Carrying on the Tradition
Local Author Kristen Hains brings a Michigan cookbook legacy to the table
What do Double Frosted Bourbon Brownies, Mock Apple Pie, and Prince of Wales Cake have in common? (Besides sugar and appearing together in the sidebar, you clever reader.) They're all recipes from Michigan author Carole Eberly’s cookbooks, which date back to 1977 and have all the nostalgia, history, and delicious treats you can imagine.
A graduate of the MSU School of Journalism, Dr. Eberly was an award-winning journalist-turned-author. She made Michigan agriculture and trivia the cornerstones of her cookbooks, including essays and little-known facts about the state alongside her recipes featuring local favorites like cherries, apples, and wild mushrooms. Dr. Eberly published more than 15 books before she passed away in 2017, and for the last four years, her books have been waiting in limbo.
A (Not So) Half-Baked Idea
In May of 2021, local author Kristen Hains took over Dr. Eberly’s catalog, drawn to the history that made the beloved cookbooks so unique.
“I consider myself a storyteller,” Hains says. “Now I’m able to continue to help tell Carole’s stories, get those stories out to future generations, and share these recipes.”
Hains is best known for her collaboration with her grandfather Earle Steele on the 2001 book "Beauty Is Therapy: Memories of the Traverse City State Hospital." The book spent over 60 weeks on northern Michigan bestseller lists and is currently in its sixth printing. Hains has since published seven coloring books and has two books slated for publication in 2022.
But becoming a cookbook connoisseur wasn’t always on her to-do list. In fact, when Carole Eberly’s son-in-law, Patrick Sullivan [Northern Express' head reporter from 2011 to 2021], connected with Hains about the cookbooks, it was for advice on what to do with the stock 9,000+ books he and his wife had inherited.
“[Patrick] originally reached out to me thinking, ‘maybe Kris knows someone,’” Hains says. “And the more he talked to me about it and talked to me about Carole — she was a single mom, like I am — it just really resonated with me. I was like, ‘Pat, I think I’m that person. I think I could do this.’”
Now You’re Cooking!
On one of the hottest days of 2021, Patrick delivered more than 3,000 pounds of books to Hains’ driveway, and she immediately began planning how to get Dr. Eberly’s beloved cookbooks back in print and on shelves throughout the state of Michigan.
“I can appreciate the work and the time and the blood, sweat, and tears that she put into creating these,” Hains says of Dr. Eberly’s books. “It would just be a shame to see them just die on a shelf somewhere.”
Thanks to the wholesale connections Hains had already developed with her own books, she was able to get stock into stores before the 2021 holidays. The books are now in 10+ stores throughout the state, from Mackinac Island to Detroit, as well as on her website denaliandco.com.
Hains still has plenty of work ahead of her to get all of Dr. Eberly’s books back in print — without the original digital files, everything has to be laid out from scratch — and rebuild the brand’s recognition. But in the meantime, Hains gets to read, cook, and repeat.
What’s On the Menu
Hains’ first recommendation for northern Michigan home chefs is 101 Cherry Recipes, partly because she jokes she would be “kicked out” of her hometown of Traverse City if she didn’t highlight the region’s top crop.
“It’s the fruit of our land,” she says. “There are so many great recipes in there, and not just the traditional ones people think of like cherry pie. [Carole] has beverages and breads, salads, biscuits … it really does celebrate all things cherries.”
Honorable mention goes to the famous "Brownie Recipes" cookbook, which was compiled from a Detroit Free Press brownie recipe contest.
“That is the brilliance of [Carole],” Hains says. “There was only going to be one winner of that contest, but she was smart enough to think, ‘Yes, but there are 178 other recipes.’ It’s pretty much a win for the rest of us,” Hains adds with a laugh.
Gather ’Round the Table
When asked what makes the line of cookbooks special — especially in an era where we can all look up recipes online — Hains’ answer was simple.
“Food brings people together,” she says. “I think we’ve really learned to treasure what we maybe took for granted, like, ‘Ugh, another barbecue at Mom’s house.’ And now we’re like, ‘Wait, that was really a special thing that we used to do.’”
She goes on to say that “food gives us the centerpiece for those gatherings. And hopefully, we’ll soon be doing those things again, and some of these recipes make fun conversation pieces.”
Take a Taste
We asked Kristen Hains to share one of her favorite recipes from Dr. Eberly’s books, and she gave us three options: Double Frosted Bourbon Brownies (from "Brownie Recipes"), which boasts the frosting and double the chocolate and can be made with or without bourbon; the Prince of Wales Cake (from "Our Michigan: Ethnic Tales & Recipes"), which called for ingredients like molasses, buttermilk, lemon, and walnuts — we’re convinced that it’s fit for a king; or Mock Apple Pie (from "Potato Chip Cookies & Tomato Soup Cake," coming March 2022).
For obvious reasons, we wanted every one, but we decided to share the one that sounds wild, tastes amazing, is as easy as pie — and hasn't been republished yet. Enjoy this sneak peek!
Mock Apple Pie
Some people swear there are apples in this. Others say it tastes like lemon pie. Still others will be baffled as to what it tastes like. However, it’s guaranteed no one will say it tastes like Ritz crackers.
36 Ritz crackers
2 cups water
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 to 2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Break crackers into large chunks in the bottom of a 9-inch unbaked pie crust. In a saucepan, heat water, sugar, and cream of tartar and boil gently for 15 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and rind. Cool. Pour over crackers. Dot with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon. Adjust top crust and cut slits for steam. Bake at 425 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until the crust is golden.