volunteers help make these specials deliveries right to the family’s doorsteps. Three Iowa State students have updated 100 recipes from the university’s archive and are putting them into a cookbook. Hadley Shatek, Ben Starling and Ellie Recker have spent this semester testing and refining recipes that will appear in that cookbook. Iowa State University Extension and Outreach is releasing it next year. The students describe many of the recipes as “heritage recipes” – including things like cherry pie, the hot chocolate served at The Knoll, and more. The recipes will also include information about their special place in Iowa State history.
From the archives to your kitchen: Iowa State students develop cookbook from ‘heritage’ recipes
Three students have spent their fall semester refining 100 recipes from the library archive to put into a cookbook.
Updated: 10:34 PM CST Dec 23, 2025
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Three Iowa State University students have updated 100 recipes from the university’s archive and are putting them into a cookbook. Hadley Shatek, a sophomore majoring in food science, Ben Starling, a senior majoring in food science, and Ellie Recker, a junior majoring in dietetics, have spent this semester testing and refining recipes that will appear in that cookbook. Many of the recipes came from the Iowa State University Library Special Collections and University Archives. They include what Alex Van Alstyne, food business extension specialist with the outreach and extension’s Farm Food and Enterprise Development unit and coordinator of the cookbook project, refers to as “heritage recipes” – cherry pie, chocolate cake, The Knoll hot chocolate, and more.The cherry pie recipe was a staple when the university held its VEISHEA festivals. Students would bake and sell the pies to raise money for departmental scholarships. The Knoll hot chocolate is a recipe that dates back to Elle Parks, the wife of ISU’s 11th president William Robert Parks. The Knoll is the presidential residence. The hot chocolate is served to students by the first family as they host students during Winterfest. The cookbook is expected to be published in late 2026 or early 2027. If you don’t want to wait until the cookbook is published for that hot chocolate recipe, ISU Extension and Outreach posted it on social media.
AMES, Iowa —
Three Iowa State University students have updated 100 recipes from the university’s archive and are putting them into a cookbook.
Hadley Shatek, a sophomore majoring in food science, Ben Starling, a senior majoring in food science, and Ellie Recker, a junior majoring in dietetics, have spent this semester testing and refining recipes that will appear in that cookbook. Many of the recipes came from the Iowa State University Library Special Collections and University Archives. They include what Alex Van Alstyne, food business extension specialist with the outreach and extension’s Farm Food and Enterprise Development unit and coordinator of the cookbook project, refers to as “heritage recipes” – cherry pie, chocolate cake, The Knoll hot chocolate, and more.
The cherry pie recipe was a staple when the university held its VEISHEA festivals. Students would bake and sell the pies to raise money for departmental scholarships. The Knoll hot chocolate is a recipe that dates back to Elle Parks, the wife of ISU’s 11th president William Robert Parks. The Knoll is the presidential residence. The hot chocolate is served to students by the first family as they host students during Winterfest.
The cookbook is expected to be published in late 2026 or early 2027. If you don’t want to wait until the cookbook is published for that hot chocolate recipe, ISU Extension and Outreach posted it on social media.
Dining and Cooking