Look, this isn’t a real post. It’s just me sharing a story that might help you if you’ve been in my same predicament.
When I was little my great grandmother (on my mom’s side) used to make the most incredible peach cobbler but she absolutely refused to share the recipe with anyone because the women in my family all fought over who got to make the food to family gatherings and she didn’t want anyone else to be able to bring it. (One time there was a family feud that broke out over three kinds of stuffing being brought to Thanksgiving and the stuffing you chose to put on your plate was like picking your biker gang. I took a small scoop of all three and my aunt was like, “You tiny coward.” Which was totally fair.)
Great Mamaw wouldn’t write down the recipe or let anyone in the kitchen when she baked it but when she was in her 90s she finally started to share some of her recipes with her daughter (my granny) but by that time the dementia was heavy and she couldn’t remember how to make it anymore. One time we went to her house so granny could watch her make it and we were like, “Why is the cobbler green? Is it supposed to fizz like that?” And granny whispered “NO ONE EAT THE COBBLER” because turns out mamaw insisted in baking lime jello into it and we all had to take a big spoonful and throw it out the back door when she wasn’t looking. My point here is that when she died, the beloved family peach cobbler of my childhood died with her, and for the last 40 years my sister and I have eaten every peach cobbler we could find in the hopes of finding hers. Every time I try one my kiddo (Hailey) and my husband are like “Is that it?” and it never is.
BUT! Last week I got a text from my sister that she thought she may have solved the great cobbler mystery! Turns out, our great aunt Albina (on my father’s side) had shared her recipe for peach cobbler in her old church cookbook before she died and Lisa thought that maybe since both women grew up in the same era and town perhaps they’d both gotten the recipe from the same place, so she went to work trying it out and experimenting and finally sent me the recipe with her notes.
Baking is a science I never mastered but Hailey loves it so they (and their sweetheart, Laurel) got busy on New Years Eve making us the famous peach cobbler from scratch.
Honestly, watching them make it was worth it alone because they crack me up.
And after an hour of “How do you dry peaches?” “Can I use forks instead of a pastry blender?” How do you ‘cut in’ shortening?” “How do you ‘braid’ dough? “WHY DON’T YOU HAVE TOOTHPICKS? FUCK IT, I’LL USE CHOPSTICKS” Hailey pulled it out of the oven and everyone stared at me in a suspenseful silence and I was like, “It smells exactly right but I remember hers having a sugary top?” and Hailey yelled, “OH NO. I FORGOT TO BRUSH IT WITH SUGAR AND BUTTER” and I was like, “It’s fine, I’ll just melt some butter and sugar and we’ll put it back in the oven” but I accidentally used salted margarine and the microwave didn’t melt it properly and everyone kind of stared in horror as I dumped globs of goo on the top while making a mess, but honestly it totally worked and felt like a nod to Great Mama’s forgetfulness. And when it came out of the oven the second time it was perfect and when I bit into it I literally cried. Like, have you ever been craving something for 40 years and finally get it again and it’s just as good as you imagined and it kind of heals you a little? Because, yeah.
So this whole thing is just to say that if you have a secret family recipe…let this be your sign to share it now. Don’t gatekeep that shit, friend.
And speaking of sharing…here is the recipe for our peach cobbler:
We used canned peaches and it was fine, but if you really want to do it like my great mamaw you need to can the peaches yourself from your peach trees and store them in your storm cellar for so many years that they get extra sweet and a little mushy in a way that might indicate that you’re going to die from botulism. Why did those peaches always taste better?
Special thanks to my great mamaw (below in b&w with her husband) and to my great aunt Albina (below, surrounded by two of her sisters, including my grandmother. They were always giggling together and I don’t know about what because they seldom did it in English but this picture always makes me smile) and to the 1999 Wall Brethren Church Christian Sisters Cookbook.
Happy cobblering.
What a great story! I make my great grandma’s pecan pie which really is just the karo Syrup recipe but mixing fake & light half and half. But I still love it.
That’s such a wonderful story. It bothers me a lot that nothing lasts forever.
My grandpa’s favorite nut bread makes an appearance at every Thanksgiving because I insist on it. My mother made me a cookbook when I got married that has all the family recipes. Most are from magazines and newspapers, but I don’t care – they’re our favorites!
Oh my gosh, the timing of this post is a but eerie, but very appreciated. I was just saying last night how much I miss my grandmother (she passed over 10 years ago) and her cooking, including her peach cobbler, but I don’t have the recipe. And the picture of yours looks exactly like hers. Thank you so much for sharing this, you have given me hope! I can’t wait to try this.
I absolutely LOVE this! Congratulations to you and your sister! 😊 Carry On with the Delicious Peachy Goodness! 💛
I love seeing old pictures where everyone is wearing corsages and smiling. My mom and grandmother always had one for all the big holidays. Love that you recaptured a recipe. That is the best feeling ever.
