Ever since I was young, the holiday season meant baking desserts and sweet treats with my family. About 10 years ago, in 2016, my mother shared our family amoniaczki recipe with me and passed down the tradition of baking these cookies together. Made with ammonia powder, these cookies are crisp and airy. Also, when baking the cookie, a layer of brown sugar is baked on top which adds the sweetness to the cookies. For years, I thought this recipe was my mothers, until I learned it came from my great grandmother. She originally wrote it by hand in her recipe book with traditional Polish desserts and taught it to my grandmother, who then passed it to my mother when she was growing up in Poland. When my mother immigrated to New York in 2004, she brought this recipe book with the amoniaczki recipe to the United States. She used this recipe as a way to stay connected to her home and preserve her culture while raising her family, especially through her two daughters. Now, baking amoniaczki has been a tradition I continue, especially for Easter and Christmas. I also get to see my sister teach the recipe to my niece and continue to pass down the family tradition. I have seen this recipe for so many years, but now I realize what once seemed like a simple recipe has come to mean much more. It represents history and tradition passed down through generations of women in my family.
A recipe through time
