Both old and new at the same time, Sugar Sugar is a sweet blend of family recipes and the stories that lie behind the recipes. Both stories and recipes represent tradition, whether they are ones handed down through a family, or ones newly forged by an imaginative home cook whose success has started a new tradition.
Sugar Sugar is the work of authors Kimberly Reiner and Jenna Sanz-Agero who call themselves "Sugar Mommas." Together they set off on a nation-wide journey to discover both classic recipes and the stories behind them. "Why sweets?" ask the authors, answering their own question by saying, "the family dessert has always legendary. Sugar is like rocket fuel...taking you to a place where people get happy." "Why the stories?" Again they answer. "When we learned of a Mississippi woman eating her dessert while soaking in the bathtub, we perked up."
With sugar as a guide, the stories, all trips into memory, are heartwarming. The reader is transported around the country as the contributors relate their memories. Imagine going to a 1950's Louisiana plantation where a pig-tailed girl waits for her favorite aunt who is bring a favorite dessert, Hummingbird Pie. Imagine untangling the webs of memory with a woman who lived with her "Grandma Belles" in Connecticut while she was in college, treasuring the meals that her grandmother gave her. Relocate, and go to wide-open Texas in the memories of a woman who grew up in peach country as she relates stories of jams, jellies and a great peach cobbler. Head west to San Francisco to learn about Railroad Track Cookies, then head back east to the Bronx, New York to hear about Four-Generations Ruggies. That's the classic Jewish standby called rugalach, ruggalach, rogelach, rugalah, rugala or rugulach. This recipe traveled to the Lower East side of Manhattan and was carried later to the West Coast in the hands of he youngest generation.
The recipes are sweetly delicious. There are pies, cakes, cookies, cobblers, bars, crisps, even candy. Your will find such recipes as Shoo-Fly Cake, or Italian Love Cake. If you like Pies and Tarts you'll find Lucinda Bells $100 Pecan Pie, Fourth of July Apple Pie, Lemon Pie, Vanilla Puddin' Pie.
If you love cookies, there are recipes such as Gran's Tea Cakes, Candy Cane Cookies, After-School Oatmeal Cookies, Kossuth Cakes, Cream Cheese-Raspberry Pinwheels. If you're in the mood for a bar, try Deer Angie's Brownies, Kentucky Derby Bars, Chocolate-Mint Bars, or Blueberry Buckle.
Not forgetting candy, there are such recipes as Seaside Toffee, Peanut Brittle, Whoopie Pies, Rum Balls, Chocolate Hydrogen Bombs.
Each recipe has tips from the authors as well as a section for notes, so you can start your own tradition. There are outstanding color photographs throughout by Sara Remington.
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