This might be my favorite of your posts ever, even if it isn’t a real post. Cheers to you and your family esp. Great Mamaw and Great Aunt Albina!!
Yes, food memories make me weep with joy.
There’s a recipe, for a special Italian Christmas Cookie, that my Nonna used to make.
Struffoli.
Some people would make the cookie, and then do honey syrup.
No, my Nonna made a time consuming, painstaking, back breaking raisin syrup, in which to drown the cookies.
Did she share the complete recipe with anyone?
No.
Did she share parts with her to favorite grandchildren?
She tried.
Guess who got the “time consuming, painstaking, back breaking raisin syrup, in which to drown the cookies” part of the recipe?
And, guess which cousin failed to show up on their day to learn the cookie.
Leave us to say the recipe for the syrup isn’t available online, whilst the cookie recipe is pretty much available on any Italian Cookie website.
:::wanders off enjoying her Struffoli, knowing that her cousin ain’t going to get any (Ha ha ha haaaaaa haaaaaaa!):::::
I’m such a kitchen slut, I make peach cobbler with canned peaches and Bisquick.
For one whole summer, my best friend and I shadowed her mother in the kitchen. She was a great cook, but she didn’t have any recipes. It was all by touch, taste, and smell. “Cook it ’til it’s done. Salt it ’til it smells right.” We watched her like hawks, and wrote down everything she did. I treasure those recipes, even though I don’t make them anymore.
I went through something similar with my mom’s corn chowder recipe. I went over 15 years craving it until one day I found one that sounded similar enough to what I remembered to use it as a jumping off point and now I’ve been able to perfect it and it’s a family favorite now. I also stated hand writing all my recipes that I have developed over almost 30 years of cooking as an adult and made each of my kids their own family cookbook that can be added to by each generation. I’ve even scanned ones from family members that are no longer we with us for them, too.
That is very very cool. What language did they speak? My mother’s side is from Germany (escaped in 1939). My Opa (grandpa) and great aunt both grew up in Alsace-Lorraine (BEFORE WWI) so they spoke French and German. I know my mother had my aunt’s quiche lorraine recipe but I couldn’t find it. No quiche tasted as good. Got the recipe from my cousin and wow that is the real thing! My daughter made one recently for a holiday party and it was gone in less than an hour! Family recipes DO matter!
This is amazing! My mother’s family got back the lost secret recipe for the spice quickbread we all have to have or it’s not the holidays when my grandmother, who really was psychic (she was part if a famous Harvard parapsychology study and everything) had a dream where she was watching her mother make it. She wrote it all down the minute she woke up, and voila we had it back!!
My sister and I have been trying every thumbprint cookie recipe that we can get our hands on, but over 25 years later, we still haven’t found the one Granny used. Her cookie was some type of butter cookie, but it was soft? And instead of jam, she used a maraschino cherry. We pourwd through every cookbook of hers after she died but none of them were even close.
YES! Definitely don’t gatekeep that. A couple years ago when my MIL passed I took her favorite recipes and copied them into a Lulu cookbook for my husband’s family and the kids (typed the recipes but put pics of her handwritten recipe cards and instructions in) because that shit needs to be shared and saved. Traditions die if we don’t nurture them. Also that looks yummy!
Thanks for sharing your story and your recipe. I have printed both so it will never be lost again!
Southern women, I swear. My great aunt on my father’s side refused to share her family’s chicken and dumplings and her crab cakes recipes. When she and her husband moved in with my folks so Auntie could be cared for in her final days, her husband made her give the recipes to my mom so she could make them for him. (This was late 1940’s.) From all accounts, she was seriously pissed.
Irony is, my mom hated cooking and wasn’t particularly good at it, but she’d make the chicken and dumplings a few times a year for family gatherings and we loved them. She shared it with me and I am sharing it with my nieces (and nephews, should they ask for it.) I’m grateful to auntie’s husband.😄
My former mother in law refused to write anything down, and she didn’t measure anything, and she wouldn’t have me over to watch her cook, so her recipes died with her. Her only child, my ex husband will never again taste her food, which is a shame. Losing your family recipes is a loss that reminds you of the loved ones who you have lost, and it’s a miracle if you can recreate them or find them again.
Congratulations on finding your special recipe!
YES!!! My grandma used to make jams and jellies. I remember the taste of one like it was yesterday tasting it, but I have NO IDEA what it was. I’ve tried for years to figure it out, but I have had zero luck. About 40 years here as well. I’d give anything to taste that just one more time. 😢
I love this story. I love the fact that Hailey is so much better and making this cobbler!❤️❤️❤️
ALBINA PLAGENS is a masterful nom de plume.
