I’ve been making this dessert since I was in high school. I imagine the recipe was cut from the inside of the Land O’Lakes butter box, taped to my mom’s recipe book, and then I swiped it when I moved out, and taped it to my well-worn recipe book. do people even use recipe books any more? I remember my grandma’s, in her lovely cursive script, simple delicious recipes that even if you followed her directions they would not yield the same results. there was always something missing. I was told recently that it is the “oil from the chef’s hand” that gives each dish it’s unique taste. and that’s why my grandma’s spaghetti sauce will never taste like grandma’s now that she’s gone.

my mom had her recipe book, given to her by grandma around her wedding day. more hand written recipes that would be handed down. I tried to keep up the tradition, creating my own book after I was married. I would copy recipes that I loved, paste tried and true dishes from magazines into the pages of a spiral bound book that was given to me early in my married life. I still have that book, held together now with a rubberband, bursting with scraps of paper and clippings. but I find myself relying more and more on technology; on my ipad and my laptop for recipes. overloaded bookmarks,  Pinterest loaded with recipes and wonderful food blogs.

but, then again, I have to think if one day the internet collapses (hey, it could happen!) I’ll always have that rubberband-bound recipe book filled with delightful meals and treats from years past.

 

*ps. I make it just as above but substitute a gluten-free flour blend for the AP flour.