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Now that you have had a chance to see all of this eye candy, how about a chance to win a gift certificate to purchase some of the amazing goodies used to make them!
$150 PTI Gift Certificate
for you to spend however you choose!
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You have until 9:30pm EST to post a comment and be eligible to win. Only one comment per person please. One randomly selected winner will be announced here, on this post, shortly before the release at 10pm ET. Thanks for joining in our release festivities today and best of luck with the contest!
EDITED TO ADD:
Congratulations, Char! Please contact customer service and provide them with your full name and the email address you would like your gift certificate sent to. Thank you to everyone for sharing your delicious recipes and join us this week! Happy crafting!
I make Fantasy Fudge every year. It came from my husband’s family — by way of the marshmallow cream jar.
Individual Sticky Date Puddings – it’s not a special Christmas recipe, but it is a tradition that we have, to make it (and eat it!) every Christmas Eve. It started a few years ago, as we enjoy a Christmas Eve feast of our favourite foods. And we all agree, that is our favourite pudding!
I make a Cinnabon Clone recipe every Christmas morning. We pig out on gooey cinnamon rolls after opening presents and my children claim they are better than the real deal! I love many things with this release. The paper dolls, the ribbon dies, the gingerbread TT house addition…. The DT has fabulous examples as always!
Karen
I don’t have any holiday recipes. But my sister always sweet potato pie, and my mother make German chocolate cake.
I make a simplistic condiment to compliment the Beef I make for Christmas dinner. It’s whipped cream with horseradish, salt, and pepper. But, it is mouthwatering with the Prime Rib!!!
We all make a gingerbread house. We follow Mary berry’s recipe. My husband started the tradition after watching Mary making it on tv and proclaiming I can make that. He then enlisted us all to help. It looks and tastes amazing.
My mother used to always make Potica, using a recipe given to her by a Hungarian friend. So I like to make it too. Here’s the recipe:
Potica
2 cups chopped nuts
21⁄2 packages from box of graham
crackers, rolled
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
BATTER
1 package hot roll mix
FILLING
one 12 ounce can evaporated milk
1 cup butter
Prepare hot roll mix according to package instructions. Roll dough out onto floured surface, about 1⁄4 to 3⁄8 inch thick. Warm butter in milk just enough to melt. Add rest of ingredients to milk & butter mixture, pour over dough and roll up. Coil rolled up Potica on a greased pizza plate. Let rise and bake at 350oF for 50 minutes.
I use my mother’s Christmas cookie recipes every Christmas. Although there’s some variation, there are always decorated sugar cookies, gingerbread teddy bears with chocolate pants, & chocolate coconut clusters.
I make homemade cranberry sauce. It’s the Williams Sonoma recipe. You can google it to find it or go to their website and search for it there or on Pinterest. It is so good and great on leftovers.
A beautiful release. I love all of Heather’s new stamps. Ever since I tasted an apple pie created with the recipe of Emeril Apple of My Eye winner Marsha Brooks, I have to make it every year. It has a crunch topping and I serve it with warm caramel sauce. Google the recipe and try it if you love apple pie with a nutty crunch topping.
Everything I make at the holidays is full of tradition. There is no varying from the menu in this household or there might be a revolt! But the one thing that I am known for is my caramel corn. I started making it for my dad because it was his favorite. I make and package many batches of the sweet treat starting in early December and give it to family, friends, neighbors, even the dentist’s office. It’s tradition!
Every year we have a poppyseed cake throughout the holidays. To serve it, we spread a thin layer of cream cheese between two slices and cut that “sandwich” into little logs. The cake recipe is on the Bakers Joy jar of poppyseed.
I love this month’s holiday release, those doodle snowflakes are at the top of my list!
Great release! I make sugared pecans most years. I love to give treats to my family and friends.
For years and years I make peanut butter pinwheel candy for Christmas, but hush, the recipe is secret 😉
Many years ago when my children were young I began a tradition of Christmas Day dinner that started with French onion soup, and a meal starring roasted filet mingon . Now many years later, with children and grand children it is still being served.
Oh yes, sweet and chruncy almonds, in danish the are called ” Burnt Almonds”.
