Her grandmother, who raised nine children including Clarke’s mother, was “famous” for making bread and pies.

With such remarkable role models, it’s no surprise that Clarke fell in love with cooking and baking at a very early age.

Now “Meme” to granddaughters Aubrey and Sydney Wood, ages 8 and 5, of Sabattus, 7-year-old Tessa Blais of Lewiston, and 13-year-old Hayley Champaigne who recently moved to Wisconsin, Clarke has become a patient and enthusiastic role model herself.

“Hayley started cooking with me when she was 4 years old … simple things,” said Clarke. Champaigne’s presence in Meme’s kitchen is greatly missed by her younger cousins.

The menu in Meme’s kitchen this holiday season will feature meat pies and baked ham, baked beans and finger rolls — made with the leftover baked him — as well as lasagna or stuffed shells and meatballs.

“Aubrey’s made meatballs with me,” said Clark, who fondly recalls her mother and aunts getting together every holiday season to make ravioli.

When it comes to making tempting sweets, however, that is where Clarke’s granddaughters really shine.

“I’m all about making it from scratch,” said Clarke, but with the girls just beginning to develop their culinary skills, “I try to do easy things with them.” Here she shares a few of their favorite “simple” recipes.

One of Clarke’s least complicated recipes for little fingers combines salty and sweet with simple. Using equal numbers of mini square pretzels, Hershey Hugs and M&Ms, Aubrey and Sydney topped each pretzel with a Hug on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Clarke baked these in a 200-degree oven for a few minutes, until the Hugs were soft but not melted. Fresh out of the oven, the girls set to work topping each Hug with a single colorful M&M.

“My mother taught me how to make chocolates,” said Clarke, adding, “You can dip just about anything in chocolate.” And so, with melted chocolate on hand, Aubrey and Sydney dipped marshmallows on sticks into the chocolate and coated them with edible, decorative holiday sprinkles.

The girls also enjoy making things like sugar cookies and peanut butter cookies topped with peanut butter cups and mini marshmallows (see recipe for peanut butter s’more blossoms).

As the girls demonstrated their mixing and rolling techniques, Meme provided instruction, encouragement and gentle correction: “Don’t mix it too much, honey, because the cookies will spread,” she said to Aubrey.

When it comes to cooking with children, the hardest thing is staying organized, said Clarke. Keeping your work areas organized and clean “takes a lot of prep work.”

Then, as little fingers dipped into bowls of frosting and plucked chunks of cookie dough from bowls, she added, “I also teach them good hand washing … but we try to make it fun so they don’t lose interest.”

With children, a sturdy stepstool is an indispensable kitchen tool, and little Sydney stood on her stool as she added sprinkles to freshly formed balls of unbaked red sugar cookie dough. “Accidents happen,” explained Clarke, “and that’s okay.”

Some kitchen accidents, however, are better than others. A pile of wasted sprinkles is one thing, but when it comes to safety Clarke recommended that children be closely supervised whenever they’re in the kitchen. In Meme’s kitchen, children don’t use sharp tools and are never left alone by a hot stove: “I wouldn’t let them dip at the stove by themselves, and I keep the handles [to hot pots] turned in.”

With their kitchen skills developing, the girls have become “good taste testers, too,” said Clarke, “and they’ll tell you what they do and don’t like.”

Although Aubrey’s favorite thing to do at Christmas is watch Christmas movies, when asked to name her favorite Christmas treat, Aubrey smiled and said: “Sugar cookies, because they’re good.”

Sydney agreed, the best thing about sugar cookies is “eating them!”

“Aubrey loves peanut butter,” said her mom, Shelby, who had joined us in the kitchen – perhaps drawn by the smell of freshly baked cookies. “She has a really adventurous pallet.”

For example, an Aubrey favorite is pecan pie made by Clarke’s husband, Peter. Sydney, on the other hand is a bit timid. “It’s got to be visually appealing,” said Clarke. “If it’s not, it doesn’t pass her lips.”

For Clarke, it’s all about “spending time together and making new memories.” With mouths full of cookie, Aubrey and Shelby nodded in agreement.

Clarke’s hope is that as they get older, the things they’ve learned from her will travel with them through their lives, and that the knowledge and passion for sharing both the products and the processes that they’ve learned in her kitchen will get passed along with favorite family recipes. “I hope that they’ll teach it to their own kids someday.”

1/2 c. butter, softened

3/4 c. peanut butter

3/4 c. packed brown sugar

1/2 c. granulated sugar, divided

1 large egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 Tbsp. milk

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1-3/4 c. flour

About 48 mini marshmallows

About 48 Reese’s Minis

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Place 1/4 c. granulated sugar in a bowl and set aside.

2. Cream butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar, add 1/4 c. granulated sugar in the bowl and mix. Add egg, vanilla, milk, salt and baking soda and mix until combined. Slowly add flour and mix.

3. Scoop 1 Tbsp.-sized balls of dough and roll them in the bowl of sugar. Place cookies on sheet and bake for 7-8 minutes until bottoms begin to brown. Remove from oven and immediately press a hole in the center of each cookie with the back of a wooden spoon. Insert a mini marshmallow in the hole and place back in oven for 30 seconds. Remove from oven and stick a Reese’s Mini on top of the marshmallow, pressing gently to fit it into the hole without cracking the cookie. Cool and remove from cookie sheets.

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