Thank you for the most joyful post of 2026! I know it’s early yet, but I honestly doubt anything is going to top it! Off to try your Great Mamaw’s recipe.❤
My grandma had this biscuit recipe that she made and I loved them but she passed away before I wanted to learn how to make it (I was 16 when she died). I had to be hospitalized once and then when I was well enough to go home, my mom was there and asked if I was hungry. I said yes and she’s like, “I’ll just make grandma’s biscuits.” I freaked out — she knew the secret recipe ?!?
Y’all, it was on the side of the bisquick box.
I ended up making my dad’s Dutch stollen recipe out of fury this year. I had resigned myself to not making it due to depression and overwhelming grief from losing my mom early 2025. That is until we went to a Christmas market and some punk was trying to sell what was arguably really just a brick covered in powdered sugar and it made me so mad that I woke up the next day and baked the most perfect stollen I have ever made. We lost dad in 2017, but mom continued his tradition of making it until she was no longer able to because of her Alzheimers. I took it over then but this year it still felt too raw. I even heard her voice in my head saying “more fruit!”. Next goal is to figure out dad’s croquettes.
I made my great grandmother’s almond tarts for Christmas this year, and emailed my British family (that she came from) that I had done so, and it’s such a lovely thing to connect over. It’s a way of keeping the generations connected, even after the ones before us have gone. Plus, yum.
What an absolute treasure!!! You, your great grandma, Hailey and their partner making it, and finally having this wonderful recipe and cobbler after all this time! I can’t love this more!! ❤️❤️❤️
My mother had the habit of teaching each of us kids her recipes slightly differently and then will later claim that she “NEVER” puts X in her recipe and she has no idea why we do so. I was also lucky enough to learn my grandmother’s version of Yorkshire pudding and meat pie. I have been sure to share her secrets though. I do so miss her.
Were they of Polish descent?
I read that as “happy clobbering” at the end there and, honestly, yeah.
Congrats on finding it and HELL YEAH to Hailey and Laurel for their heroic work in the kitchen. Enjoy your cobbler and Happy New Year.
Jenny!!! Bless you!!! My family *doesn’t* have a peach cobbler recipe, but I love peach cobbler, and the only place I like it from is in Memphis (I live in the Chicago area), and I’m for sure going to try this! I’m so glad the mystery has been solved. That’s a lot of years to be missing the glory of peach cobbler.
What a great story!
Also, I thought it had just been in the back of someone’s freezer for forty years and wondered if you were brave enough to eat it.
I mean, I probably would eat a forty year old frozen cobbler, but I wouldn’t, like, announce it unless I had to go to the emergency room or something.
@1, Cathy:
my Grannie used light Karo and my babička used dark karo, so when my mom made pecan pie, she used half of each. 🙂
Last year I gave everyone well every family a collection of family favorite recipes. Including ones from my great grandmother, my mom, an aunt and even some from friends of my ago.
So happy you found it!
My grandmother had a recipe that she didn’t want to share with the family, but her sisters in law bullied her until she did. Which is bad, but then their house burned down and the recipe would have been lost if she hadn’t shared it, so … a rare pro-bullying story? Kind of?
Thank you for the laughs! I’ve spent all day looking for my mother’s chocolate mousse recipe that doesn’t exist. Turns out I had the recipe originally and sent it to her 15 years ago. No idea where it is now.
As my mother was in hospice care, my brother and I made sure to ask her how she made her sugar cookies, how she made her BBQ sauce, etc. I forgot to ask about the wheat germ muffins! I finally found a very similar recipe online (no bran but with molasses) after searching through every cookbook she had.
My good friend always told me about her Mom’s delicious cooking which was never shared. I left home and my Mom sent recipes to me so that I could have her home-cooking at my place. I started a recipe book for my kids when they were ten and twelve knowing they need to continue the family legacy of delicious food. Thanks for shating the peach cobbler recipe. I’ll add that recipe with a reference to your great grandmother because we need to know who to thank as we drool over every bite.
I know exactly how you feel. My grandma made blackberry cobbler. When she passed away, I didn’t try cobbler for years. The first time I did, it was a country store cobbler that tasted all wrong. I broke into tears after one bite. I’ve learned to make my own since then, and found a couple places that make it the right way.
OMG! and I thought only our family had odd recipes that no one can recreate. My paternal grandma’s turkey stuffing is ine of those. We ALL watched to see what she added, and you know what, it wa different EVERY damn time, but still tasted the same! The spices were the same, as was cornbread. And not that kind w/sugar but real southern cornbread. The rest…one year she added gingersnaps and it still tasted the same. So good for you in finding the secret. My family is still searching.
OH BEST story. Love to all those who bake those memories. Happy New Year!!
