Trying to recreate Christmas past...
Growing up in Kalona with Amish roots, the foods found in Mary Emma's Mennonite Community Cookbook were often staples on our table...or at least when we went to grandma's house. Several years ago, my mother gave me my very own copy (on the inside cover she inscribed: “This is like the recipe book we had in the Miller kitchen when I was growing up”).
I can't say that I immediately rushed home and started cooking from it, but having it sit on my shelf next to my Moosewood, Better Homes and Gardens and More-with-less cookbooks felt right. It connected me to my mother, her mother and probably her mother. I like the idea of knowing that if, by chance, I would want to make peppernuts (or pfeffernusse as she liked to call them) before Christmas like my mother always did, I could. Maybe this year it will happen.
Just before Christmas was actually when I actually opened the cookbook and tried out a recipe: Molasses Crinkles (p. 260). I was really hoping they would bring back memories of Christmases growing up. I started to mix them up...but then realized I didn't have any eggs, so I put the mix in the fridge for several days until I could get some more eggs. My mom would have gone down the road to our Amish neighbors and asked to borrow a couple of eggs that their chickens had laid that morning. I should know my neighbors that well, but I don't. And it isn't quite the same when you live in town. Then as I was continuing to make the cookies, they called for cloves (presumably powder). I only had whole cloves, so I got to pound my own powder. To add my own mark on the recipe (I don't believe in following recipes directly), I added a bit of cayenne – just a bit to give a little hint of some kick. When the cookies came out of the oven, they weren't quite what I was expecting (maybe I was thinking of gingersnaps??), and they were a little dry. Would be nice to try someone else's and see if it was just me, or the recipe.
I am not a cook like my mother, which is alright. But I did introduce her to Brie over Christmas break.
I can't say that I immediately rushed home and started cooking from it, but having it sit on my shelf next to my Moosewood, Better Homes and Gardens and More-with-less cookbooks felt right. It connected me to my mother, her mother and probably her mother. I like the idea of knowing that if, by chance, I would want to make peppernuts (or pfeffernusse as she liked to call them) before Christmas like my mother always did, I could. Maybe this year it will happen.
Just before Christmas was actually when I actually opened the cookbook and tried out a recipe: Molasses Crinkles (p. 260). I was really hoping they would bring back memories of Christmases growing up. I started to mix them up...but then realized I didn't have any eggs, so I put the mix in the fridge for several days until I could get some more eggs. My mom would have gone down the road to our Amish neighbors and asked to borrow a couple of eggs that their chickens had laid that morning. I should know my neighbors that well, but I don't. And it isn't quite the same when you live in town. Then as I was continuing to make the cookies, they called for cloves (presumably powder). I only had whole cloves, so I got to pound my own powder. To add my own mark on the recipe (I don't believe in following recipes directly), I added a bit of cayenne – just a bit to give a little hint of some kick. When the cookies came out of the oven, they weren't quite what I was expecting (maybe I was thinking of gingersnaps??), and they were a little dry. Would be nice to try someone else's and see if it was just me, or the recipe.
I am not a cook like my mother, which is alright. But I did introduce her to Brie over Christmas break.
posted by jshb at 12:58 PM
2 Comments:
J, I was wondering if we should make not tampering with the recipes a paremeter for the blog! Luckily we didn't.
Also, I'm out of the GC loop, could someone inform me of the ID of historian "Joe"? Or e-mail me?
Tampering with recipes is required in my book. I am more of an intuitive cook than a "follow-the-recipe- to-a-T" cook. Maybe that is the cause for my recent not such great results. Will be writing about Round II very soon.
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