You take equal amount of almond, water and sugar, ex. 200 g, then you cook it in a pot and use a wooden spon to stear regulary. I takes quite a while. When all the water is gone the sugar turns grey and strange looking, just like something has gone totallywrong, but don´t give op continue heating an suddenly the sugar starts to turn brown and fluid, caramel. When the almonds starts making small pops they are done, take it out on bakingpaper, be very carefull and keep small children away, it is extremly hot.
Take two forks and use them to seperate the almonds from each other, let them cool of and then enjoy.
These almons where my mothers Christmas favorite and she started the tradition, and for me is not Christmas with out them.
My grandson saw a photo (and recipe) in one of my magazines I was flipping through a few years ago, for a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. He asked me if I could make it. I promised him I’d make it for Christmas. It was such a hit, that it’s a standard every Christmas. He even requested it for his 11th birthday recently, because once a year is not enough of this cake!
We are usually many at home and love to it little bits so we don’t have to sit everyone .
But a regular is a lemon mousse to finish. Something light and fluffy to finish .
I make an ice cream cake for Christmas every year, usually with a chocolate/caramel flavour. Whether I use homemade or bought ice cream as the base depends on how busy I am! (Christmas is in summer for us!)
Absolutely! We have Coddled Eggs every Christmas morning…been doing that for about 25 years now. Found a recipe in a magazine and just started to make it. We loved it so much it was the start of a new tradition. Utterly delicious.
Recipe:
Butter desired number of ramekins
Fry couple rashers of bacon with a few cut up mushrooms. Put into ramekins. Make a well in the middle and crack one egg into each. Top with a drop of cream and a wee bit of butter, salt and pepper. Bake in a bain marie in 350F oven for about 20 – 30 min. Enjoy. Cheers.
While I like to cook, baking is not my thing so our holiday tradition consists of making sugar cookies for Santa. We use Pillsbury dough and lots of sprinkles.
Christmas pudding is a must in my family. It is a tradition that has always beeen part of family Christmas since before my grandmother was born in 1901. I had to start making my own in 1997 when my mother couldn’t bring one over as we had just moved halfway round the world! I use the same recipe but make variations depending on where we are living and which ingredients are available. It is traditional to make the pudding on Stir-up Sunday in November and for everyone in the family to have a stir and make a wish. After resting, the pudding gets its first steaming, filling the house with a delicious aroma and you know that Christmas is coming soon.
Every Thanksgiving dinner, I make my Pumkin Crunch Dessert…I’ve tweeked the usual receipt a bit so that my nephew can have some. Because his nut allergy can be fatal, I’ve tried different ways to make the crust w/o nuts by substituting it with something else. So far the best substitution I’ve found is with crumbled graham crackers. My version has been approved by my mom and hubby (the Pumpkin Crunch connoisseurs…lol!) 🙂
Every year we have a cookie baking day (that I started years ago with my mom and one of my sisters) and I make ranger cookies every year – my in-laws and husband love them and look forward to getting them at Christmas. It’s the only time I make them. Recipe can be found here: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/ranger-cookies
The traditional Christmas season goody in our house is cookies. My grandmother was the Christmas cookie baker in our family. I have memories from younger days of the boxes of cookies that were stacked in the hall closet ready to pull out a sampling for friends who came to visit. We decided early in our marriage to adopt that tradition, al though it’s wind up in boxes in the refrigerator or on the bottom shelf of the coffee table. While the selection varies a bit each year, gingersnaps are a must!
We make at least ten types of cookies.
The types vary, but there is always shortbread!
We make Christmas cookies that have been in our family for years. German heritage favorites are lebkuchen (molasses, spices,raisins, walnuts and candied fruit…they last for months in a tin). And pfeffernusse pepper, nuts and raisins with boiled white icing. I don’t have the recipes though. They are in my moms recipe box
I make six types of yummy sweet treats that I made with recipes my mum and aunts shared while growing up in South Africa. They are chocolate peppermint crisp, coconut cookies, naankathai( an Indian inspired cookie), pecan nut cookies, lemiingtons, and a traditional SA dessert called milk tart. I love baking and this just brings back all the memories of home as I now reside in the US. I feel like this is my immigrant experience and when we have our friends over it just cements the beautiful diversity which we have in this amazing country.!!
