This recipe and introduction are taken from “To Die For: A Cookbook of Gravestone Recipes” by archivist and author Rosie Grant. The cookbook studies and highlights tombstones with recipes of the deceased and tells their stories. These chocolate-flavored cookie bars from the late Mary Silvernail continue to be a crowd-pleaser. Layers of sweet and savory cookies are brought together with graham cracker caramel and topped with caramel chocolate, made even more delicious with peanut butter. No wonder Silvernail loved them for years.
“Mary Silvernail came from a family that understood that food was more than sustenance. It was love, survival, and something that could be shared. Mary, primarily of Norwegian/Swedish descent, one of six children, grew up in a rugged rural home outside Palermo, North Dakota, where harsh winters taught neighbors to depend on each other, and where casseroles and hot plates fed large families. …
When it came time to choose your monument, [her daughter and grandson] Melissa and Jake knew what should be on their marker: a stone in the shape of North Dakota with a heart that reflected the rolling prairies where it grew up. A deep, constant blue: the color of Mary's eyes, the color of the sky she grew up under. And, of course, the recipe for their Clubhouse Cracker bars. The recipe is appreciated and frequently requested by family and friends. On the front of her tomb reads a quote that Mary embodied throughout her life: “Proverbs 31:29 Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.”
His family still makes his bars. The trick is to follow their instructions exactly, without substitutions. Melissa bakes them and one day will make them for Mary's great-grandson, Daniel. Although Daniel never met her, he will grow up hearing stories about Mary and enjoying the spirit of her cooking that lives on in his family.”
