Culinary Inspiration

Although my first creative loves are painting, and crafting, I have to admit, I have always loved baking, decorating cakes and candy making.   My love of baking began when I was a child.  My grandmother lived with us and was a magician in the kitchen.  She made lots of delicious meals, but baking was her specialty.

My grandmother was born in Germany and had an endearing accent, often substituting her v’s for w’s.  We still smile when we read her handwritten recipes where she suggests using a  “handful” of sugar, a “pinch” of salt and a “pount” of walnuts.  Her biggest thrill was making the weekly trip with my mom and me to the grocery store and picking out some “nice” meat.  She loved going to the local farm stand in the summer, and buying fresh fruit and one of my favorite vegetables, corn on the cob. 

Gram, as we lovingly called her, had her baking specialties.  I loved to help her make homemade apple strudel.  She would lay out a tablecloth on our kitchen table and after making the pastry, we would stretch it out until it covered the whole tabletop, then she would cover it with melted vegetable shortening and finally a mixture of apples,  sugar and cinnamon.  I used to love eating the unbaked apples and cinnamon-sugar mixture.  Gram used to set some aside just for me.  After the pastry was stretched out, she would cut off the edges and then lift up the tablecloth on one side and roll the strudel from one end to the other.  She would lay the unbaked strudel carefully on the baking pan in a crescent shape and pop it into the preheated oven.   The delicious smell of baking apples and sweet spices filled the house, but that wasn’t an unusual occurrence.  There were always delicious smells coming from the kitchen in our house, thanks to Gram.

Princess Cake

My version of the  Oreo Turkeys

When I was a teenager, I began making cakes, often from scratch, like Gram, then I moved onto making cream puffs and éclairs, from scratch.  When I got married and had children, I created all sorts of fun birthday cakes for them.  I made a princess with a cake skirt, a butterfly, Winnie-the-Pooh, a fish,  Thomas the Tank Engine, a dinosaur, a beach scene with teddy bear cookies among others.

Oreo Turkeys

 I began making different kinds of fudge at Christmas for my mother-in-law and it has since become a holiday  tradition.  In recent years, I have begun making peanut brittle, thanks to a recipe one of my colleagues shared with me.  That too, has become a traditional homemade treat.   My daughter gave me a candy thermometer last Christmas, so I tested out a recipe for English Toffee which I brought to a party over the summer.  It was a big hit, so that will definitely be a treat I will share with friends and family at Christmas this year.  I also tried my hand at fondant and created a sheet cake in the shape of a wedding dress for my daughter’s bridal shower.  For every holiday, I make my homeroom a sweet treat…chocolate covered pretzels with sprinkles, molded candy lollipops and at Thanksgiving last year I made these Oreo and Peanut Butter Cup Turkeys.  The girls loved them, so I will whip up another batch for this year’s homeroom. 

Fish Cake

Taz



Winnie the Pooh

 Creating gives me such joy. I am very lucky to come from a very creative family and to be able to carry on our traditions.   Both my mom and I have compiled some of our favorite family recipes for my daughter who has incorporated many of them into her culinary repertoire.  Gram, we may not be stretching out homemade pastry on our kitchen tables, but we know you would be proud of our culinary accomplishments!