Family Recipes from the Domestik Goddess

Our blogger friend Jen, the Domestik Goddess, keeps us up-to-date on the latest and greatest news for our homes each day. Jen also has an incredible collection of family recipes that she posts regularly on her blog.

Jen does an incredible job of giving her readers the story behind her recipes. For example, here is an excerpt from her War Cake recipe:

"Our family often serves this War Cake on Remembrance Day — Veterans Day to our cousins in the USA — as a reminder of what life was like on the home front in the Second World War. But this heavy dark cake is a tasty family favourite. In fact, my sister liked it so well that as a child she always demanded it for her birthday cake!

War cake recipes vary, but they are traditionally butter-less, egg-less, milk-less, and sometimes sugarless, reflecting those difficult days when many "luxury foods" were in short supply and prohibitively expensive, or even under wartime rationing controls.

This particular old recipe comes from the well-worn pages of Grandmother's own handwritten cookbook. It does call for a bit of butter but substitutes brown sugar for the refined white sugar which was hard to come by in Atlantic Canada. It is well-suited to a topping of boiled frosting or whipped cream, but of course Grammie used to serve it plain."

Click here to read the recipe.

Not only does her recipe note tell us about her family history and memories, but it also fills us in on world history at the time in which the recipe was created and gives preparation tips. Now that's a recipe! To read more of Jen's recipes, check out her recent Recipe Round-Up.

The great thing about writing detailed recipes in your family cookbook is that it will make your children and future generations aware of their family history and the events that shaped past generations. Unlike most heirlooms, family cookbooks are used on a regular basis- not stored away in closets and unused drawers. How fun will it be to share your family history with your children as you make Holiday cookies or a special dessert?!

Do you have a family recipe that has a neat story? Share it with us, and you may win one of ten free heirloom cookbooks! Check out our current contest for more details.