My mom gave me the best gift 22 years ago — a handmade family recipe book

• For my 13th birthday, my mom gave me a handmade recipe book with entries from friends and family.
• The recipe book features handwritten recipes, notes, and photos that I still cherish today.
• Once my kids are older, I plan to make a similar book for each of them to enjoy.

For my 13th birthday, my mom compiled a recipe book, filled with recipes and notes from family and friends.

While I didn’t immediately jump up to make all of the recipes, and there are still some that I haven’t touched (I doubt I’ll ever make a salmon loaf), the recipe book has become my go-to for meal planning and baking.

Julia Child’s cookbook rests prominently on my shelf, and while I daydream of making clafloutis, I’m much more likely to make my mom’s spice cookies or my grandma’s apple crisp from my homemade book.

Notes and photos make the recipes more personal

Some friends and family included little notes on the recipes themselves, like noting if a recipe was a holiday favorite, listing modifications, or mentioning if a specific family member always requested a certain food.

These additions have become even more cherished over the years, as some of these family members are no longer with us. Seeing their handwriting and recipes evokes memories of breaking bread together, cooking together, and even receiving handwritten cards from them.

My mom also included some of the letters she received over the years, along with the recipes, photos, and stickers. There are even a few recipes where she photocopied the originals from generations past. I never knew my paternal grandparents, and having their handwritten recipes helps forge a small connection to them.

The recipes created bonding moments

Some of the recipes, such as my dad’s chili or holiday cookies, were ones I had helped make over the years.

Others, like my aunt’s mother’s tortillas, were not. My aunt often talked about not liking to cook, but she coached me through making the recipe, which included instructions such as “one small bowl of flour.” Thankfully, she had an idea of how much this was!

She often told stories of how her mother would make the tortillas fresh for my cousin as an after-school snack, and how he’d roll them up into a buttered tortilla “burrito.” These are the types of stories and connections that help make great food.

Some of the recipes reflect my great-great-grandparents’ country of origin, Hungary, or my aunt’s grandparents’ homeland in Mexico. Others are recipes that have become holiday “must-haves,” such as birthday cake, Thanksgiving tamales, and Christmas cookies, as well as recipes to warm us in the colder weather.

The book was a way to bond with loved ones, near and far

Living in a military community, we have friends and family spread across the miles, so having these recipes helped me feel closer to those who were far away.

For my birthday party, my mom requested that everyone bring a recipe as part of my gift. This provided unique scrapbook-style additions, with recipes written in loopy cursive by tweens using colorful gel pens.

My mom copied the recipes for my party guests, and one of them told me she still has all the recipes. She, like me, hasn’t made all of them, but kept them because it felt special. It was something different, but fun.

I hope to someday make similar recipe books for my children

Having these recipes easily accessible is amazing, as I don’t have to hunt through multiple recipe books or files to find them. Once in a blue moon, over the years, I’ve found family recipes missing from the book and added them in.

I’ve also added some new favorites over the years, such as sourdough crackers and the ooey gooey butter bars we had at a friend’s wedding.

The binding is starting to show some wear, just like a beloved teddy bear wearing at the seams. I hope to someday create similar books for my children — a blend of my family’s and my husband’s family’s recipes, as well as recipes I’ve discovered, and new recipes that I’ll request from our friends. Food and handmade items are both precious gifts of love, and combining the two has given me a priceless heirloom.