The Christmas Present
Last Christmas, I described my ambitious plan with my family over Zoom. After countless phone calls and emails sharing cooking adventures, I decided to present an unusual gift to my grandmother. I shared this cover and my plans to collect and organize all of Grammy’s favorite recipes into a cookbook. I thought that this would be a great opportunity to further connect and share laughs with my grandmother over our shared passion for cooking and baking despite a global pandemic and 1,000 miles keeping us apart. Sadly 16 days later, these plans were altered. On January 10th, 2021, my loving grandmother, Dorothy Dunn, passed away unexpectedly. While not able to connect with my grandmother as I had planned through shared images and stories, I have found that making her favorite recipes has both reminded me of treasured past experiences that we shared and continued to bring her presence into my meals and gatherings to this day. Over 300 hours, 8,000 photos and 50 “successful” attempts at recipes later, I have come to better understand why my grandmother loved making these recipes so much. The food is undoubtedly delicious, but sharing it with others makes the experience so much better.
Make a Recipe and Share Your Experience
I am hoping that you will be able to find a recipe below that interests you and that you will be able to experience that same joy that I have over that last 9 months in sharing it with family and friends. Additionally, to assist in continuing my promised Christmas gift, I am asking that you share some photos or comments of your experience making these recipes. Successes, failures, laughs and difficulties- I want to see and hear about it all, so send them my way! I will collect all of your shared comments and images to add on this site and incorporate into a physical cookbook of all the recipes. Please share your shipping address in the email as well if you would like to receive a physical copy of the book.
Email your photos and comments to GrammyDCookbook@gmail.com.
Your Images:
Click on an image below to see the recipe
Crescent Rolls
Simit
Thumb Cookies
Irish Soda Bread
Shish Kebab
Snowballs
Poppyseed Cake
Cranberry Chicken
Rice Pilaf
Cheese Beoreg
Corn Flake Cookies
Grammy Pizza
Mud Pie
Cream Cheese Wafers
Yalanche
Zucchini Bread
Zucchini Pie
Date Balls
Paklava (Armenian Baklava)
Eggplant Parmesan
Blueberry Coffee Cake
Grape-Nut Pudding
Chocolate Chip Scones
Banana Fritters
Unusual Banana Cake
Apricot and Orange Roulade
Icebox Cake
Peanut Butter Squares
Almond Squares
Lasagna
Fruit Pizza
Stuffed Peppers
Uncle Dan's Clam Chowder
Anise Cookies
Peanut Butter Blossoms
Banana Bread
Green Bean Casserole
Lemon Lush
Stuffed Mushrooms
Swedish Meatballs
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Artichoke Dip
Grammy D Chicken Wings
Streusel Coffeecake
Donut Muffins
Chex Mix
Clam Spaghetti
Devil Dogs
Stuffing
Apple Cranberry Crisp
Cheoreg
Jello Mold