Recipes for High Days, Holidays and Lockdown Days!
I gave my daughter Laura a handwritten book of my recipes for her Christmas in 2009. They were recipes that I’d collected over the years and ones that I’d enjoyed making. Lockdown 2020 has given me the opportunity to make them all again, add in a few more, take photographs of my bakes and finally type them up!
My love of baking started with my Gran Barrie as she baked every week for her “tins” - and always on a Saturday as that was when the insurance man, Mr Craig, came to call and was given a cup of tea and a treat from one of her “tins”. A few of my gran’s recipes are included in this book.
My nonna (my Italian gran) also baked but not as much as my Gran Barrie. My nonna taught me to make various pasta and other dishes that she grew up with – dishes from her region in Italy – a small village called Villa Latina in the Province of Frosinone in the Italian region Lazio, located about 120 kilometres southeast of Rome. None of my nonna’s recipes feature here but I’ve used her plates (the ones with the frilly edges) in most of the photographs. My nonna brought these over with her when she, my nonno and my mum emigrated to Scotland and landed in Dover on 23 October 1961.
My love of baking grew shortly after I married Alex in 1985 and went to live on a farm (Alex was, and still is, a dairyman) where I was introduced to the Scottish Women’s Rural Institute (SWRI). There were 2 highlights from my time in the Rural – winning a commendation for my truffles in the Ayrshire SWRI Federation Show and taking part in a group entry at the Ayr Flower Show where my decorated Victoria Sponge received 9½ out of 10. More recently, I came third in Kilmarnock’s Cook School Cake Off. Although no longer a member of the Rural, I still take part in the local Agricultural Show (which all good Rural members do!) and have won several first prizes (one of which was for my custard creams).
Two of my proudest achievements was making the wedding cake for my son Murray when he married Becky, and (5 months later!) for my daughter Laura when she married Jane, and not to mention the privilege of making birthday cakes each year for the loves of my life – Jamie and Eilidh.
Please try these recipes out and keep the art of home baking alive!
Gianna
December 2020