I recently received a very special gift.
Ben’s late Grandma’s – Gwendolyn’s – collection of cook books.
His family has started the long process of sorting through her belongings after she passed away last year, and among the many items a woman in her 80s possesses – letters, knickknacks, pictures and notes – was her well used collection of cook books, which they thoughtfully entrusted to me.
Cook books she used everyday, jotting down notes to indicate a “family favorite“,
or re-writing ingredients to better suit her tastes.
Cook books stuffed with handwritten recipes that Grandmas seem to always make best,
like “Mystery Bars”
and “Honey Peanut Bar Cookies.”
Cook books with pages that were stained and splattered with the evidence of lovingly made family dinners and desserts.
Let me tell you about the desserts… If there was any question in my mind that Gwen had a sweet tooth, I am now completely clear on the matter.
The worn and well used tabs for “Cookies,” “Cakes & Frostings” and “Candies” stuck out in every cook book I opened.
A woman after my own heart.
Her favorites, from what I can tell, were Chocolate Cake, and Lemon Bars. Variations of the same two recipes were ear-marked in book after book – saved to be easily found and made again and again.
“Yep, she loved her Lemon Bars…” Ben confirmed after I informed him of my suspicions. And we all know about Grandma’s famous Cookie Cake which, if the chocolaty fingerprints covering the cake page of her favorite cook book are any indication, she made often.
There was a big lump in my throat as I was going through Gwen’s collection, flipping through the faded pages and catching glimpses of her handwriting every now and again, but it was more sweet than sorrowful. And given my love for cooking, I only feel closer to her now. Is that cheesy?
Hang on, I think I saw a recipe for a cheese ball a few pages back…
~~~~~
“My Grandma/Grandpa makes/made THE best _______.”
My Grandma on my Mom’s side makes THE best chicken noodle soup. My Grandma on my Dad’s side made THE best homemade caramels.
What a great gift to receive all those wonderful recipes! My grandma makes THE best spaetzle, which we always just call Noodles. They are a must have at every family function and everyone gets a bag of frozen noodles at Christmas. She’s also a great pie baker.
My grandma had a special place in her heart for lemony treats too! I remember a lemon cake with sweet lemon glaze she used to make that was fantastic.
My grandma on my mom’s side made the best BBQ ribs with her secret homemade BBQ sauce. My grandma on my dad’s side made delicious homemade beef and noodles. I have tried and tried to duplicate their recipes but just can’t get it to taste like theirs.
On my mom’s side, my grandma makes the best pasta salad and pecan pie. My dad’s mom makes the best pancakes and mashed potatoes :)
My grandma makes the best sour cream cookies. I feel like every other time I comment I say something about these cookies but they are soooo good. Sugar cookie but so moist and fluffy.
my grandma on my mom’s side made the best blueberry muffins! thankfully we all have the recipe…they are delish!
i have alot of my grandma’s old cookbooks too…so fun :)
Cream puffs are my Grandma Bien’s specialty, Grandma Hunter was great at making rosettes, and my Grandpa Bien is an expert in making bread! We’ve definitely got our family favs!
My paternal grandmother makes the best Chocolate Jumbles. It’s a spice cookie from the 1920s that my grandfather’s mother orally passed down to my grandmother. My grandmother was the first to write the recipe down, in approximations, of course, and I asked her to teach it to me, so that I can pass it down to my children as well.
I love how her handwriting looks just like my grandma’s handwriting!
My Mormor (Danish for grandmother) makes the best abelskiver, a type of Danish pancake that is actually round and hollow in the middle and only very tiny (about 1.5 inches in radius). They are scented with cardamom and you serve them hot, and allow each person to stuff them full of whatever they choose, usually jam or icing sugar. So delicious!
What a beautiful gift! My grandma makes the best mashed potatoes and gravy and the best watergate salad! :)
My husband’s grandma makes the best braciole and any pasta dish! :)
Oh man! I’m tearing up! That’s so sweet that they entrusted her cookbooks to you.
My dad’s mom never made anything worth mentioning. My dad talks about some of her dishes, but I never remember eating her food….is that weird? My mom’s mom passed away long before I was born. However, last year I got my hands on her recipe box and made a cookbook for my mom, my aunt and myself of her recipes. It does make me feel closer to her when I use it!
Anyway, so sweet. I’m sure Gwen was so proud of her grandson for picking you as his wife!
Aww, I love this entry Kristin. So heartwarming! I love looking through my mom’s hundreds of cookbooks, also making note of the “most-used” pages, noticing that they are all favorite dishes of mine.
As for my grandma (whoe I’m pretty sure has never used a cookbook) makes THE. BEST. NOODLES. Not soup, not casserole, but what our family calls milk noodles and beef noodles. Pretty sure there has never been a recipe, but a day or so before Christmas, my grandma starts rolling out her dough. Just a simple dough of flour, salt, egg and water. Lets it harden, then cuts it up and adds the uncooked noodles to two different pots. One this milky, creamy mixture of whole milk, butter, and…well, I’m not sure what else. Maybe nothing more than that. But to make it even “healthier”, we eat the milk noodles on top of boiled, mashed potatoes with a slab of butter. Mmm… And the beef noodles go into a simmering pot of shredded beef with some other stuff (maybe I should learn this someday–but there are most definitely no vegetables included ;), which does create something similar to a soup, but much thicker and yummier. Each of granny’s kids and grandkids has a favorite. You’re either a milk noodle kid or a beef noodle kid. However, being grandma’s favorite and all…I can never make a decision. I feel differently about it at each holiday! My 87-year old granny has passed the recipes on to my mom, but I have yet to learn the secrets of Grandma Geraldine’s Noodles. :)