Today I am thankful for my ancestry.


I have always been interested in genealogy.  It was always a main focus in my father's family as there were some notable ancestors in that side of my family.  However, the side of the family that I was most interested in was my maternal grandfather's side as they were "recent" immigrants and came from England/Wales.

My great-grandmother, Dinah, was born in the Forest of Dean, Gloucester, England but moved to Blaina, Wales as a young girl.  She was raised there, married there and had several children there.  She and her husband, James, came to America in 1889 with four children and settled in Scranton, Pennsylvania where they expanded their family by several more children, my grandfather being one of those children.

I never knew this great-grandmother as she passed in 1937, thirteen years prior to my birth, but I knew of her.  My grandmother lived in Scranton for a while and, honestly, the two women didn't get on well but she did say that my great-grandmother made these wonderful little tea cakes. Back then, we didn't talk about family stuff much so I didn't know a whole lot about this side of my family.

Years went by, my grandparents passed away, I acquired a computer and set about looking for what remained of my family.  Armed with a name on a death certificate I set about looking for family in Scranton and find them I did! That has been years ago now and we have a wonderful relationship -- it is hard to believe that we have never seen each other but, though the magic of the internet we feel like we have always known each other.

During one conversation I asked about Grandmother Dinah's little tea cakes and my cousin Jean offered up the recipe.  Now, granted, this wasn't Dinah's recipe but rather her daughter-in-law's recipe but I have looked at enough recipes for Welsh Cakes to know they are all pretty similar so, while I think of Jean when I make these cookies, I also think of my great-grandmother and wish I had known her.

I make these cookies around Christmas each year since receiving the recipe.  Here are photos of this years offerings.

Cooking on the griddle!

Yum!