not been able to attend a church social, family reunion, or girlfriend gathering without the requisite pan of caramel bars. They are a standard on the Christmas cookie baking list at my house. Those caramel bars have shown up for bridal showers, baby showers, and even funeral condolences. I never have to think about what I will bring to the next party. If I show up without them, I might as well just go on back home! I kid you not. You should see the pouts of disappointment on my girlfriends’ faces when the caramel bars don’t show up with me!

 

I have made so many of those little bars in the past three decades that my husband, son , and myself no longer eat them. Well, that’s not entirely true. I recall one evening when my son Jonathan was home from college, and I was pulling a pan of caramel bars out of the oven. The aroma of all that butter, caramel, and chocolate floated through the kitchen like a heavenly aura. Jonathan smiled at me and said, “You know, Mom, the only time I still crave those things is when they come right out of the oven.” I remember arching my eyebrows mischievously  and offering, “So, should we cut some now?”

 

I grabbed a knife, and we cut us a chunk, cradling the gooey bars in our sticky fingers, as we leaned over the sink to catch any wayward drops. There we stood, mother and son, alternating between childish giggles and moans of utter delight. And yes, they were every bit as good as they sound!

 

It occurs to me today that those caramel bars are special, not just because they are so delicious, but also because they are a tangible sign of my love for my friends and family. As they take that first delectable bite, they know I took the time to make it for them. Why? Because I care about them, and I wanted them to know it. Why? Because I love them.

 

Yes food, like our words or our gifts, is a way to show our affection. It’s an act of service to communicate our love for one another. It’s a gesture that brings a smile and never goes out of style.

 

May we not fail to love one another well. Let us take those little moments, or even those little bites, and say “I love you!” As for me, I will keep on making caramel bars, because there’s something special about that mixture of chocolate & caramel. I’m thinking it tastes a whole lot like L-O-V-E!

 

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“Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

1 John 4:11 – NIV

 

PRAYER

O Dear Lord, thank you for the gift of family and friends, and the love we have for one another. Let us not miss the moments to share our love, be it with words of affirmation, acts of service, or even a lovingly baked tasty treat. We love, because You first loved us. Let us share Your love with a world that needs it so.

In the Loving Name of Jesus, we pray,

Amen

 

Blessings,

Anita

 

-APS 2/12/2024