I can’t claim that these cookies are in any way distinctly Pennsylvania Dutch. But my Pennsylvania Dutch great-grandmother made pecan cookies, and my great-grandfather and father liked them enough to make her write down the recipe before she died. The problem with my great-grandmother’s recipe is that the cookies harden almost immediately as they cool, [...]

While recipes for Shaker lemon pie are fairly common and lemon meringue is ubiquitous, I have not seen a pie like this outside of Pennsylvania. As it bakes, the filling separates into two layers: the bottom layer is a sort of lemon custard, and the top layer is something akin to a light sponge cake. [...]

My grandmother taught me to eat radishes. Or, I should say, I learned the habit from her; I don’t think she had any grand plan to indoctrinate me. She served radishes and scallions with breakfast, accompanied by individual dishes of salt for dipping. My cousin and I, aged about five, theorized implausibly about why the [...]

When I was young my mother tended a small garden. I’ve forgotten most of what she grew. I assume there were tomatoes (why have a garden if you’re not going to grow tomatoes?). Probably zucchini. My father would have insisted on parsley. There were peas, which I remember because when I was about five years [...]

There are two types of shoofly pie, wet bottom and damp or dry bottom. Both feature a molasses custard with a crumb topping; the only difference is the consistency of the molasses filling. The drier versions can be eaten by hand and (as was once common, for breakfast) dunked in coffee. The wetter versions require [...]