As a child, I started collecting recipes. I would store them in a pink plastic index box, carefully cutting out recipes from the Sunday paper and using my school stapler to secure them to index cards for filing. While I didn't grow up in a home where much cooking happened, I gravitated to those weekly recipe-collecting sessions at my mom's Formica kitchen table.
In my 20's I self-taught how to cook & bake almost entirely from scratch. For a long season, I made nearly everything in the most labor-intensive way. Whether it was cheese or bacon, sourdough, or marshmallows, it was a DIY process.
Many of the recipes below are from my early-day's blog, The Art of Homemaking started back in 2006. I have either developed these over the years or have found them in a cookbook and they have been in continual rotation in my family's kitchen. In that case, I have labeled each as such, for reference if you'd like to add the cookbook to your own collection.
For generations, Paska has been the bread made in kitchens throughout the regions of Ukraine on Good Friday. The timing of Easter, the Christian holiday, more or less coincides with the pre-Christian ancient festival of spring called Velykden. For this reason, the celebration of Easter incorporates many ancient rituals, including the making of Paska.
Watch this video tutorial to learn how to make the Ukrainian Easter Bread commonly known as Paska.
This rustic beauty falls into the category of a custard pie and there doesn't seem to be many differences between this and some of the others like Chess, Buttermilk, Sugar, or even the oddly named Jefferson Davis Pie.
Pan de Mallorca are billowy Puerto Rican bread rolls characterized by their soft, buttery, and fluffy texture. Perfect with a morning cup of coffee or a lunchtime ham & cheese sandwich.
I'm sharing one of my favorite cookie recipes with you. It has been a recipe I have used for over 15 years now. Sometimes I tweak it -- like today's addition of hazelnuts & vanilla sugar -- but otherwise, it's stayed tried and true, year after year.
These cookies are like the flavors from grandma's kitchen, with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, and cloves, you will be transported to a nostalgic place you won't want to leave.
This keeps for days in the refrigerator or under a glass dome on your countertop. Some like to warm it up just a bit before eating but I prefer it room temperature with a cup of coffee as my breakfast of choice.
Layered cakes are my favorite, but when I am under a time crunch, a basic buttermilk cake with fruit baked in is just about the most amazing thing ever.
