Homemade cookbook is a gift from the hearth

If your personal economy is still in recovery, you may be looking for ways to dial back the holiday budget. This do-more-with-less routine may be wearing a little thin these days, but it actually has some emotional resonance at holiday time.

Well, before the most recent economic downtown/recession/depression, you may have entertained the thought that the winter holidays have gotten out of hand. "Maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store," Dr. Seuss' Grinch famously intoned. "Maybe Christmas ... perhaps ... means a little bit more." And we know what happened to him: heart growing three sizes, carving the roast beast, toast of Whoville, etc.

If you are a good home cook, one of the most thoughtful gifts you can give is a collection of your favorite recipes. This can take many forms: It can be assembled in a three-ring binder; it can be self-published on a computer; it can be presented as recipe cards in a recipe box. You could even forgo printing and publish recipes on the Web (using a format like Google Docs) and invite your family to share.

Time is short, and getting shorter - so whatever you do, keep it simple. Spend your time creating quality content - great recipes that you have tested, written in a readable style - rather than on the "design elements." Avoid the urge to be encyclopedic; 25 recipes makes a substantial cookbook. A "top-10 favorites" is fine, too.

The charm of a personal cookbook is in the stories. If your cousin discovered that he was allergic to shellfish by eating your aunt's famous bouillabaisse, that's a story. If your parents fell in love over a plate of spaghetti carbonara, that's a story.

If your book group read Julie Powell's "Julie & Julia" for four consecutive months just so you would keep bringing your Boeuf Bourguignon, that is certainly a story.

One more note: Make it a matter of personal pride to credit the source of the recipe, whether it is your grandmother, the back of a cereal box, a magazine, Web site or cookbook. If you have adapted it, say so.

The following recipe is a family favorite that I included in my own "real" cookbook, "Barbarians at the Plate" (Perigee Books, 2005). I got the recipe from my neighbor, Elaine Fitch, and I call these "Elaine's Famous Dinner Rolls." I have written the recipe here as I would in a family cookbook. It is a little chattier, and has more detail than I was able to include in "Barbarians."

Once you try them, you may want to include them in your cookbook. Just remember to credit Elaine.

• MariaLisa Calta is the author of "Barbarians at the Plate: Taming and Feeding the American Family" (Perigee, 2005). More at marialisacalta.com.