I still make my great grandmother’s banana “bread” that is really banana cake… which I always bake as muffins. The recipe is at least 125 years old due to her living near where bananas were shipped into the US from Central America. I taught my kids how to bake with that recipe. I’ve reworked the recipe over the years, swapping words like “oleo” for “butter”, listing the ingredients in the order they are needed in the recipe, and changing cups to grams. I even updated the method from alternating wet and dry when I realized she was mixing by hand instead of using an electric mixer, but we all agreed to put it back in as a nod to her, even if the final product was much the same. It is still my kids’ favorite, and they each have a copy – with the original version at the end so they can remember the history behind the recipe.
I have multiple almond crescent recipes from my grandma, who wrote them down repeatedly as her Alzheimer’s progressed. Every year was a new adventure until this past Christmas, when I finally made the right one. I call them her Alzheimer’s Almond Crescents.
I don’t want to read too much into this but perhaps your peach cobbler and my almond crescents are auspicious signs for 2026.
Hope springs eternal, anyway.
This reminds me of Aunt Marcia’s recipe for Pate but she took it to the grave. That’s fine. I don’t need it. I’ll eat cobbler instead.
I love that you shared this including the recipe. I have never understood keeping a recipe secret. I am putting together all my favorite recipes into a book and writing about the friends and family I have enjoyed making them for. It gives me such joy!
A wonderful family and your traditions that continue the legend !
I love my sister, but she took our mom’s recipe box and mixed her own in and lost some of my favorites. They are both gone now and I need some guidance about some recipes.
I love that you found the right or super close recipe. My MIL drop sugar cookies are like this. She gave me the recipe on her death bed and it said 5-7c flour. My husband has me put in 5 and just puts the rest of the flour in until he yells – close enough! Her mom and sisters they are darn close but not quite perfect yet. I’m going to try your cobbler recipe out. I bet I love it as my family has a peach orchard growing up and I still can my own peaches as they are the best!
Awesome! Ours is a chocolate fudge recipe. We have the recipe, but no one can make it exactly right (or at least as my mom remembers it). That just adds to the challenge.
Great story. FABULOUS photos!!
this is a fantastical story and I love how it all played out! I wanted to know how my mom made the amazing hot apple cake dessert thing that she made when we were little and I asked my sibs and no one knew and there was no recipe anywhere and I finally flat out asked my mom face to face one year late in the game and she practically barked: ‘oh my god, it’s not even a recipe! I just made the cheapest yellow cake in a loaf pan, with no frosting and heated up the cheapest can of apple pie filling and cut slices of the cake on a plate and poured the hot filling on top.” what?! that was the top secret gourmet dessert recipe I had been trying to make for years?!
Wow! I love it!! Aren’t families fun?! In our family it was Mama’s biscuit recipe because hers were the best & she never used a recipe. Ack! So me & my sisters made biscuits with her about a year before she died & wrote down everything trying to replicate her biscuits. It worked. Sort of. Finally. Lots of experimenting went on, tho. lol!
After my mom passed, I found some recipe cards with her recipes on them. Unfortunately there are no amounts or instructions – just a list of ingredients. I know she tweaked the recipe over the years to make it her own, but geez.
Be still my ❤️. And I’m telling you, that’s where you’ll find the secret recipes. Those church and community cookbooks are a goldmine! It’s how I found my aunt’s divinity recipe. I still want my mom’s famous enchiladas recipe, but my sister is the only one who knows it now and will only say, “but it’s so easy”, then never shares more.
I will say i have a very good peach pie recipe, but it’s all about finding great peaches, which is very difficult now days. If I’m lucky there is one week in summer they are good enough at the farmers mkt.
This reminds me of the story of Schmeckle:
A young couple gets married, and the bride goes to her new mother-in-law to learn how to make the groom’s favorite foods. Her mother-in-law teaches her all the recipes, which the young woman carefully and expertly makes for her husband, who always tells her that all of her food is good, but it just isn’t “Schmeckle” (the German food equivalent to je ne sais quoi). One day, the young woman has too many things to do, all while cooking dinner, and accidentally burns the pot; she carefully removes all the burned bits and sets the table for dinner. Her husband comes in from the farm and sits down to eat his dinner and takes a bite. Suddenly, the man jumps up from the table and yells “Schmeckle!” It turns out her mother-in-law, and probably all of the women in the family for generations, has been burning the food.
The story of the peach cobbler is your family’s Schmeckle; you just had to find the burned food in the stew (your great-aunt’s recipe in the community cookbook).
Love this story, Jenny. Thanks for the recipe!
Is it my imagination or wishful thinking, but does Hailey resemble Allbina???
The dish that I’ve been missing for 40 years is the hickory nut cake that the old ladies used to make in central Pennsylvania. The problem is not so much the recipe as the fact that getting hickory nuts out of the shell was such a time consuming, niggling process that no one has been willing to do it, really since TV gave people something else to do with long winter nights.
