These Butter Tea Cookies from Oak Hill Country Club are buttery and mildly sweet, perfectly accented with a dollop of raspberry preserves.
Upstate New York Food and Recipes
I love to recreate iconic Upstate New York Regional Dishes and "lost" recipes from businesses no longer with us! I have made so many yummy dishes and treats, even some I never thought I would get right (I am looking at you, Sponge Candy). But I still have a few recipes that are proving to be elusive or don’t hit the mark, if you have a recipe you are willing to share send me an email!
McCurdy’s Department Store Apple Spice Cake
This Apple Spice Cake is a piece of Rochester history! McCurdy’s Department Store Apple Spice Cake as found in the Junior League of Rochester’s cookbook Applehood and Motherpie.
Dinosaur Bar-B-Que Garlic Dill Pickles
Dinosaur Bar-B-Que Garlic Dill Pickles are spicy, crunchy homemade pickles. The recipe comes from the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que: An American Roadhouse Cookbook. These pickles require no canning, you can store them in the fridge for up to a couple of months.
Celebrate Ithaca’s Role in Ice Cream Sundae History with a Tart Cherry Sundae
This quick and easy tart cherry sauce is the perfect topping for desserts – use it to top pound cake, waffles, yogurt and ice cream! It can be made year-round with fresh or frozen sour cherries. Ithaca, has long been known as an area having some of the best dining in Upstate New York, but…
Dinosaur Bar-B-Que Creole Seasoning Blend Recipe
This Creole Seasoning Blend from Dinosaur Bar-B-Que needs to be in your pantry! Perfect for seasoning pork, steak, chicken, and seafood, and made from ingredients you probably already have.
Buckwheat Pancakes
Penn Yan made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for baking the world’s largest pancake during the Buckwheat Festival. This Buckwheat Pancake recipe doesn’t create nearly as big of a pancake, but it’s definitely a winner!
Lake Shore Solid Pack Pumpkin Pie
There is no denying that Libby’s dominates the canned pumpkin scene, but there is an Upstate New York Player with a considerably cooler looking label you may have noticed while shopping at Tops Markets. Lake Shore Solid Pack Pumpkin I happened upon Lake Shore Solid Pack Pumpkin while shopping at Tops Friendly Markets recently, being significantly closer…
Buffalo Chicken Wing Sauce
Buffalo Chicken Wings, they are found at nearly every super bowl party, pizza shop, and sports bar. This messy finger food is an upstate New York original. Tracing its roots back to Buffalo, in a small family owned bar. The sauce that gives this spicy snack its signature taste is remarkably easy to make at…
Rochester Hot Sauce
A few months ago when I decided I wanted to recreate ALL of Upstate New York’s regional foods, I sat down and made a list. And while making a Rochester Style Meat Hot Sauce in my kitchen did sound tempting, I was pretty apprehensive. Garbage plates may seem a culinary oddity if you aren’t from Upstate…
Buffalo Sponge Candy
I am so excited to finally have a recipe for sponge candy to share with you! I have been testing out recipes and techniques for months now. I have had many failed batches and have spent quite a bit of time scrubbing scorched sugar out of pans. I am a total newb to candy making,…
Sibley’s Department Store Bakery Apple Pie
The turn of the century recipe for Apple Pie from Sibley’s Department Store, and holiday traditions at Midtown. I have been collecting recipes for quite a while, and usually, the backstory is just as good as the prepared dish. I have decided I want to try to find and make as many Upstate New York signature recipes…
Cornell Chicken BBQ
I really do not consider myself a food nerd, but any recipe that has origins in Upstate New York will always intrigue me. I have been testing and trying recipes and dishes that have ties to Upstate New York. And while I don’t usually like to play favorites this one ranks pretty high on…
Utica Greens
A traditional Italian-American that originates from Utica in Upstate New York, featuring escarole, prosciutto, pickled hot peppers, and garlic.
Taste of Western New York: Beef On Weck
A beef on weck (also known as beef on wick) is a sandwich found primarily in Western New York, specifically in the Buffalo region. What separates this hot roast beef sandwich from a French dip is the roll. Served on a salt and caraway seed encrusted Kummelweck roll, which is simply shortened to “weck”, this sandwich has…
Concord Grape Pie
Nothing says fall in Upstate New York like a grape pie. This grapey Naples, NY confection is fairly new to the world of desserts, but it sure has made an impact. This annual treat is anticipated by many, and for some home cooks like myself worth the time-consuming effort it takes to put one together….
Strawberry and Onion Salad with Poppyseed Dressing
Strawberry and Onion Salad with Poppyseed Dressing from the iconic Rochester Junior League Cookbook Applehood and Motherpie, is a refreshing spring salad. Make this when local strawberries are abundant. One of my favorite salads from my favorite cookbooks… I can’t tell you how many times I flipped past this recipe, overlooking it because of its simplicity….
Smashed Salt Potatoes
So Memorial Day has come and gone, but you still have salt potatoes hanging around in the fridge. It happens, and my favorite way to dress them up is to just give them a good smash, dress them up with some olive oil, salt and pepper, and fresh herbs.
Upstate New York’s Iconic Half-Moon Cookie Recipe
A former architect, Harry Hemstrought, opened up a little bakery in Utica in 1925. His signature cookie, half chocolate icing, half white, caught on immediately with his customers. The cookie’s popularity has spread throughout Central New York, and you can now find Half-Moon cookies just about everywhere, including Wegmans. Don’t even think of calling these Black…
Homemade 1000 Island Dressing
If I had to make a list of the most charming towns in Upstate New York Clayton would make the list. In fact, I think I would place it pretty high on that list, but having spent summers there fishing off the village docks, and drifting around goose bay in a row boat, I might…
Fresh Strawberry Almond Muffins
Fresh Strawberry Almond Muffins I am pretty sure some of the best cooks are innkeepers at bed and breakfast inns. So, I am thrilled to share this recipe from the Vintage Gardens Bed and Breakfast in Newark, NY. Kimberly Meeks, the innkeeper of Vintage Gardens graciously shared her most popular breakfast recipes with me. And…
