Henkes shares favorite recipes through cookbook

By Audrey Posten, Times-Register

“One of the biggest compliments someone can give me is to ask for a recipe,” said Leslie Henkes. “That means they really like it. And I’m more than willing to share. I hope you enjoy it too—and your family—and that it becomes a part of you.”

Thanks to a recently released cookbook, Henkes now has the opportunity to share her favorite recipes with countless friends and family members—and strangers too. Entitled “Cookin’ Stuff,” a play on Henkes’ maiden name of Stuff, the cookbook is the rural Luana resident’s debut effort.

She was encouraged to create a cookbook by friends and family members. 

“People would ask me things and I’d say, ‘Well, if you try it this way.’ They would be like, ‘How do you know that?’” Henkes recalled. “Trial and error, and my mom was a dietician, so I learned a lot from her. Then my aunt was the food editor for the Gary Post-Tribune for years in Gary, Ind. My grandpa also cooked a lot, and my dad. My grandfather’s mother had migraines, so he cooked a lot for her, and then my mother had back issues, so my dad helped her a lot too.”

“I’ve just always enjoyed it,” she added. “My opening sentence is ‘I love to cook and bake, and entertaining family and friends is one of my greatest joys,’ and it really is.”

After retiring this past year from the MFL MarMac School District, where she still serves as student council advisor and occasionally subs in the library, Henkes made completing the cookbook one of her goals.

“I had four recipe boxes, so I sorted through those and looked at different recipes I had,” Henkes said. “Some things are really common, but most of what’s in here is different things I’ve collected through the years that I felt anybody could make.”

At 95 pages long, “Cookin’ Stuff” contains 278 recipes.

“I picked things I thought were different, but yet were things I’d used through the years that had served me well, without failure,” Henkes shared. “I also wrote in here that, when I was home full time with [husband] Trent and we were farming together, there would be times when he’d say, ‘I’ve got five or six guys coming for dinner, and I’d have an hour or hour and a half to get ready. So recipes that are pretty easy. I’ve always believed good, simple food goes a long way.”

Although the cookbook contains its fair share of main dishes, sides and appetizers, Henkes said some of her favorite recipes are desserts.

“I really like to bake, so anything that’s baked in here is probably something I really enjoyed,” she quipped. 

That includes quick breads and muffins, particularly a chocolate banana muffin Henkes said was popular when she met with National Honor Society members or organized team building activities at the school.

“Then there’s a cheese muffin recipe that came from The Pioneer Woman. That’s a good one to go with soup—just kind of fills it out without a lot of work,” Henkes said. “My blueberry muffin recipe has oatmeal and orange juice in it, as opposed to just plain old blueberries.”

There are also recipes for pies, which Henkes assured aren’t as intimidating to make as some people believe. For crusts, she said the secret is ice water. 

“Make sure you use a pastry blender and get your fat molecules broken up and that they’re coated with flour. Then you use ice water to put it together. Don’t over-work it, because when you roll it out, that’s what makes it explode and makes a flaky crust. That’s what I’ve learned,” she noted. “Also, I cannot roll one out on wax paper or a board. I have to have a pastry cloth and a regular rolling pin.”

Throughout the cookbook, “I make suggestions along the way,” added Henkes. “Just things I’ve figured out, learned and researched, that have helped me make successful products.”

Another favorite dessert is cheesecake, which has its own section in “Cookin’ Stuff.” Here, Henkes offers an additional tip.

“Most recipes, you really should add two tablespoons of flour or corn starch because that coats the egg and keeps it from cracking,” she said.

Then there are regular cakes, which Henkes said she rarely makes from scratch. Most recipes enhance a mix.

“Like a pumpkin cake,” she shared. “Cake mixes also went from 18 ounces in a box to 15, so I found a really good upsizer, which takes it back to the normal.”

Other recipes feature bars, which Henkes said are often her go-to over cookies. 

“This is a simple chocolate chip bar that, every time I take it, someone wants the recipe,” she remarked, thumbing through the pages. “I don’t know what’s different.”

There are some cookie entries too, though. One is a family recipe for a chewy molasses cookie, a treat Henkes’ grandmother would often make for her.

“I’ve never been able to make it like she did, but the recipe is in here. I, for a long time, thought you had to be over 80 years old to make a soft cookie,” she joked. “But I think it’s the difference in ingredients, as far as the lard from when she baked, versus what we have now.”

Another special recipe is for a Berlinerkranser Christmas cookie Henkes’ mom would bake.

“It’s a German cookie, a very rich cookie, and it has orange rind in it,” she shared. “We always rolled it out and made it into wreaths. So that’s kind of different and fun.”

Her mother’s family also traditionally made stollen, a German Christmas bread with candied fruit in it. 

“When I was little, I used to beg my mom not to put that rubber fruit in,” said Henkes, who is the third generation to make it. She’s made some changes, however.

“I have my mom’s recipe in here, and I converted it to a bread machine,” she explained. “I love yeast breads, but I don’t really care about kneading them, so a bread machine is like my dream.”

In addition to baking, canning features prominently in the Henkes household. She cans every two years, most recently in 2020. The count that year included 22 pints of hamburger relish, 12 quarts of dill pickles, eight 12-ounce and five 8-ounce jars of dill relish, four 12-ounce jars of pickled banana peppers, 27 pints of tomatoes, 33 quarts of tomato juice, 18 pints of chili sauce, 54 pints of spaghetti sauce, 19 quarts of tomato juice, 16  8-ounce jars of pizza sauce, 10 quarts of bloody Mary juice, 10 pints of salsa, 14 quarts of tomato soup base and 26 pints of tomato soup base.

So, understandably, “Cookin’ Stuff” has a big section on preservation.

“Some are old family recipes and some are things I’ve put together. I’ve gone to canning more of my tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce, chili sauce and pizza sauce,” she said. “I also have things I have learned to make successful canned products, and the equipment I use has made a world of difference.”

Henkes typed “Cookin’ Stuff” herself and had the cookbook printed at Supreme Graphics in Prairie du Chien. The original 150 copies have already sold, so Henkes has ordered more. She’s touched by the success of what started as a bucket list item.

“Some people have ordered a dozen,” she said. “I never dreamed it would go like this. I’ve been very flattered and overwhelmed that people were so interested.”

Comments from buyers are especially meaningful.

“Some ladies looked at it and said, ‘I have all these ingredients in my cupboard. I can go home and make any one of these things.’ That’s the way I cook,” said Henkes.

If you’re interested in purchasing “Cookin’ Stuff,” Henkes will sign copies at Paper Moon Bookstore in McGregor from 1 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 18. There will be recipe samples, she noted.