I am loving these stories so much. My grandmother and her sisters spoke Czech to each other.
This makes me so happy!!!❤️ ❤️ ❤️
Your writing is like cold mountain spring water to a parched devotee. Not clever. Not original. But fricking true.
Whoa I meant my analogy was not clever or original..
Not you!!!
I cannot thank you enough for sharing this recipe!! My husband lives cobbler and none of the recipes or pre-made versions have been right at all.
Love this story! Enjoy the cobbler. My husband wooed me with a delicious cobbler on one of our first dates.
This makes me think of the Greg Brown song about summers at his Grandma’s house:
https://youtu.be/wcs0oEz4QSE?feature=shared
My mom has a recipe passed down from my dad’s aunt- the family black sheep. She never gave it to anyone in her family except to my (by then separated) mom, with a solemn promise. I will share with my young’un with the same gravity.
This is lovely. There is a chocolate cake my grandma used to make for the birthday gatherings we had throughout the years. My sister and I have tried to recreate it but we haven’t been successful yet.
Food is a shareable GOOD commodity and no one should gatekeep goodness!
When I was getting ready to marry my husband, I went to his family’s Thanksgiving dinner. It was then when he told me, in no uncertain terms, that I would need to learn his grandmother’s super secret pumpkin pie recipe and make it. I sighed and agreed, even though I hate pumpkin pie.
Some years later, towards the end of her life, I asked Grandma Ruby where I might find this secret recipe. Was there a family cookbook I should be looking for?
She laughed so hard as she explained that the secret recipe was the one on the wrapper of the Meijer brand canned pumpkin.
What a great story!
In my family, my mom has a strong aversion to sharing things “outside the family.” We have a family pumpkin pie recipe (which I suspect is mainly special only due to the amount of spices used) and also a family ice cream recipe (honey ice cream, FYI), which my parents developed together through quite a lot of trial and error. My father died when I was seven, so that makes the ice cream recipe extra special for me.
My brother and I both have all the family recipes we have asked for. Years ago, when one of my friends asked for the ice cream recipe, I had to tell her that my mom wouldn’t let me share it with anyone outside the family.
My mom is in her 90s now, and I will respect her wishes regarding sharing those family recipes as long as she is alive, but after that, I will be sharing with anyone who requests them, the same way I do with all of my own recipes.
I’m with Jenny; why are people gatekeeping this stuff? That makes no sense to me. Food is love (never mind what else it might be). Share the love.
Honestly, it may have tasted better, but those ancient peaches may just fermented.
I am lucky, my family never did family secret recipes, but I do have my grandmother’s baked pineapple recipe, courtesy of my mom. It’s easy, good, and only pulled out for holidays.
I’ve been looking for my mother’s Texas chili recipe for years. I found a restaurant in the Washington D. C. Area, Hard Times Cafe, that makes something that tastes close, their Terilingua Red, but I remember her chili using cubes of beef not ground beef. I’m sure it was one of the chili cook off winners, probably in the 1980s, published in a newspaper but I haven’t turned it up.
I’m the only grandchild my nan taught her light fruit cake recipe to (she said I was the only one who asked), never written down, all done by a shake of this and a handful of that. My son doesn’t like fruit cake so I’ve never written it, down, but maybe I should.
My husband’s grandmother was from Scotland and would make her authentic shortbread every year for Christmas. I tried to get the recipe from her but she wouldn’t share it. I would host both sides of the family for dinner on Christmas eve and one year my mom was chatting with hubby’s grandma and got her to verbally tell her the recipe which as soon as she was able to excuse herself she promptly wrote down for me. I am so grateful I was able to get it because she developed dementia soon after and that recipe would have been lost! This also makes me remember the year when her dementia had really progressed that after hubby’s family left I glanced down at the candy dish by the table where she had been sitting and the bowl of peppermint candies was empty. She had a sweet tooth and apparently over the course of the evening she took them and stuffed them up the sleeves of her sweater along with Kleenex to keep them from falling out!
You do know this has now been saved as “Jenny’s Peach Cobbler” in my files. Somewhere down the road, someone will be looking through my files and wonder “who the heck is Jenny?” Except my daughter, who will know exactly who Jenny is because she had to live through the weird giggling noises I made when I first read “Pretend This Never Happened”. SHE knows!
Jenny what language did your great grandmother and her sisters speak? And were they also in Texas? I can’t wait to try this recipe- we make all types of fruit cobblers in our house
I will try this using frozen peaches. Looks yummy and I love the story.
I am lucky because I got my mother in law cookbook from the 40/50 plus older ones from trift stores you should try to find old cook books it’s hilarious the stuff people ate before Julia Child 😆 bonne appétit.
