That One Family Recipe…

Do you know that one family recipe? The one that your older family members complain about making and talk about it as though making it should come with a badge, or at least your own parade and fireworks show after completion?

For my family, I can think of several recipes that were legendary growing up. One of them is my family’s Thanksgiving dressing recipe. That recipe takes DAYS to make. Then there’s the Norwegian Wedding Cake. That bad boy has become a traditional dessert in my family to celebrate weddings and anniversaries. Having had to make this a few times myself, I can assure you that if anyone ever makes it for you, they love you…A LOT! I can also assure you that many not very nice words are used in the assembling of that beast.

We have never attempted the two major recipes my husband’s family talks about….until today. I have been lucky enough to eat both recipes – they usually appear at the family reunions he has every 4 years. The two recipes are shortbread and German Biscuits, also called Empire Biscuits, depending on who you’re talking to. We took them both on today.

The shortbread wasn’t so bad to make – you just have to knead the dough FOREVER. And, I’m not talking about tens of minutes. No, no, no. This recipe requires HOURS of kneading. In fact, the exact directions are to knead until your arms fall off and then pass to the next person. However, the joy of this recipe is that once you have accomplished this task, that’s about it. Everything else is pretty easy.

The Empire Biscuits on the other hand, are very similar to the shortbread in prep, but then you have a filling to put on the cookies, frosting, and candied cherries. Guess my luck? Candied cherries aren’t a thing in the stores around Easter time. Either that or people are hoarding these like they’re hoarding toilet paper. Because of this, my hubby and I made our own. Yes, apparently the whole tough recipe was not enough for us…we had to make our own candied cherries and truly overachieve this event. Ha! I would recommend not doing that EVER again. It’s messy. Very messy.

Anyway, long story short – my husband and I have always wanted to make these recipes, as the people that we can ask for help are still around and able to answer our questions. It was fun to hear their stories about it and their tips before we dove in. This is the perfect time to jump in and do it – if you don’t have time to make those crazy recipes now, when will you?!? And, it makes for a fun conversation before or after with your family members who have done it as well. It’s not as fun as doing it together in person, but you’ll be ridiculously proud of yourself, and so will your family members. 🙂