> Her cookie recipe — a box of Betty Crocker chocolate cake mix, two eggs, and

> ⅓ cup neutral oil — no longer works now that the box is a full 5 ounces smaller

> than its original 18.25-ounce size ... “It’s just so upsetting,” says Judith,

> whose cookie recipe was passed down by her mother.

Shrinkflation is irritating but I dunno if I'd be pushing the "old family recipe" angle if it's just adding two eggs and some oil to a packet of pre-mixed powder

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Ir0nMan a day ago | parent | next [-]

It sounds like she has been claiming that the recipe that is literally printed on the side of the box has actually been "her" recipe for all these years.

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kortilla a day ago | parent | prev [-]

Wait until you see the family recipes for limoncello.

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rtaylorgarlock a day ago | parent | next [-]

I cut the sugar in grandma's limoncello by 30% and still end up with rocket fuel syrup which my friends think will cause sleep problems and diabeetus

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wil421 a day ago | parent [-]

The yeast eats the sugar and turns it into alcohol. More sugar more alcohol, grandma’s version sounds good.

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regentbowerbird a day ago | parent [-]

Alcohol concentrations over 20% kill yeast, so adding sugar to distilled spirits will not create more alcohol.

	▲	wil421 a day ago \| parent [-]
		Ahh, yes I forgot it’s not fermented you just use vodka or something stronger with the lemon peels.

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xandrius a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

That's one where I'm ok with people not having to do all the steps: I can't even imagine a grandpa try to distill alcohol in their basement or something.

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2dvisio a day ago | parent | next [-]

Traditionally Limoncello is not done via distillation process. But infusion. Like many of the other Italian alcoholic beverages (various versions of amari, nocino, etc).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limoncello

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rtkwe a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

On the other hand I wish there was a legal avenue for home distilling like there is for homebrewing. Beer doesn't interest me much but the ridiculous balance of a reflux still is fascinating to me.

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shmeeed a day ago | parent | prev [-]

In many parts of the world, that's absolutely a thing grandpas do :)

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Freak_NL a day ago | parent [-]

Totally. An Austrian fellow (who was indeed a grandfather) we rented a cottage from did this and told us about when I asked about what he was going to do with the hundreds of apples falling from his ancient apple tree. Apparently it's legal there to distil your own eau de vie at a non-commercial scale. We went home with a complementary empty plastic water bottle filled with his Schnaps.

It used to be a thing in the Netherlands too, but the lack of legality made that a much less popular hobby.

	▲	morkalork a day ago \| parent [-]
		I visited an orchard this weekend and came home with a bottle of plum brandy. Seems like every family of central european descent has a recipe.

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smcl a day ago | parent | prev [-]

Honestly I don't mind if people don't make everything themselves as there's always going to be a line where you go "well I'm not doing that" (you're probably not milling your own flour, growing your own wheat, milking your own cows, raising your own chickens etc...).

I just think they've tried to reach a bit far for a human interest angle - it's already annoying that customers are getting shafted, that's important! We don't need to spin a yarn about little Granny Scroggins cakes disappearing from the local church fair.