Never Fail Rolls - Really?

The problem with following recipes of old-timers is that they are often sketchy. Momma's rolls. She made them on occasion, I assume when she had the urge for bread. I don't recall her making them for holidays, but when she did make them, it was a very special occasion for us! We would all eat until they were gone, bemoaning the fact that they were gone. Usually accompanying these yeasty delicacies were her signature pinto beans. We often joked about her supplementing her income with a "beanery".
As I said, the problem is sketchy recipes. Her recipe just had the ingredients and one word instructions with what to do with them.
Not enough for me!
Therefore, I turned to a similar recipe that her best friend, Jewell, wrote out for someone named Judy. (I suspect it was my childhood next door neighbor.) These instructions were very detailed, so the fact that my Never Fail Rolls did indeed somewhat fail must be my own fault. Timing perhaps, because the actual making and kneading the dough went quite well. They were to be kept in the frig until needed, where it was supposed to double in size.
It didn't, so I took it out and left it in the cold bowl to double in the warm kitchen. I had to eventually place that bowl on the hot crockpot, which did the trick. Now they are rising in the pan, but the 1 hr. Jewell recommended isn't doing the trick. I'm not sure they were be ready for our family dinner tonight since it's already time for the family to meet. Hmmm. What to do?
We ate late and the rolls were certainly not like Momma's, but they weren't totally hopeless either.
It's a good thing I'm going to a bread-making class next Saturday.

Peach Cobbler

Cobblers. Momma could do them soooo well! I remember particularly loving her crusts. She always put one on the bottom and one on the top. Did you know that most recipes use the easy way out by putting a biscuit or cake-like crust on top? I haven't completely look through her recipes yet, but I couldn't find one she had written. (Perhaps I'll run across it one day.) Apparently in her later years she also looked for the easy way out. She had written in the back of one of her recipe books the pages that showed cobbler recipes. None of those, however, showed me how she did the crusts still "warm" in my memory.
I'm a fairly good cook and have had enough experiences in the kitchen to have a good idea of how to replicate her original delicacy, but I wasn't sure about whether the crust was just a pie crust or if it had sugar and exactly what she did with the fruit in that cooking pan. I scoured my own cookbooks as well as those I brought from Momma's house. Still finding no semblances of a "real" cobbler, I naturally turned to the Internet. (This part probably wouldn't have pleased Momma. She felt the computer was the ruin of civilization. Some days I agree.)
Voile'! I found just what I was looking for and made it for a church homegroup bash. It was fabulous and as close as you'll come to her cobbler.
Check it out on this website: http://allrecipes.com. It is called "Old Fashioned Peach Cobbler".

MOMMA'S COOKING

This blog is dedicated to my mother, Mandy Williams, who inspired many people and family members with her sweet Christian spirit. Momma died November, 2008, but her legacy lives on. While going through her things with my brother, I quickly scooped up some of her many recipe books and boxes. Although I'm sure she didn't try most of the recipes she collected, they are all reminders of the types of foods she loved to cook.
Some of my most vivid memories involve our family meals, meager though they usually were. Momma always made sure we had a hot breakfast before going to school and I've tried to keep that tradition going at my home with my family. (My kids didn't always appreciate or want the warm breakfast or any breakfast for that matter!) But I always tried. Until failing health claimed her independence, she made sure there was always something to eat the moment we entered her house.
Although I haven't seen the new movie, Julie and Julia yet, I have been inspired to try some of Momma's recipes and report how well my cooking craft resembles my memory of hers.
Momma, here's to you and your happier times!