Walnut Chews

My mother was an extremely generous and giving person. She was creative and talented. What I am about to tell you will surprise you. It certainly surprised her children.

When I was a teenager she found a recipe in a woman's magazine. Mom thought it looked good enough to try. She made them at Christmas that year. They were good but nothing to write home about.

The next year Mom made them again with a few slight changes. They were better.

Each year Mom would tweak her recipe a bit. It took a few years before she got the perfect bar cookies. They were a family favorite.

They are called walnut chews. You can find recipes for walnut chews on the internet. They are not the same nor are they even close to as good.

Mom's recipe had a sort of short bread layer covered by chewy filling and topped with walnuts. The bars are very rich and you cannot eat too many.

When we would ask her how to make them she would shrug her shoulders and say that she just put in a bit of this and that. I understand a bit of this and that but I do not have a clue about what the ingredients are.

One year while Mom was making the walnut chews my sister saw the recipe laying on the book of recipes. My sister leaned over to peak at it and Mom slammed the recipe book shut!

As I said Mom was generous. She taught all her children to cook. But she would not share that recipe.

After Mom died my sister and I were going through her things. When we came across that recipe book we looked for the walnut chews recipe. Not there. We never found it. Mom took it with her I guess.

I have tried many times to make anything that comes close to walnut chews. I have not been successful.