Submitted by Judith E. Smith, Pennsylvania This is my Aunt Mary Jane’s shortbread cookie recipe. It’s simple, yet elegant. My Aunt Mary Jane wasn’t rich or famous; in fact, she was very poor. She lived in an old, tiny house in Dallas, Pennsylvania, that was always immaculate, a house I was taken to as a…

Submitted by Susan Schmid-Burton, Texas My siblings and I collaborated on a family cookbook in 2010 and self-published it in 2011. It is our family history told in the language of food—our family recipes. I am submitting one of my entries to share with my fellow Epoch Times readers across this nation and the world. My…

Submitted by Rona Simmons, Georgia Apparently, my grandmother Dietz’s recipe for Mollie’s Raw Apple Cake in the Dec. 14, 2022, issue of The Epoch Times struck a nerve, or maybe a sweet tooth. In response to several requests for her recipe for date bars (mentioned in the article), I’m delighted to share that recipe here….

Submitted by Sue Stangland, Oregon Who would have thought hot chicken pie would become a treasured family Christmas tradition! But it has been for our family since the late 1800s. My great-grandmother wanted to give her family a special Christmas morning surprise after they returned from the chilly pre-dawn chores necessary to keep their small New…

Submitted by Rona Simmons, Georgia Experimentation is the order of the day at my home on Thanksgiving. Yes, a turkey sits proudly at the center of the table and, yes, it’s the same reliable brand my mother declared non-negotiable decades ago. But each year, I stuff and baste my turkey with the product of unusual recipes…

Submitted by Helene Chesley Purdy, Hamilton, Virginia In honor of Winkie Chesley, Redding, Connecticut My mom was diligent in getting her six children to church every Sunday when we were young. We were all baptized and confirmed, but it wasn’t until we were teenagers that she surrendered her life to the Lord. Mom became active in…

Submitted by Victoria Emmons, Missoula, Montana One day, my sister Anita called me in a panic. She was hosting friends for Thanksgiving dinner in her Park Avenue apartment in New York City. She had misplaced our grandmother’s recipe for corn pudding. In our family, any holiday feast is incomplete without “Mama’s Corn Pudding,” as my…

Submitted by Kay E. Fisher, Iowa In 1961, newly married Joanne Muller was given her aunt’s treasured family recipe for picnic hamburger cucumber pickles. Several years later, her husband, Paul, substituted his overabundance of carrots for the cucumbers. He scraped them, cut them into 1/4-inch by 4-inch pieces, stood them upright in a quart canning…

Submitted by Janet Gerber Weeks, Harmony, Florida My Mama and Pa owned and operated a deer hunting camp, pack outfit, and guest ranch in the beautiful Ruby Mountains of northeastern Nevada. Mama did all the cooking for everybody. Our family and guests all ate meals together family-style in a big rock-walled room that had been one…

Submitted by Pamela M. Saunders, Suffolk, Virginia I grew up next door to my grandmother. She and I were each other’s eyeballs. Every Saturday, I went next door and we baked her pound cake. I remember sitting on a stool with folding steps as she worked. At first, when I was very young, I could just…