Go Ask Your Mother (or any family member!)

The phone conversation went like this.

Linnea: Hi Mom, can I have the recipe for the cookies you make every New Year’s Eve?

Mom: I don’t think I have one. I have been making them as long as I can remember. Your grandmother taught me.

Linnea: What are they called?

Mom: (Long pause.) I don’t know. I will take a look on the box and give you a call.


My Swedish Grandmother, Elna Linnea Forrest


So I started thinking … that was my Swedish grandmother’s recipe. Where could I find it? And what about all the other recipes that I have grown up with, but are in people’s minds rather than on paper? My Italian grandmother, from whom I think my mother and I learned everything we know about food, passed at age 96 without ever writing down a single recipe. She would make me a drink in the morning that I will always remember.

Another call.

Linnea: Hi Dad. Do you remember the coffee drink Noni used to make?

Dad: Oh yes.

Linnea: Does it have a name?

Dad: No name

Linnea: No name?

Dad: I don’t think it has a name.

Linnea: Did she make it up just for us or did people drink out in the wider world?

Dad: I know our family would always drink it.

Linnea: In the morning?

Dad: No, anytime. Someone would ask. Does anyone want eggnog? I think that’s what they called it.


My Italian Grandmother, Assuntina Galino Cianflone



So I set out to find the recipes and this is what I can up with … enjoy!

The cookies: Rosettes


2 eggs 1 tablespoon sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted 1 cup milk 1 teaspoon vanilla Combine eggs, sugar, and salt; beat well. Add remaining ingredients; beat until smooth. Heat rosette iron in deep, hot oil (350 to 375oF) for two minutes. Drain excess oil from iron; dip in batter to 1/4 inch from top of iron, then immediately into hot oil. Fry rosette until golden, 10 to 30 seconds. Lift out; tip upside down to drain. With fork, push rosette off iron onto rack placed over paper towels. Reheat iron 1 minute; make next rosette. If you have two rosette irons, reheat one while using the other. Stir batter from time to time as you will get some oil in it. Sprinkle rosettes with confectioner's sugar. You will need to have a Rosettes Iron.


The coffee drink: Coffee Imperial

(This was the closest recipe I could find to Noni’s wonderful Egg Nog)

1 Egg yolk 1 Spoonful of sugar Hot Coffee Steamed Milk Brandy (optional) In a coffee cup, combine egg yolk and sugar. Beat until light and thick. Add hot coffee and top with steamed milk.




My Mother Louise, my brother David, and me

So, ask your family for those recipes you’ve never had. Email me your stories and I will post one on my Blog. One of the senders with a special story will be presented with a one night stay (mid-week) and dinner in our Garden Porch Lounge at The Bee and Thistle Inn & Spa.