By Linda Iaderosa, with Gail Hartzell
Friends and family gather at Gail Hartzell’s home in Ohio for a taste of cookie history.
“In the childhood memories of every good cook, there’s a large kitchen, a warm stove, and a simmering pot of love.”
Cookies aren’t an American invention but you wouldn’t know it around Christmas. The tradition of baking homemade butter cookies, cut into various festive shapes and frosted green and red is as sacred as Santa. Millions of bloggers swap recipes, decorating tips, all wrapped around the lore of “the family who bakes together, stays together.”
Gail Hartzell of Uniontown, Ohio takes this time-honored pastime to new heights. She just hosted her second annual Heritage Cookie Swap to honor treasured memories of time spent with her grandmother, Mary Endlich, gathering friends and family to share stories of Christmases past, swap vintage recipes of cookies and recall family traditions.
Grandma Endlich would be 122 years old this Christmas.
Using Grandma Mary’s handmade aprons, rolling pins and antique bowls, Gail and her daughter, Katie, baked their favorite one hundred year old year recipe of Grandma’s Ginger Cookies to honor this years’ Christmas Tradition.
Honoring Grandma
The idea of the annual cookie swap was inspired by a cookbook/scrapbook that Gail crafted paying tribute to Grandma Endlich’s farm lifestyle and the love and pride that went into her cooking and baking. True to her Pennsylvania Dutch heritage, Grandma Endlich was a simple, “from the earth” farm-raised cook who grew and canned most of her own fruits and vegetables. She used sight and feel for measuring ingredients–a lump of lard the size of a walnut or an egg was the exact amount for a flaky crust.
Gail’s collection of vintage recipes, post cards, photos and farm memorabilia are rich reminders of Christmases past.
The use of fruits, nuts and molasses in her recipes instead of chocolate or marshmallows was another signature technique, telling of Grandma Endlich’s Pennsylvania Dutch roots.
“When I bake ginger cookies using my Grandma Endlich’s 100+ year recipe, I’m participating in a tradition that has endured in our family for over a century.” says Gail. “With each bite I taste, I remember my most cherished childhood memories of Christmas; Grandma in her warm kitchen baking and the two of us spending time together.”
(Next page: See photos of Gail’s annual cookie swap)
Here are the photos of a most perfect cookie-making day:
Gail’s daughter Katie became so interested in the stories of her ancestors that she decided to make a scrapbook of her own.
The quintessential 100-year-old ginger cookie recipe from Mary Endlich.
Gail’s hand crafted scrapbooks highlight the time she spent with her grandmother learning the art of cooking and baking down on the farm.
Grandma and great-grandmother, farm wives and great bakers.
Barb (right) and daughter Megan, who represents the next generation at the heritage cookie swap.
I’m still in search of a “signature cookie” recipe. Sadly I did not inherit any.
What a wonderful article. We live in such a fast paced world these days and yet, it’s nice to see people keep and hand down traditions in their family. They say food tastes better when it’s baked with love, and when you look at those old recipes with all that love, the cookies must be delicious!!
What a charming article about a family tradition of baking, cookbooks and receipts. It was was a joy to read the article and see that family traditions still hold a place in people hearts
Such a heart warming story. Enjoyed reading about the family traditions
I love this story so much. Linda did an amazing job with this story. I love the cookie scrapbooks and the recipe swap, they look great!
Gail,
What a beautiful memorial to your grandmother. She was just as sweet as you are. Loved the article!
Love Your Sister!
(Lynae helped me type this, and find it! HI AUNT GAIL
Gail, I rember when mowing grandma Endlich yard I always got paid and the tip was a plate of cookies. I never had any trouble getting help to mow there. We would sit there and Laura would walk across the street to find out what kind of cookies we were eating and would ask for one.
Thanks so much for honoring Grandma Endlich with this wonderful story. She was such an inspiration for me, and your story captured the truly amazing cook/baker she was. I’m hopeful this story will make our family proud.
Great story about family traditions!!!! Made me think of baking with my grandmothers and all the yummy holiday foods! Loved this article!!!!
I have known Katie and Gail for over 8 years and they are really awesome people. They are both the some of the nicest people you meet.
I love getting cards from them because they are handmade. It is nice to see someone take the time out of their lives to stick to traditions and crafting like they do.
When my son was born they both went out of their way to pick up a baby book for us to have with our son to keep track of his memories and milestones. It was nice someone would do this for us.I will never forget this.
So glad this story is told. Gail spent a very long time making the scrapbook about her Grandma Endlich, as a tribute to her. Hopefully this article will bring her Grandma the honor she deserves.
What a wonderful way to honor the memories of loved ones! The vintage scrapbooks/cookbooks are a beautiful reflection of the warm relationship between a grandmother and granddaughter, passed on through shared activities of mother and daughter.
How awesome! I have Grandma Enlich’s ginger cookie recipe too (from Gail) and I make it every Christmas with my kids. It’s become a tradition in our family.
Loved the article! Gail is such a sweet lady and I would eat any kind of cookies she makes! One of the most amazing ladies I know 🙂
It reminded me of growing up in a farming community when I was a child. We always had favorite recipes and foods we made to celebrate the holidays. I hope to get many other interesting articles like this one to come across my path. I like this much.
This is so like Gail to honor her Grandma with such a creative, lovely book. Love this idea of heritage cookie swapping, and so glad family traditions are alive and thriving in our family lives. GREAT article!
What a beautiful memory. Grandma would be so honored . There is nothing more wonderful than taking out that hand written recipe card that has turned a bit brown and words have started to smudge an the edges have a few stains of butter. what a treasure.
