If Toledo had something reminiscent of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Mary Alice Powell would be the first star on the strip.
Mary Alice needs no introduction. The 96-year-old spent 41 years from 1954 to 1995 as the very first food editor for The Blade, and still continues to write a weekly column for the Sunday paper.
I had the honor of sitting down with Mary Alice in her “green bungalow” as she likes to call her home in Grand Rapids, Ohio, as she reflected on two beloved cookie recipes published in her cookbook, Aren’t You Going To Taste It, Honey? , just in time for the holidays.
Fruitcake Cookies and White Velvet Cut-Outs are two recipes that Mary Alice said she’s published many times throughout her career at The Blade.
“The minute I saw the cookies and tasted them, I wanted the recipes,” Mary Alice recalled, mentioning that she received both recipes from members of the community many years ago. “I’m quite sure the [cut-out] cookies are from a women’s club in Bedford Township.”