My aunt would make English Toffee every Christmas, and people ( myself included) would absolutely beg for the recipe, but she would never give it. I happened to stop by her house as she was beginning to break it up one day, and set about helping her, and asked “when are you ever going to give me this recipe?”
I must have caught her on a good day, because she whipped around, knife still in hand, pointed it at me with a steely gaze and told me she would come after me if I ever gave it to anyone. I quickly agreed and she wrote it down for me.
She died of cancer a few years later, and a couple weeks before Christmas, my cousin, her daughter, called me absolutely wrecked. Her mom had only died a couple months prior, and she’d had the realization she wouldn’t have her mom’s toffee that Christmas. She asked if there was any chance “my” toffee recipe was her mom’s.
I told her it was, and that her mom had threatened my life if I gave the recipe to anyone, but I figured she’d be ok with me giving it to her own daughter (and also told her if her mom came back to haunt me I was sending her her way). We had a good laugh about how terrifying she was, and a good cry about how much we missed her.
What a wonderful thing, this whole story makes me happy! Thank you so much.
My grandma’s ginger-date loaf (it’s a quickbread with candied ginger, dates, and nuts) is AWOL and it was my favorite thing out of all the baked sweets at morning tea when I visited them in Australia, but no one else I’ve asked remembers it. Sigh. If anyone finds a church cookbook in Australia (or a magazine/newspaper from the 80s) with a ginger-date loaf in it let me know…?
Re: the peaches: good fresh homecanned peaches are going to win over store-canned peaches by flavor, if you are able to can the really good and ripe peaches, but the syrup is also a factor – light syrup (or no added sugar) will leave the peaches mushier than heavy syrup.
What a wonderful story! My grandma always made the most delicious, feather-light dinner rolls. She gave me the written recipe, but mine were always leaden and sad. Finally, I went to watch her make them one Thanksgiving, and it turned out her techniques were NOTHING like the written recipe. It was the last time she made them, and I’m forever grateful that I learned her secrets and now share the rolls with my family every holiday. I’m so glad you got your cobbler memories back!
Can I make a suggestion…? Request?
Can someone gather all of these wonderful recipes and the memories that go with them and put them into an old fashioned Bloggess “church cookbook”?
I’d volunteer to help, but I don’t have the bandwidth to be in charge (working full time and trying to get a small business off the ground).
I would love to see all of these recipes live on and make new memories.
My grandmother was NOT a good cook, never had the time or resources raiding 4 kids alone after my grandfather died, but my mom was a great cook. My sister put her apple pie recipe, in her handwriting, onto tea towels for us and the grands that used to spend a day with her making many pies for Thanksgiving.
So excited that you found the mystery cobbler recipe! Wonderful seeing Hailey and their partner making it for you. What a gesture of love!
My grandfather took his gefilte fish and room-clearing horseradish recipes with him. My uncle’s mother-in-law made the very best pasta sauce I’ve ever had. I don’t have that recipe either. I’ve tried to recreate both dishes and keep missing the mark.
To all those people hoarding recipes and refusing to share with your family — KNOCK IT OFF!
I love this!! My great-aunt Glenda was the peach cobbler maker in our family. She definitely didn’t use a recipe but did show her little-of-this, little-of-that version to a few family members. Nobody’s perfectly nailed it yet, but it’s about 90%. Mostly nobody is as good as her at just eyeballing the pie dough for the top!
“You tiny coward.” Totally cracked me up.
Thanks so much for all the sharing!
Sounds like a lot of you might appreciate the subreddit r/OldRecipes.
I feel like Hailey figuring out the recipe is the BEST way for this cobbler to come back to you 😊
What a beautiful story. Thankyou for sharing
Love it. My daughter and I tackled my husband’s mothers German Bohemian ribs and sauerkraut with bread dumplings for the first time this Christmas. We smashed it! Her in Amman, Jordan and me in Sleepy Eye, Mn. And of course had to send pictures to see whose looked the best.
I baked sugar cookies using my great-grandmother’s recipe for my mom when she was dying of cancer and the expression on Mom’s face when she bit into that first cookie was everything.
My grandmother wasn’t keen on sharing her recipes either, but only because she didn’t understand why we wanted to know. It was food that she made and we ate it, that was all, it wasn’t special. But of course, it was special to us, and my dad finally convinced her, which is how we have her cinnamon rolls, her Texas sheet cake, and three different Ukrainian favorites.
My grandma had so many recipes like that that when she died there were people in the family who thought they were lost forever but since I found them tucked away in an old cookbook, I was able to tell them all that they can get them on my blog. Hahahahaaahahhaaaaaaa
Also, I spent a crazy amount of time (like a year) trying every peach cobbler recipe in every old church cookbook I had because the one I had as a kid from my BFF’s grandma wasn’t peaches dumped over biscuit dough that bubbled up while baking. She let me write down the recipe and I lost it (I was 9). I thought I was going crazy. I literally googled that shit and every damn one was that weird biscuit dough recipe.
