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    Home » Recipes

    Nana Ling's Handwritten Recipes

    This is a collection of recipes recorded by my great grandmother Lydia Louisa Ling ("Nana Ling") in the 1930s and 40s. Nana Ling's Handwritten Recipes are a family treasure but are also valuable from a historical perspective. They capture the way people in regional Australia cooked during this time and coped with wartime rationing and scarcity. Among her recipes, are one of the earliest records of Pavlova (she includes a note that it should be "hard on outside and like marshmallow inside), a fruit cake designed to be sent to soldiers during WWII, Mock Chicken and a beautiful old-fashioned Sultana Cake.

    These recipes are so special to me and I hope you'll love them too. The original handwritten recipe appears in each post along with my "tested and tweaked" version in the recipe card.

    • Scottish shortbread petticoat tails.
      Scottish Shortbread Petticoat Tails
    • Pavlova decorated with cream and fruit.
      Best Aussie Pavlova Recipe
    • Stack of Scotch Pancakes.
      Scotch Pancakes
    • junket ice cream recipe
      Homemade Junket Ice Cream
    • snowballs
      Snowballs
    • Lemon Curd in jar and on spoon.
      Easy Lemon Curd
    • Passionfruit Sponge Cake.
      Passionfruit Sponge Cake
    • passionfruit curd recipe.
      Passionfruit Curd
    • passionfruit melting moments.
      Passionfruit Melting Moments
    • Coconut Cake.
      Coconut Cake
    • cherry cake
      Cherry Cake
    • Butterfly cake.
      Butterfly Cakes
    • pikelets on plate served with butter and jam.
      Pikelets
    • butternut cookies recipe.
      Butternut Cookies
    • pineapple tart
      Pineapple Tart
    • Apricot Jam.
      Apricot Jam
    • Caramel Date Slice cut into squares.
      Caramel Date Slice
    • chocolate ripple cake
      Chocolate Ripple Cake
    • Carrot Christmas Pudding on plate with warm vanilla sauce poured over.
      Carrot Christmas Pudding
    • tomato jam in jars with pineapple and tomato in background.
      Tomato Jam
    • sultana cake
      Sultana Cake
    • mango pudding
      Mango Pudding
    • floral fruit cake
      Floral Fruit Cake
    • iced currant finger biscuits recipe small
      Iced Currant Fingers
    • Burnt Butter Biscuits on cooling tray.
      Burnt Butter Biscuits
    • jam drops on cooling tray
      Old Fashioned Jam Drops
    • banana cake with lemon frosting
      Banana Cake with Lemon Icing
    • flummery.
      Flummery Recipe
    • Soldiers Cake 2
      Soldiers Cake
    • spicy fruit roll biscuits on cooling tray
      Spicy Fruit Roll Biscuits
    • mock chicken
      Mock Chicken
    • coconut biscuits on plate.
      Coconut Biscuits
    • mandarin jam
      Mandarin Jam
    • Fruit and Nut Clusters
    • Victoria Sponge
      Victoria Sponge
    • golden syrup dumplings in bowl with ice cream.
      Golden Syrup Dumplings
    • passionfruit cordial
      Passionfruit Cordial
    • Butterscotch Pinwheel Scones
      Butterscotch Pinwheel Scones
    • jubilee cake
      Jubilee Cake
    • Neapolitan Cake recipe
      Neapolitan Cake
    • Choc Orange Jelly Crystal Cookies
      Choc Orange Jelly Crystal Cookies
    • lamington recipe
      Lamington Recipe

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    Hi, I'm Libby, a recipe collector and writer. I love everything about home cooking and share modern classics and recipes that have been passed down for generations – I hope you find a few that bring back treasured memories.

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    I acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land where I work and live, the Wonnarua people, and pay my respects to Elders past and present.

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