Cocoa Balls, a Majewski Family Favorite.

  It is that time of year again, holiday meals, family get togethers, work parties, and what do they all have in common? Food of course,especially desserts, and every family have their favorites. Some that come to mind for me are Valencia Torte, Pistascho Torte, Banana Split Torte. But probably the most loved in the Majewski family, Cocoa Balls.

  The question is how did these things come to be handed down as family traditions? All I know is that the Valencia Torte was a very rich dessert that came from the Holewinski side of the family. The other two started with my mom when she found some recipes that she liked. But Cocoa Balls are a whole nother story.

     I noticed the other day on Facebook my niece had made a batch and posted the above picture. My children along with my nieces and nephews, and maybe even my siblings,  may have thought that  they were the creation of my mom, but alas not so. They were actually brought into the family by me. So as Paul Harvey would say, " here is the rest of the story!"

   When I was maybe in the fourth or fifth grade I used to be an altar server, and I also loved to hear the organ music played by our organist, Lester Blaser Jr. He had a way of tickling those keys and his feet flying over the peddles of the pipe organ at church. I also knew that he gave piano lessons, but because we were a family with not much spare money, there was no way my parents could afford lessons for me.

   Mr Blaser, as we all called him, seen the interest I had and made me a offer. If I would help him with some of the cleaning chores at the school he would give me free lessons. He supplied the books and gave me a cardboard keyboard to do my fingering lessons on and taught me how to read the music. My parents got me a small organ with maybe two or three octaves of keys because the cardboard one just didn't cut it.

   One afternoon while running some errands with him we stopped at his mother's house were I was introduced to Cocoa Balls. As a child I was not shy and asked her for the recipe which she kindly gave to me, under one condition, that every time I made them I would say a prayer for her. I took the recipe home and asked my mom to help me make some and they became an instant hit. I had to show her how to roll them just right in the palms of my hands so they came out completely round. 

      And so the tradition started and has been going on for the past 47 years. Many batches have been made and many prayers said for Mrs. Blaser. The recipe has been handed down, but I believe that when my mom passed it on one important ingredient was left out, the prayer that needed to be said. So if any of my family reads this please add that to your recipe cards and the recipe will be complete. 

   And there you have "The rest of the story!"