THIS one, I’m trying. Thanks for the recipe!
I am ALWAYS underwhelmed by peach desserts even though they’re supposed to be so good, so I NEED to try this one.
I have homecanned peaches. My question: should I drain the juice or include it?
P.S. Still recovering from your off-handed margerine comment. I didn’t know anyone even used margerine anymore, haha!
(Drain it. ~ Jenny)
This was a great story and I’m so glad you found the recipe. I love making vintage recipes and community cookbooks are the best! I’ll be adding this to my list f things to try (and checking my pantry to see if still have any of my canned peaches left).
Oh my. This is me taking care of my mom after her memory was gone. The horrors that she created from our refrigerator. Always as part of a peanut butter sandwich. Random condiments like harissa or dill relish. Leftover curry, sauerkraut, tuna…
And she ate them. I was never sure if her taste buds were gone or if she was just unwilling to admit how bad they were.
My ma grew up during WW2. Any family recipes there may have been died because of rationing. I’ve never heard of anyone craving a powdered-egg omelette.
I want to know what language the aunties were giggling in too!
(Czechoslovakian. :_ ~ Jenny)
This really hit home, because my sister just passed away in August and all my niece wants now is to eat her tuna noodle casserole but unfortunately none of us knows exactly what she did to make it so good.
She was a trained chef and she did share many of her recipes, some which I cook every thanksgiving and christmas, but this simple one no one thought to ask her for and now we can’t get it right. Maybe some day….
What a wonderful story! I love this so much.
Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of my little sister’s death…in 4 weeks it will be the one year anniversary of my other little sister’s death- 4 weeks apart. 61 and 64. I saw the giggling sisters picture and choked on tears… thank you for sharing your family stories ❤️😭I am 68 and grew up in Texas— I will make that cobbler.❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹can’t wait for the new book!!
(Sending you so much love. ~ Jenny)
So cool! What language were the old ladies speaking?
(Czechoslovakian. 🙂 ~ Jenny)
I cried the one and only time I made my great grandma’s doughnuts. As I was reading your post, I kept hoping the conclusion would involve you experience that incredible incomparable joy. <3
For the anonymous who asked (and others who wonder): if you have canned peaches in their own syrup, drain them: the eight cups should be of the solid peaches (it’s two quarts of peaches, probably half a dozen big ones from the market, or a dozen smaller ones off the tree (and you can steal a slice or two as a treat when you treat yourself for wasp stings)). You can add the syrup back in place of the two cups of sugar (mix the the starch and salt into the syrup, then dump in with the peaches and toss it all to cover (then wash your hands before you start the pastry!)). Why is there melted butter in the filling? Anyway: the two cups of sugar for fresh peaches will turn into syrup, and the combination of sugar and starch (and a little salt to make the flavor sing) is a good way to make it stick to the peaches and pull the syrup out.
My grandmothers were serious cooks as are my aunts. My aunts and mom do the entertaining (cooking) for all family events-I’ve asked to help but they say no 😂😂. I’m grateful I have old family recipes, but I don’t cook those because I feel entirely unworthy in a culinary sense if that makes any sense to even try those plus I don’t have the skills?
When I cook-I get by. I’m a homey kind of cook. I make a decent chili, tasty broccoli casserole, and I’ve (almost) nailed a gluten free chocolate Texas sheet cake (I would post it here but it needs more tweaking), but you won’t find me making a whole roast chicken nor a whole pot roast (too scary and stressful for me).
I adore how fearless Hailey is and that you added margarine in the end! You guys are inspiring me to maybe-just maybe-try (and fail) or try and succeed with my family recipes. Maybe that could be a goal for me in the new year! Be more brave in the kitchen! 💕🩷
Well… my brother and I both don’t have kids and my cousins never cared so, here’s
Grandma Lea’s Swedish Meatballs
2C milk
2lbs ground steak
salt
pepper
1/2t ginger
1/2t mace
3T corn starch
mix together in large bowl
heat 3 C beef broth in pressure cooker
teaspoon meatballs into preassure cooker
cook for 15 minutes after thing on top starts to wiggle
(seriously that’s the whole recipe, but they are delicious if you can work a pressure cooker)
I cried in a donut shop over this same thing once. I called my cousin, absolutely bawling. He picked up with concern because it was very odd for me to call in the middle of a weekday…. and then I’m scream-crying to him. “OMG DO YOU REMEMBER THE DONUTS AT THE T-BIRD?!?!”. “THE ones we would get with Aunt Jo in Kansas? Hell yea I remember!” They were hot and fluffy and just a little greasy, and absolutely dredged in cinnamon sugar. Somehow, a brand new donut shop in North Carolina had replicated them perfectly.
