Every now and then I get all nostalgic and like to sit down with my Grandmother’s faithful recipe book, which I inherited after her death. Baking a recipe from it is a real treat, with its old measurements in pounds and ounces and obscure ingredients, all written in her beautiful sloped handwriting.

I couldn’t resist making her classic shortbread biscuits today, but with a nod to modern tastes with chai spices and pecans placed on top. Here is her decades-old recipe, with my additions tagged on.

1 1/4 tablespoons condensed milk

1/4 pound butter

3 tablespoons icing sugar

1 1/8 cups plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Cream butter and sugar. Add condensed milk and mix in well. Add flour and baking powder. Roll in balls and press on a cold tray.

*I took a few liberties with this recipe. I added 1/2 teaspoon each of cinnamon, allspice, cardamom and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg. I popped a pecan on top because-yum! Grandmas’s recipe doesn’t specify oven temperature, but I cooked these at about 160 degrees until they were just starting starting to turn brown, which was about 15 minutes. The whole house smelt amazing!