Author Topic: Not So Secret Family Recipes  (Read 3668 times)

Writer of Wrongs

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Re: Not So Secret Family Recipes
« Reply #15 on: September 24, 2018, 02:05:46 pm »
Mom's chocolate chip cookies were famous. My friends raved about them, and they were snarfed up at bake sales and potlucks. I always knew the secret, because it was written at the top of the recipe card: Original Toll House Cookies. She copied it from the  Toll House chocolate chips package, but she added sweetened shredded coconut.

Here's a link: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/174864/original-nestle-toll-house-chocolate-chip-cookies/

(I actually made that recipe last night, but I added caramel bits instead of nuts and coconut, and sprinkled kosher salt on top before baking, and a bit more as soon as they came out of the oven. Salted caramel chocolate chip cookies. My coworkers are loving them.)
Someday, I hope to get paid to kill people. For now, I just do it for fun.
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TeamBhakta

Re: Not So Secret Family Recipes
« Reply #16 on: September 25, 2018, 11:03:47 am »
Mom's chocolate chip cookies were famous. My friends raved about them, and they were snarfed up at bake sales and potlucks.

That sounds so delicious!  ;D

kckgirl

Re: Not So Secret Family Recipes
« Reply #17 on: September 25, 2018, 03:43:20 pm »
My grandsons are visiting here this week. They asked for a couple of my recipes that are favorites. Surprise, surprise! The stuffing I make every Thanksgiving is straight out of the Betty Crocker cookbook, and the strawberry pie is off the graham cracker crust label. I never look at the recipes any more because I've made them so often, so I'm not sure if they are still circulating, but there is Google.

STiG

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Re: Not So Secret Family Recipes
« Reply #18 on: September 25, 2018, 05:11:49 pm »
My mother's pumpkin pie recipe came straight off a can of Aylmer pumpkin in the 60's or 70's.  She used fresh pumpkin instead of canned, mind you.  But there were people who bought their pies from her every year for Thanksgiving.  And now I get orders for them, too.

Thitpualso

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Re: Not So Secret Family Recipes
« Reply #19 on: October 06, 2018, 02:11:54 pm »
We used to hold New Year’s Day parties that started with brunch.  My husband made a very delicious quiche.

One year, my boss attended and loved the quiche.  She asked me for the recipe and we were happy to provide the recipe for the filling. 

There was a problem.  What she really wanted was our recipe for the perfect pie crust we used. 

It was a bit embarrassing to tell her the crust was a frozen variety easily available in any local grocery. 
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gramma dishes

Re: Not So Secret Family Recipes
« Reply #20 on: October 06, 2018, 02:16:26 pm »
We used to hold New Year’s Day parties that started with brunch.  My husband made a very delicious quiche.

One year, my boss attended and loved the quiche.  She asked me for the recipe and we were happy to provide the recipe for the filling. 

There was a problem.  What she really wanted was our recipe for the perfect pie crust we used. 

It was a bit embarrassing to tell her the crust was a frozen variety easily available in any local grocery.

You should have copied a recipe from virtually any cookbook, the more complicated the better.  Then when her crust didn't come out the same as your husband's, she would just attribute it to your husband's remarkably advanced culinary skills.   :D
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WunderWoman

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Re: Not So Secret Family Recipes
« Reply #21 on: October 21, 2018, 10:23:46 pm »
My first MIL was an amazing cook, and her cheesy potatoes were the best I'd ever had. I spent 3 years trying to replicate hers, hundreds of hours, trying everything I could think of, and I finally got mine pretty close to hers!

So one day, I brought mine to her, all proud, and said "Taste these, and let me know what you think!"

She did, and she liked them. And then she told me hers were the Betty Crocker Au Gratin potatoes from the box.

Ouch.

Pattycake

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Re: Not So Secret Family Recipes
« Reply #22 on: October 22, 2018, 08:22:44 am »
Wunderwoman's post reminded me of an older woman who came to our church one Sunday with her son's family who regularly attended our church. It must have been Christmas, because she loved the stuffing and wanted the recipe. She's from a farming family who are known for their good cooking. The lady who made it was embarrassed to tell her it was Stove Top!