Yes! This made cry a little, too. My grandma accidentally took her sugar cream pie and cheesecake and meatloaf recipes to the grave with her. My dad and I have both been trying to figure them out, but on a recent trip home, we may have solved the mysteries together.
Reading this made my heart super happy <3
I just accidentally found your book, Broken, while I was searching for a happy, light book since I’ve been down in the dumps lately. In the first chapter you had me LOL’ing. In the second chapter I was snorting. And the third, I was crying I was laughing so hard.
I even made my husband listen, who instantly stated, “how did she get into your head”. I was like, right! You my friend are my spirit animal.
Thank you for doing what you do. You have brought me so much joy just within the first three chapters I cannot wait to continue listening.
Cheers
Erica
Those old community cookbooks are always the best. Glad you cracked the code on the cobbler
@ #92 – #80 made a great comment that maybe someone could compile all these recipes. I (and I bet a ton of people here) would certainly buy a Nowhere Cookbook. Jenny – could you set up an email where you and Diane could receive any recipes people were willing to share? Then maybe a portion of the profits could go towards a food kitchen or the like. Hugs to everyone
– one of the ‘love the idea, but have no actual energy to do it myself’ faithful readers
Now I need to know where your grandma and her sisters were from!
My grandma was irritating in that she wrote everything down without measurements: a pinch of this, a bit of that… her chocolate truffles were the best thing in the universe, except for that one year she used a different recipe and no one knew these had to be stored in the fridge so they got mouldy and I ate tons of mouldy truffles because I ate them in the dark so my mum wouldn’t notice.
Also, hers had brandy and coffee, which is mental for a snack to give to small children but somehow sanity didn’t apply at Christmas?
If anyone offered them to my child today, I’d call the police.
What language were they speaking?
(Czech. ~ Jenny)
Such a great bit of family history and feel honoured that you shared it with all of us!
I copied out the recipe into my Paprika recipe app and added a few details to make it a bit more clear on how to make it. I also guessed at how many servings it might make — perhaps it’s just one or two servings if you’re like me and don’t really want to share any. Here’s the recipe in case anyone else wants to just copy and paste it instead of trying to retype it from the photo of the recipe.
Jenny Lawson’s 40 Year Long Family Mystery Peach Cobbler
Dessert, Fruit
Cook Time: 45 minutes | Servings: 6
Ingredients:
Filling
2 c sugar
1/2 c cornstarch
8 c sliced fresh peaches
1/4 c melted butter
Pastry
2 c flour
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c shortening
6 to 8 tbsp ice water
For pastry glaze
1/4 c melted butter
1/4 c sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
For filling:
Combine sugar and cornstarch.
Toss with peaches.
Add butter and set aside.
To make the pastry:
Combine flour, sugar, and salt.
Cut shortening into flour until mixture is the consistency of cornmeal.
Gradually add ice water until dough holds its shape.
Roll dough out on a floured board and cut into strips.
Assembly:
Pour peach filling into a buttered 9 by 13 inch pan.
Crisscross dough strips over filling.
For glaze:
Brush pastry top with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.
Bake 45 minutes at 400 degrees F or until crust is brown.
Source: https://thebloggess.com/2026/01/02/the-peach-cobbler-that-went-missing-for-40-years/
This is such a lovely sweet story. My mother’s chicken soup recipe died with her, but I have done a reasonably good job recreating (and veganizing) it. I wish I knew what herbs and seasonings she used on her baked chicken, though. All I remember is the lemon slices on top as it was baking. And I also have not fully recreated my father’s alfredo sauce, but I got close with tofu once.
Meanwhile, I came across my grandmother’s recipe box a few years ago and it included things like “microwave lo-cal cheese sandwich” (which was essentially: 1. Make a cheese sandwich, 2. Make the cheese be melted – but one a recipe card because that’s hard to remember), “microwave custard”, and microwave scallop potatoes” (which somehow takes 40 minutes in the microwave so why aren’t we just using the oven?).
I love that photo of your great Mamaw and her husband. It raised a question: What was the deal with the husband sitting and the wife standing? My grandparent’s wedding picture is like that, and I only just realized while looking at yours, that it was a common pose at the time. Some kinda’ symbolism I imagine I wouldn’t care for…
When I was little, I just assumed that when you got wrinkles and white hair, you also got an accent. There wasn’t one person I knew from my grandparents’ generation who wasn’t born in Italy. (It was a stunning shock to meet my best friend’s visiting grandma, born and raised in Kansas.)
I badly want my mom’s sesame seed cookie recipe. I was supposed to end up with her recipe box, but my sister-in-law said she’d send it to me after she scanned the recipes. Five years on… She said she’d look for it… I’ve tried any number of recipes found online, and they’re all good, but none are Mom’s. 🙁