I make Banana Nut Bread every year to give to my husband’s employees. I always think that maybe they are being kind when they say it tastes so good. But around Thanksgiving, they will start dropping hints…will she bake the bread again? Lol! Each year I make around 30 small loaves. Here’s the recipe:
2 cups Bisquick, scooped, not packed
2 ripened bananas, mashed
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Generous dash of cinnamon
1 t. vanilla [Use a good vanilla, not imitation]
Cream the sugar and eggs together. Then beat in the cream cheese until fluffy. Add the bananas and vanilla. In a separate bowl, fluff the Bisquick, cinnamon, and pecans until combined. Add about 1/2 cup at a time to the wet mixture until incorporated. Do not over mix.
Pour into a greased, bread loaf pan or several mini pans and bake at 350 degrees until the center is done. The bread will rise nicely and an inserted toothpick should come out clean. For full loaves, bake about 50 to 60 minutes. For mini-loaves, start checking around 40 minutes.
There is one I make for Thanksgiving dinner and it’s a cornbread casserole. I made it one year as an extra dish and everyone declared that I had to make it every year from now on! My niece makes a dessert that we all wait for every year…a pear-cranberry crisp. It is AMAZING and there’s never any of it leftover.
We love decorating sugar cookies at our home. The kids make the biggest mess doing it. I love every minute of it!
My mother-in-law makes Christmas pudding every year – I don’t know where she got the recipe from or the tradition and I haven’t been made privy to the recipe myself yet!
After I got married (25 1/2 years ago) I found a cookie recipe to take to Christmas eve dinner with our friends and family. I was 17 at the time and wanted something fun to take! As time passed, it became a cookie that I was asked to continue to bring and it has become a tradition – 25 years straight! My children are now 19 and 16 and they are already looking forward to the Wreath Cookies!
6 cups of Corn Flakes
a bag and 1/2 mini marshmallows melted
1/2 stick butter
1 tsp almond extract
green food coloring
red hot cinnamon candies or cinnamon imperials
Melt butter in pan then add marshmallows stirring continuously until melted.
Add almond extract and food coloring (use enough food color to get your desired shade of green)
Pour 6 cups of Corn flakes in a HUGE bowl then add in melted marshmallow mixture.
Mix until cornflakes are well coated
drop cornflake mixture onto waxed paper using a large spoon.
shape into wreaths and add red hots to resemble wreaths
Dipped Ginger Snaps! My daughter found the recipe in a magazine and we decided to try it! 25 years later we still continue to make them. I have to admit we often make them not just at Christmas. 🙂
Our tradition for Christmas is Christmas Yule Log. Started at home when I was growing up from a recipe I got from Home Economics class and had ever since. Instead of a powdered sugar filling I use ice cream instead. It is chocolate cake rolled up with ice cream in the center.
I don’t personally but growing up my mother would make a traditional mushroom soup with a recipe that was “out of this world” with dried mushrooms that were sent by my grandfather directly from Poland where my entire family lived.
A favorite recipe for our holidays is a banana, orange, and walnut salad. It’s very simple….sliced bananas, sliced orange wedges, walnuts and some sugar. It’s a nice and light fruit salad!
Peanut clusters. One year I decided not to make them since they are so fattening. At Christmas time, several years ago, when we were having dinner with friends, they asked for their annual peanut clusters. I had always gave them their own bags, since they would hide them from the other one, not sharing and would eat one a day. I said none this year, save calories. They insisted this is tradition, so now I never miss making them.
Cookies! My Aunt’s chocolate chip cookie recipe and my raspberry thumbprint cookies have become quite the tradition. That’s why I’m looking forward to purchasing the Sweet Holiday Wishes stamps and dies. They’re totally perfect for dressing up cookie packaging and tags along with the simple gift bow.
I make Pecan Crescent cookies (also known as Russian tea cookies or Mexican wedding cookies). They are round or crescent shaped and have pecans in them, and rolled in powdered sugar. They are traditionally made for weddings but we like them for Christmas b/c the round ones remind us of snowballs. Plus, they’re great with coffee!
