This is a recipe that Momma Peacock said her mother, my great grandmother, Molly Kelly Lott made for as long as she could remember. It's real simple, taste great and doesn't require anything but a spoon, and a bowl to make!
Molly Lott's Icebox Fruitcake
1 box of vanilla wafers crushed
1 can of condensed milk
1 box of raisins
1small jar of Maraschino cherries drained and chopped
2 cups of pecans chopped fine or about 1 qt. whole pecans
1 can of "Angel Flake" coconut (this is sweetened coconut)
In a large mixing bowl combine vanilla wafers crushed and condensed milk. Add the remainder of the ingredients and with your hands blend them together. Butter a 9 x 11 dish and press the fruitcake into the dish. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
The easiest way to crush the vanilla wafers is put them in a large plastic bag and roll over the bag with a rolling pin.
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| This is Molly Peacock, my cousin, named after Molly Lott our great grandmother, with Momma Peacock at Brandi's wedding. Mary Scott didn't want her picture made! |
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My Granny loved fruitcake. There are more fruitcake recipes in her box than any other type of recipe.
The Christmas I was 9 years old Granny and Grandpa came over to our house for a visit. With Momma's direction, earlier in the day, I made Momma's Peacock's icebox fruitcake. I was all excited for Granny to try it. She had never tasted fruit cake that you didn't have to cook. She loved it. I was so proud. I cut some of the cake in squares and put them on a plate and covered the long dish back up to go back in the refrigerator and standing in the the door of the refrigerator I drop it! It breaks into a millon pieces....momma's new dish and all of the cake. Daddy scolded me and I cried and Granny said "Well Katie it's just cake and there will be more cakes. Don't you worry about it! Just let your Daddy bark it's what he thinks he has to do."
Good old Granny she was always a great cheerleader! When she died the preacher characterized her with a heart of gold and likened her to a lioness protecting her cubs when it came to her children.....very true. She could give us down the road if we needed it but if she heard someone else speak ill of one of us she would bow up like a mad cat!
On those great Saturday mornings, I spent at her house I usually watched The Lone Ranger with Mickey Wayne, daddy's youngest brother. Then Granny would shoo him out the door....sometimes with her broom wacking at him, never really hurting him! He would laugh at her and then she would really get mad! Granny loved us all very much. She was "Aunt Vern" to her nieces and nephews. They all knew they had a hug and someone to talk to, and a warm bed and a good meal at her house any time they wanted or needed to come.
I am posting two of Granny's Fruitcake Recipes below.
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Momma Peacock's house was always full of people when we were growing up. Lota Lee Lott was her name. She was born in 1919. I think she was born in Dale County, Alabama. She was the baby with 1 older sister and 6 older brothers. Her siblings each had several children and came to visit as often as they could. Aunt Lucille, her sister, and Uncle Burt and their families lived about 10 miles away close to Slocomb. The rest of her family lived in central Florida, on the Suwanee River, and in Tampa, Clearwater, Largo and Lady Lake. There was always a lot of laughter in the house when they were together. We all had a great time. I loved to visit with the cousins from South Florida. Paula was the only girl cousin so she and I bonded right off. Other than Becky and Brenda there were never any girls around, so when Paula came to visit it was a big treat for me and Becky.
Grandma Molly, Momma Peacock's mother, came to live with Momma Peacock when I was about 6 years old. Prior to that Grandma lived with Uncle Damon, her son in Lady Lake. Grandma passed away there at Momma Peacock's house. When she died the funeral home brought her back to the house and friends and neighbors came to the house to pay their respect. This was around 1964.
Momma Peacock was "Momma Peacock" to everybody in the community. When we were growing up the preacher of our church even called her "Momma Peacock." He was a young man that worked with Daddy Peacock building houses. He spoke at her funeral and commented that she was the hardest working, happiest woman he had ever known. She believed that God would not give us anything that we couldn't handle and she relied on her strong faith in God for everything.
Momma Peacock was a hard worker. She lived by herself for about 25 years after Daddy Peacock died. Her youngest son Ricky, and Sharon his wife, lived next door. But she was very independent, and planted her own garden and cut her grass until she was about 81. She never had a driver's license. When she was in her 70's she took the written test but never took the driving test to get her license. Becky and I were laughing about that and she said she just wanted to know that she could get her license if she wanted to. :-)
On her 80th birthday we gave her a big party and she had a wonderful time. I miss her every day. She taught us all alot about life, family and being a good person, just by the way she lived her life. She was a friend to everyone and everybody loved her.
I have pictures I want to share with you of the Lott family but they have not been scanned yet. I'm working on it now and through the week of Thanksgiving, I will have more pictures and stories about that side of the family.