TeamBhakta

Re: Not So Secret Family Recipes
« Reply #23 on: October 22, 2018, 08:54:59 am »

She did, and she liked them. And then she told me hers were the Betty Crocker Au Gratin potatoes from the box.

Ouch.

That gave me a good laugh  ;D

VorFemme

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Re: Not So Secret Family Recipes
« Reply #24 on: October 22, 2018, 04:02:31 pm »
I make fancy brownies - using a box of mix, a little almond flavoring in the batter, and sprinkle a small bag of slivered or sliced almonds on the top.  They don't last long at pot luck meals...

I've also added a bit of mint flavoring and then chopped a few chocolate mint candies to sprinkle on the top and those rarely hang around long, either.  I believe in "fair warning" - if I were to make brownies swirled with a bit of peanut butter - I'd sprinkle some chopped peanuts on top & put a warning label of some kind on the pan.  I don't have any relatives with peanut allergies, or at least, I didn't the last time we had a large family gathering.


nuku

Re: Not So Secret Family Recipes
« Reply #25 on: November 14, 2018, 06:28:01 pm »
I make fancy brownies - using a box of mix, a little almond flavoring in the batter, and sprinkle a small bag of slivered or sliced almonds on the top.  They don't last long at pot luck meals...

I've also added a bit of mint flavoring and then chopped a few chocolate mint candies to sprinkle on the top and those rarely hang around long, either.  I believe in "fair warning" - if I were to make brownies swirled with a bit of peanut butter - I'd sprinkle some chopped peanuts on top & put a warning label of some kind on the pan.  I don't have any relatives with peanut allergies, or at least, I didn't the last time we had a large family gathering.

No matter what brownie recipe I use, people always ask why they're so good. No matter the recipe, if you add one tsp. of cinnamon and double the vanilla, they will taste amazing.  ;D

LadyRexall

Re: Not So Secret Family Recipes
« Reply #26 on: July 29, 2019, 05:15:42 pm »
Mil makes homemade pasta sauce and every one goes ga-ga over it. Hubby has pronounced this the best homemade sauce ever. I also make a homemade pasta sauce. Hubby loves it but it’s just not quite as good as his moms. His moms secret? She opens a jar of ragu and adds a few spices. The kicker: hubby detests ragu lol.
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silversurfer

Re: Not So Secret Family Recipes
« Reply #27 on: July 29, 2019, 08:04:39 pm »
My family makes trifle every year for Christmas. I make one a year for either a party or mini versions in cups for office Christmas parties.
Everyone loves it, but it is all from packets!!

Essentially:
Cut up jam rolls for the sponge at the bottom.
Pour peach juice (from the tin) over the sponge.
Build the trifle with layers of
- Port wine jelly (make from the packet)
- Custard (from the fridge section of the supermarket)
- chopped up bananas, strawberries and peaches

One party I brought it to, as soon as I walked in someone said "I can smell the brandy from here!" No brandy.
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Thitpualso

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Re: Not So Secret Family Recipes
« Reply #28 on: September 03, 2019, 10:30:23 am »
In the thread about pumpkin pie, it was stated that recipes from tin labels were bland. 

Well, of course they’re bland.  Aren’t the label recipes intended to be the tribal progenitors of ‘secret family recipes’?

Luci

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Re: Not So Secret Family Recipes
« Reply #29 on: September 03, 2019, 11:22:11 am »
Someone older and diabetic with the early stages of dementia has wanted the recipe for my cobbler for years and I didn’t give it to her until yesterday. I showed her the side of the Jiffy cake mix box. I didn’t tell her the tweeks. I asked her if she wanted to take the box, but her daughter read the kind of mix to her and said she didn’t need it and whispered to me, "She’ll keep it for 20 years if she takes it." It’s sad, but she’ll probably quit bugging me, and never make it anyway.
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