Joy in the Kitchen: Yiayia's Greek Sweets

Transport yourself to Crete with this collection of mouthwatering Greek desserts. Includes 75-year-old family recipes for baklava, tsoureki, diples and more.

Sophia Sergentanis, my yiayia, was born and raised in Crete, Greece. A natural in the kitchen, Yiayia grew up on an olive farm in a tiny village called Stavros. Her family made their living as olive farmers, pressing their beautiful olives into olive oil. At age 12, she left the village to study home economics at an all-girls school in the city of Chania. In her early twenties, she married Manny Sergentanis, a Cretan-American immigrant living in Massachusetts, who changed the entire course of her adult life. This is her story, and these are her recipes, some 75 years in the making.