How to Preserve Family Recipes
Plus two exclusive recipes + Passover desserts!
Passover Desserts
I love these Passover desserts. If you’re used to looking for the packaged version of Passover-approved treats in your grocery store, I’m here to tell you there is another, more delicious option. Those overly sweet packaged treats have their charm, but you can create tastier versions at home. From macaroons to cakes, this list features some of my favorite desserts for Passover.
Paid subscribers get access to a bonus recipe below for Pavlova Roulade that would be perfect for the occasion as well!
I understand the power of a family recipe. While I was writing Zoë Bakes Cookies (coming out Sept. 3, 2024—preorder now!) I discovered stories about my great, great grandmother and her bakery in Kiev. I realized just how much her food journey connected to mine. Family stories and their recipes are often interchangeable. We hear these stories while sitting at the kitchen table with our grandfathers while they bake bread or with our great-aunts, as they roll out sugar cookie dough for the holidays. The smell of a stew or sautéing onions can bring back the loving memory of someone who is far away. Writing down all of these recipes and memories is a gift, but one we often don’t take the time for. I’ve written 10 cookbooks over the past 20 years, so I know how much work goes into them.
I met Rachel Ingber at a party and she told me about the books she writes for (and often with) people to document their family’s recipes, photos, and stories. I nearly cried. I’d recommended to countless people that they do this work on behalf of their own family, as a record of history and self-publish, but none of them had done it. Not a single one. They just didn’t know where to begin the process and honestly, neither did I. I’ve always worked with big publishers who gave me an entire team of editors, designers, and printers. They guided me through the process. That’s exactly what Rachel does but on a more personal, intimate scale. It’s such a remarkable endeavor and one that I recommend people do if you have a bundle of stories, recipes, and photos from your family. Do it as a gift to yourself and for the rest of your family. Especially the kids, who may not understand now (I sure didn’t when I was young), but those family recipes will be priceless memories as they get older. I wish I had done this for my Granny and Bubbe before they passed.
Rachel has shared her food journey and how she started this recipe preservation work with us below. I find her books both beautiful and essential and think you will too. (FYI, I love the work Rachel is doing but am in no way profiting from it, just want to hype someone providing a cool service!) She also shared her Nana Minnie’s Poppy Seed Cookies. This is a recipe I am excited to try since the memory of my own Bubbe stays alive through a similar recipe in Zoë Bakes Cookies.