Baking with Love - Celebrating a family matriarch

This last weekend our family had the pleasure of celebrating my grandma Ru's 85th birthday. Her only wish was for the whole family to be there and we did not let her down. It was a great night of chatting, laughing, and eating desserts.

That's thing about this family - we love our desserts. Most specifically, we love apple pie. That might be an understatement. Apple pie is essential to any family event. I first learned how to make apple pie from my grandma. A few years ago she helped me make one as a birthday present for my dad. He, too, loves apple pie. One of the biggest compliments he ever gave me was that he like my pie. We have such high standards so this was a big deal!

I have yet to master my grandma's recipe. I don't even think I have it in my recipe book. I have been trying other recipes that I have found online or in cookbooks. The pie I made for Gram was a combination of three different recipes. I wanted to make mini apple pies but I didn't have circle cutter in the right size. So, my pie became a pleated crumble topping apple pie.

But one of these days I'm going to make sure I have my grandma's recipe. Traditions are what make a family a family. And when it's a baking tradition, well, that's something extra special.