My father’s family was Jewish. If my mother’s family ever had a religion, they chose not to share it with their children. Neither of my parents were even the slightest bit religious.
Holidays at my parent’s house were crow-assembled: bits and bobs of different traditions—nothing sacred, nothing pure; nothing consistent from one year to the next.
So, when the holidays come up over the horizon, I don’t have a lot of rituals to cling to. The tidings I crave are really just two baked goods that were usually to be found in my parents’ kitchen around the end of the year:
1. chocolate gingerbread cookies (light on the ginger, heavy on the cloves);
2. popovers.
If you don’t know what a popover is, or you’ve never had a good one, I weep for you. I’ve made them so many times that I don’t even need a recipe.
The same can’t be said for the cookies: the recipe my mother used came from her mother who usually sourced her recipe’s from her friends and her bridge club.
My grandmother passed earlier this year. I hadn’t spoken with her, or anyone else on that side for years. Originally, this was because of a legal battle over her estate, of which I was trustee for a time; in the final year, because I’d come out as trans, and that was a few bridges too far for their brand of 1950’s liberalism.
Thankfully, I was able to find a recipe online that lined up well with my memory of the key ingredients. I made them last night, and the results were deeply soothing.
Highly recommended.
https://www.goodlifeeats.com/recipe-exchange-chocolate-gingerbread/
Kitchen Knowledge
Brown Sugar is just sugar mixed with molasses. 😘
