Graham Gems

Leora Goff Wilson with great grandson Daniel Neal Kidney, March 1975, Aurora, Colorado

Grandma Leora came to Colorado with my folks to meet our son, her great grandson, who was fourteen weeks old. When Mom arrived, she had a cold so was afraid to interact with baby Dan, so Grandma kept him busy while I cooked. I was amazed that this 84-year-old could heft him! (The pediatrician had just called him “mighty mite.”)

I made whole wheat muffins for one meal. “Graham Gems,” she remarked. What a delightful name for them.

Among her keepsakes was probably her first “cookbook,” a tiny memorandum book where she jotted recipes and pasted in others from newspapers. Just seven pages in is her recipe for Graham Gems.

 

Grandma would have had a wood or cob burning stove so the temperature isn’t listed, but often in other recipes, “moderate oven.” Faint note at the end: “1 doz. Georgia,” so she got the recipe from her sister, Georgia Goff, who was a few years younger, still living at home.

Graham flour is ground more coarse than wheat flour. Something I didn’t know: It was named after Sylvester Graham (1794–1851), who was disgruntled when nutrients such as germ and bran were lost when making white flour for white flour. He believed that using all of the grain in the milling of flour and baking of bread was a remedy for the poor health brought on by changes in diet during the Industrial Revolution.

I don’t make them anymore since I’m gluten intolerant, but if I did, I’d call them Graham Gems.

Whole Wheat Muffins

2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup melted butter
Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. In another bowl, mix milk, eggs, and melted butter. Fold into to dry ingredients just until combined, then fill an oiled dozen-cup muffin tin. Bake at 350 degrees 20 minutes.