Stealing Recipes

Today I’m going to break a personal rule. When this blog first started, I decided that for my main recipe I would never post a link to someone else’s recipe instead of coming up with one of my own or at least an old family favorite. Today, though, I’m giving in—and I’m trying to do so in style while still connecting it to writing.

But first an explanation for my sloth (and no, I don’t have an arboreal pet):

Just over a week old, our newest wee little gal sucks up free time better than an anteater sucks up ants. Fortunately, she’s much cuter than any anteaters I’ve seen.

Now, back to today’s post and some breaking of rules. I never liked the thought of slapping up a link to a recipe on another site because it seemed so impersonal and lazy. I’m a creative person; shouldn’t I be able to come up with my own recipe every time? Piece of cake, right? Yeah, not so much. And, you know what, while I love posting fresh recipes and experimenting, I think I’m okay with my new standard—at least this once. 

After all, I usually start learning how to cook something by studying a half dozen other recipes for the same dish. Then I adapt, combine, tweak, and make it into something that will make me happy. But did I come up with it all on my own? No way!

THIS IS NOT A SUGGESTION TO PLAGIARIZE, buuuuut . . . most writers practice heavy thievery in even their most original works. The whole standing on the shoulders of giants idea is true. We steal the basis for our writing from those we admire and avoid the flaws of writing we scorn. We see how one author brilliantly strings together flowery sentences, how another writes punchy action scenes, and how another creates characters who reach up off of the page to throttle the reader. We see all that and say, “How I can I steal that? How can I put that little piece of magic into my grimoire of writing spells?”

And if we’re really lucky, we make a successful steal. We copy the skill without copying the content. We acquire the ability without anyone giving us any less credit for the achievement. This is only right because copying something that a master did well is never as easy as it looks. I can only hope someday to become such a sly thief of words that no one ever realizes just how many treasure houses I have raided along the way for supplies.

ON TO THE RECIPES! These links go to some baked goods recipes I have used multiple times to get great results in the kitchen. Take them, use them, then make them your own—I certainly have. Full credit goes to their originators, whose contributions to my tummy are much appreciated. Of special note, I give a gold star to the biscuit recipe, since it took a long time to find one I loved and could replicate easily.

Devil’s Food Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Filling

Simple Scones Recipe

The Best Coffee Cake Ever

Vermont Doughnut Holes

The Biscuit Recipe That Can’t Be Beat

Jonathan Schkade is the author of six books for children, including Icky Sticky, Hairy Scary Bible Stories. He's also a network co-representative for the Southern Illinois region of SCBWI. To learn more about Jonathan, you can steal away to his site: www.jonathanschkade.com.