Almost every Christmas since we’ve been married, my husband has made his mom’s sugar cookies. They are a big favorite – crisp, melt-in-your-mouth cookies. My kids call them “Grammie’s Sugar Cookies” and so, that name has stuck – with us and all our friends. The recipe is on my old, old, old blog: http://ahalf-dozeneggs.blogspot.com/2009/01/grammies-sugar-cookies.html
It wouldn’t be the holidays without my mother’s pignoli nut cookies. She has experimented with different versions and this past year she liked this one from Kathleen’s Confections Blogspot.
1 (8 oz) Can Almond Paste
1/2 C Granulated Sugar
1/2 C Powdered Sugar
1/4 C Flour*
2 Egg Whites (this amount can vary depending on how moist the dough gets. Start with 1 white and only add more if necessary)
8 Ounces Pine Nuts
Extra Powdered Sugar To Finish (I forgot to do that part – woops)
Preheat to 300 F.
In a food processor, pulse the almond paste into small pieces, and add the two sugars and the flour (* recommended, but could make it without). Once those are mixed thoroughly, begin to add the egg whites a little at a time, just until the dough comes together.
I used a small cookie scoop to divvy up the batter. At each spoonful, I tossed it with the pine nuts and placed on a parchment lined cookie sheet. No need to flatten – a sphere of cookie dough will bake into a nicely rounded mound that is super moist and chewy on the inside while crisp outside.
Bake for about 25 minutes until lightly browned. The pine nuts will add such a nice warm and nutty flavor to the already super almondy dough – amazing.
I don’t have a favourite holiday recipe. Each year I tell myself I’m going to make some Christmas cookies, but I never do…
I make Snickerdoodle Bread during the holidays. I usually make several small loaves to give to friends and work associates. My kids love it too! You can easily find the recipe by doing a Google search or on Pinterest.
One holiday tradition is making my mother’s fried dressing and sugar cream pie. The holidays wouldn’t be the same without them.
Lots of tradition during the Holidays that start with cookies. Lots of cookies. But there is also a simple jello that I make and it has raspberries and applesauce in it. It is a bit on the tart side asd goes well with any meat.
Besides the many cookies and candies the must have side dish for Thanksgiving and Christmas is:
Sweet Potato Casserole
4 large sweet potatoes, cooked, peeled and mashed
2/3 cup butter
1 tsp salt
1 ½ cup sugar (cut back to 1 cup)
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
4 tsp flour
Opt – Add cinnamon and nutmeg
Mix all ingredients and pour into a greased 9X13 casserole dish.
Combine:
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 cup flour
½ cup butter
Crumble on top of casserole.
Bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes or until set in the middle.
Note: Can mix ahead and store in the refrigerator until time to bake. Allow 5-10 minutes extra baking time.
My mom would always make Bourbon Balls. Unfortunately, I no longer have the recipe….
Our favorite holiday recipe is for cut out cookies. They have a touch of lemon extract in them..they’re very buttery, not too sweet and are perfect when frosted with a simple powered sugar frosting. We’ve made these for years and now I’m usually the one to bake them. They’re kind of hard to roll out as the dough is thin but they’re fun to frost and decorate.
Lovely release!
Hispanic culture the tradition is to make pastelles! It’s a family gathering for all to be involved & reminisce of years past!
My mother made a cookie we call Dutch Chocolate Balls and once I married I started making them at Christmas for my own family! It’s a mixture of graham cracker crumbs, sugar, peanut butter and other good things rolled into balls and covered in a blend of melted butterscotch and chocolate chips. My grown daughters have continued the tradition in their own homes, too.
I make my Rum Cake for the holidays every year. I give cakes to friends and family. I’m sorry, but I cannot give out the recipe as it is an old family one.
Gumbo! My mother was Cajun and I knew every generation up to my great grandmother. Every holiday season we had the usual turkey, dressing, sometimes ham…but always Gumbo. It’s still my favorite dish and now that I’m a grandmother, I still make it for Christmas. The kids are grown and living quite a distance from us, which makes me sad. But we make Gumbo with a roux like our mom taught us. It wouldn’t be Christmas without it.