Thanks so much for including the photo of my daughter, Katie, and I in the photo. We hope our family members and friends enjoy reading this article about Grandma. This story is such an honor for us! We LOVE it!
My mother’s and grandmother’s recipe boxes are stashed away waiting for me to scan recipes for my daughter and nieces. This story makes me realize While I missed this year, I should have it ready by holiday 2014. Nice story.
I loved this story- and what a wonderful way to pass on our family’s recipes. I LOVE these pictures… her scrapbooks are stunning… and what a clever way to pass along relatives stories, pictures, history & recipes. I never thought to tie all of that together- a wonderful way to remember our loved ones. Kudos to Gail for keeping traditions alive for her daughter and hopefully generations to come!
I loved reading this! This is such a heartwarming story and a great idea. I have some recipes of my grandmother’s I think I’ll try next year at our cookie bake!
Fabulous story. Wonderful
Ideas
What a beautiful story! Cookies are, indeed, a treasured part of our heritage! With great-grandparents coming from both Russia and Italy–as well a childhood in Pennsylvania–cookies are a beautiful and savored part of my own holidays! Your story has given me ideas for how to enrich our own traditions! Thank you!
What a wonderful message of carrying on family tradition and remembering our loved one’s that came before us!
Gail is such a wonderful
Creative soul. She puts so much of herself into everything she does. So much feeling and heart!
Great Story and super job Gail for remembering your Grandmother and at this time of year when Families are very important! I remembered your Grandmother lived on Broad and 21st!
I totally agree that baking together is such a lovely family thing to do, but it’s also how many of us show we care, measured out in sugar and hours logged at the stove. Every Christmas, my wonderful sister Linda bakes small cranberry breads and distributes them to people in her small town, many of whom are elderly and alone — it’s just so nice to be thought of, and I think it’s a happy spark to the people she does this for. She also bakes pignoli cookies and sends them out to family members near and far.
I love baking, too, but the frenzy of it all sometimes takes the joy out of it, so this year I decided to make one cookie and do it well. It was a vanilla meringue dipped in chocolate and crushed pistachio. Watching family gobble them up absolutely made my day. : )
This is such a touching story. I love it that with all the Christmas traditions that have dropped by the wayside, baking cookies is not one of them. What better way to keep the memories of family members that have passed on alive in our hearts. Nice article.
Christmas, family and treasured recipes. These are the touchstones that ground us and provide the lifelong memories and traditions that are so important in this crazy fast paced world. Thank you Gail and Katie for keeping these heartwarming memories and traditions alive!
Thanks for this very inspiring, and extremely well written article! We live in such a fast paced society, family traditions are sadly often forgotten.
I was reminded of my Aunt Frieda, who was born in 1901. She raised us while our single mom worked three jobs just to keep a roof over our heads. Although money was tight, every Christmas, Aunt Frieda would bake her moms special Spritz cookie recipe. (Circa 1875)
I haven’t baked those cookies in years – but reading this article convinced me! I baked a batch, shared them with my friends, and told them about Aunt Frieda. Thanks for helping me reminisce about such great family memories. May the traditions live on!
Wonderful family story! I would love to get recipes from you Gail – bring them when you come visit us in Texas!
Gail such a lovely story about grandma Mary. We shared the same birthday together and she was such a wonderful lady
She is so proud of your honor to her with your heart felt warmth of keeping her tradition going love you aunt Martha
What a beautiful tradition to continue to pass down! What a way to remember and create memories. This makes me want to create some new traditions for next Christmas 🙂
I enjoyed reading the article and seeing pictures of family heritage .
What a beautiful way to preserve memories while creating traditions for future generations! I love the notion of a cookie exchange which is focused on sharing, not just to fill a tray with variety. But rather the respect and gratitude of those before for their contributions in our own lives. Lovely!
Very touching article!
Thanks Gail and Katie for sharing your story and taking me down memory lane! It made me feel & almost smell the cooking and baking from my Grandma’s kitchen. She passed two years ago and I really miss her. I didn’t get Grandma’s cookie recipes but have my mother’s which I am passing down. Also, loved the photos! 🙂
Such a wonderful family tradition that she is passing along to her daughter. More families should embrace this tradition.
I love this! I have a food blog and wish I had the room to have this kind of a party bringing great people together and remembering the marks others left on you! Bravo and can I join next year?
Hello Everyone!
Thank you to all who have written nice comments…Erika does a GREAT job with this site and I am honored to write for her….”I write for Food”..lol Literally.
Linda
I’m so thankful my mom has kept all of these wonderful recipes and shares them with our close friends and family. My mom is such a caring, creative person and this story truly captures this. I look forward to continuing this tradition and baking all these tasty recipes in many years to come!
Such a beautiful story of family tradition. Especially love the part how the measuring was done by sight. My Mother-in-Law passed on cookie recipes the same way…a couple handfuls of flour til it is just right!
I love reading about traditions that maybe can add to ours!
this is a great article talking about tradition! and its simply amazing how long you can keep traditions going… Maybe one day your grandkids will right an article on you and the traditions you started with them! Good Luck Aunt Gail!
What a great hart warming story about my wife’s family. It is great you are keeping your family heritage going.
what a great article the great days gone by. Its nice for mothers and daughters to pass on the traditions.
Great read! I love seeing a tradition like this bringing family together. Warms my heart! I’d love to do this with mine . Love the article!
I make my grandma’s Italian cookies every year, for over twenty years! It’s like having her at our Christmas party!!
Nice article, hope we see more like it.
What a great story. I just wRms your heart