My grandmother always made the best Toll House Cookies. She used the recipe on the bag. The rest of us use that recipe, too, but our cookies don't come out like hers did. We have never been able to figure out what she did differently to what we do.
My mother was famous for her biscottis. They were small lemon cookies with lemon glazing. I think she got the recipe from my father's family.
I have been trying to make those biscottis since she died. I think I have mastered the cookie, but the frosting has yet to come out right. Tomorrow my aunt, my father's sister, is coming over to help. We are going to see if we conquer this frosting.
I hear many stories like this. Recipes have been passed down... but something is different. I don't know why that is. It would seem that if we use the same recipe and techniques, we should get the same results. I, suppose, that a person who makes a recipe standout must make minute, unconscious adjustments. They just have a flair for getting it right.
Are there any recipes like that in your family?
My mother was famous for her biscottis. They were small lemon cookies with lemon glazing. I think she got the recipe from my father's family.
I have been trying to make those biscottis since she died. I think I have mastered the cookie, but the frosting has yet to come out right. Tomorrow my aunt, my father's sister, is coming over to help. We are going to see if we conquer this frosting.
I hear many stories like this. Recipes have been passed down... but something is different. I don't know why that is. It would seem that if we use the same recipe and techniques, we should get the same results. I, suppose, that a person who makes a recipe standout must make minute, unconscious adjustments. They just have a flair for getting it right.
Are there any recipes like that in your family?
There is a recipe that my great great(?) aunt used to make the best pound cake in the WHOLE WORLD! Two years ago, we decided to use her recipe as a base for our first annual Christmas dinner cook-off. It turned into an episode of Chopped (somehow), but the goal was to see who used the recipe to make the best cake. :) It's funny how the recipe is exactly the same, but no two cakes tasted alike.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like fun. We had a family shoo-fly pie bake-off once that was a great time.
DeleteI bet she had a secret ingrediant that she never told anyone about! Thanks for sharing your family traditions; both the creche and the recipes.
ReplyDeleteIt's possible, although we used to watch her make them and even help sometimes and we never saw anything...
DeleteI don't have any family recipes and I'm not much of a cook. My partner makes the best oatmeal cookies I've ever tasted from his mom's recipe. He says they taste pretty much the same:-) Nice discussion.
ReplyDeleteI love oatmeal cookies!
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