Most families have recipes that become traditions.

And that’s what I love about food. It brings people together like nothing else.

Well in my family, my maternal grandmother always made peppernuts with my siblings and me for Christmas Eve just as her mother had made with her when she was a child.

The Danish treat is a cross between a spiced cookie and shortbread.

And while some family members don’t have an “appreciation” for the taste of these unique little cookies, I don’t consider that I have fully celebrated Christmas until I have eaten a couple.

And this past Christmas, I think I calculated that the sixth generation in my family was using a form of the original recipe.

(sorry, Grandma Deuink, if I calculated incorrectly)

So this past Christmas, I had the idea to turn my great-great grandmother’s handwritten recipe into tea towels as gifts.

I had seen it done at a great display at Greenville, SC’s Indie Craft Parade by a company called Spoonflower.

It’s an incredible website FULL of amazing fabric designs by artists all over the world plus you can create your own design and have custom fabric printed.

So I simply scanned the written recipe on a good scanner (you can even do this at Fedex Kinkos if you don’t have access to a high quality scanner).

And then uploaded it to the Spoonflower create page.

I used the orientation and repeat button to center the design and then repeat it all over the fabric.

This took some patience until I got it exactly how I wanted it.

Once I was finished with the design, I simply saved it, selected the cotton/linen blend and the fat quarter size (the perfect size for a tea towel).

Spoonflower printed my design on their high quality fabric and shipped it to me VERY promptly.

Once I received the fabric I simply hemmed the edges and….

Viola!

And in case you are curious, this custom sentimental gift cost $14 total.

PS. I need to brag on my mom. See the old silver flatware on my refrigerator?

My mom turned my great-grandma’s few random silver pieces into magnets. I LOVE the little pickle fork!