Recipe baskets are like treasure chests and ever-evolving time capsules. They’re full of recipes that have been passed down for generations and new ones begging to be tried.
They’re written on index cards or scribbled on the backs of envelopes. They’re printed off the internet or clipped out of magazines. Then they’re stashed away until we are ready to bring out the mixing bowls, baking pans, blenders, measuring cups and oven mitts. Often that time is geared toward a holiday and a gathering where more recipes will undoubtedly be shared.
The team at Dresden & Company has created a recipe basket that’s big enough for anyone’s appetite for shared goodness, time in the kitchen and holiday gatherings.
“Dresden & Company’s generous size recipe basket will easily hold all of the recipes that I’ve collected in the last 40 years,” said Senior Photographer Sharon Wood.
One of those recipes creates memories for Sharon and her family every year.
“Some of my fondest memories while growing up were the holidays and experiencing some recipes that only came around once a year! Like my Mother’s Black Walnut Strudel made only at Christmas,” Sharon said in an email. “The recipe was handed down from my great-grandmother who lived in Germany. I looked forward to the smell of the fresh baked bread loaded with the distinct flavor of the black walnuts that we gathered the year before. To this day, I love carrying on that tradition with my own family! My girls and I get together before the holidays to make all of our favorite recipes that have been handed down for generations.”
Those recipes handed down from past generations sometimes come with puzzles to solve. Case in point, the sticky buns Andy Wolfe’s aunt made for Thanksgiving.
“She is no longer with us, and we have her original recipe that we try and recreate. She was one of those that wrote recipes with amounts `put enough in until it looks right,’” Andy said. “I don’t have a measuring cup labeled `until it looks right’ so we have all tried to make them, and then compare notes.”
Andy, Dresden & Company’s director of Product Development & Manufacturing, typically gathers with about 50 family members for Thanksgiving each year. Last year, his cousin’s daughter made and shared a Sticky Buns how-to video on Facebook. Then all the families gathered for a virtual Thanksgiving where they shared how each did with the famous sticky buns, Andy wrote. His cousin’s daughter has come the closest so far to the original.
“It’s the food from years gone by that creates the setting for getting reacquainted with family each year,” Andy said.
Dresden & Company’s Grande Recipes & More Basket is big enough to easily hold an 8.5×11 sheet of paper folded in half, making it easy to store those recipes that we download from the internet. The company is also offering packages of recipe cards with plenty of room for ingredients on one side and instructions on the other. Topping it off is a personalized lid where you can choose how you want to describe the contents.
In March and April, party Hosts can choose to get the entire set with the Basket, Protector, Personalized Lid and Recipe Cards as a half-price selection on a party of $150 or more. The set would make a nice wedding present for a new family’s adventures in the kitchen.
“I love to cook for my grandsons probably more than they love to eat my special treats,” wrote Chris Dodson, manager of Creative Services. “So, I’m getting `Mimi Chris’ Recipes’ on my wood lid. When a recipe basket lasts forever, like this one, I want to pass it on to my family someday (far in the future) so they can remember the love I baked into everything I made for them.”
