Last updated on 09/15/2019
Unlike Rebecca in Stay With Me, none of the characters in Ornamental Graces are avid bakers or cooks. But they do bake and cook, and I couldn’t help collecting some of their recipes.
Emily’s sister-in-law Elizabeth is known to be a good cook. Dan and Emily get better acquainted over some of her lemon meringue pie, which happens to be my favorite kind of pie.
Emily’s no slouch in the kitchen either. She cobbles together dinner for her and Dan after raiding Robert and Elizabeth’s refrigerator, pantry, and garden. I know people joke about having too many zucchini, but I think I could eat it daily and never grow tired of it.
These pumpkin Snickerdoodles are delicious and perfect for fall weather, though Emily brings them to a summer picnic. These are my oldest daughter’s favorite cookies, and she recently made a batch herself to take to her brother’s boy scout meeting.
We never get a glimpse of this strawberry pretzel Jell-O salad that Dan’s sister makes the day after Thanksgiving because Dan and Emily are, uh, otherwise occupied when it’s served. I was introduced to this recipe in the early 1980s by my sister-in-law. I love the sweet and salty combination!
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/111886371968608296/
Finally, Emily and her family are Polish, so I wanted to incorporate something true to their heritage. I have yet to make these on pierogies, but with these step-by-step instructions, I intend to give it a try.
My mother is German, not Polish, but for decades, she made nut rolls (along with prune-poppyseed rolls) very similar to these every Easter. She’d even ship them from Pennsylvania to Florida to her sister-in-law. As I wrote the brief scene in which the rolls are mentioned, I recalled grinding nuts by hand for my mother when I was a little girl.
Snickerdoodles are one of my favorite cookies. The idea of adding pumpkin to them sounds delish 🙂
It is!!!
You are making me sooooo hungry.