I make my Mother’s jello salad, I even have the dish she always served it in as well. It brings back fond memories.
Our holiday tradition is the menu, which never changes, or my kids would disown me. Star of Christmas is my sugar cookies, though. I started making them when the boys were toddlers and now that they are grown, they each get their own container to take home. A few years ago my teenage granddaughters declared that they would be eighteen soon and thought they were entitled to their own container! Last year I made 19 dozen of the “little orbs of death” as my middle son calls them because he eats so many he thinks he may die from misery!
I make mince pies each year from a Sainsburys recipe book I’ve had since college (which is a long time ago). They have rich orange pastry and a little bit of cream cheese inside. My biggest problem is always finding “proper” mincemeat here in the states, where Robinson’s doesn’t exist.
Other than certain Christmas cookies that are family favorites, our Christmas dinner consists of a Honey-baked Ham and Homemade Scalloped Potatoes (Betty Crocker recipe.) We also have to have fruit salad – my husband’s favorite from his childhood:
Canned fruit cocktail drained (pears, peaches, grapes)
Bananas
Whipped Cream
Very simple but to my husband and now our sons – that’s part of our Christmas dinner. Me – I go for the scalloped potatoes. 😉
Thanks for all of the holiday inspiration.
Lefse (a soft Norwegian flatbread), is a favorite. My in-laws have a lefse making tradition that the family looks forward to each year.
I make spritz cookies every year using the cookie press from my Grandmother. We always had way too much fun decorating them with frosting and sprinkles when we were growing up then with our 2 sons.
For Christmas Eve we make a bean dip which is absolutely delicious and must be served with Rita crackers. The recipe is 1 can of red kidney beans drained, 1 jar of sweet pepper relish, 1 small can of corn drained, 1 small onion chopped, 1 stalk of celery and mix with mayo. This was my dad’s favorite and he has since passed. Sounds weird but absolutely delish.
Thanks for all the lovely inspiration! I need to get my craft on! And sorry no recipes. My best ones are family secrets. That’s our tradition. Lol
Fruit cake, fruit cake, and more fruit cake…this is not anything like what you buy premade…this is an old recipe handed down and is costly to make and also time consuming…but…yum, yum is it ever good…Mom and Dad used to make these and cut them in halve to give as Christmas gifts…it is made in a tube pan, so half is a lot of fruit cake…LOL.
Mom’s shortbread cookies are the Christmas tradition that she keeps as a tradition; her shortbread appears on Christmas Eve – not a day earlier, even though we know they’re around, somewhere, hidden (ask me how I know *grin*). Their appearance is always met with delight, and it takes incredible will-power not to devour 10 (or more!) in one sitting! Her recipe is a basic shortbread easily found with a search; what makes them special is that SHE made them…for us…with love, the best ingredient of all! Thank you for the beautiful release and the gorgeous showcases…
~carol
I make my World Famous Coffee Cake, and by world famous I mean; my house, my daughter’s and her inlaw’s, but this time of year I add Egg Nog instead of milk. Top it off with a beautifully crafted hand made tag and wha la. People love it! 🙂
We had a lot of traditions growing up and I’ve continued some with my own family. My mom would make cinnamon rolls in the shape of a Christmas tree for Christmas morning.
Every year during the holidays I make a Cashew Crunch. It’s truly decadent. It’s like peanut brittle on steroids. The candy doesn’t stick in your teeth, and of course the cashews are soft and buttery. The only ingredients are butter, sugar and cashews. It’s a boiled candy, and makes up really fast. We give it to all our neighbors and they look forward to getting it each Christmas.
I usually make quite a few cookies for Christmas. I experimented with new ones but they don’t go over well unless they have chocolate. The ones I absolutely must bring to our holiday family gathering are: chocolate chip, peanut blossoms and peanut butter temptations. I will be disowned if I don’t bring these! LOL!
Sugar cookie cutouts are a tradition in my famiy. I am the youngest of 9 girls, so we were often helping in the kitchen. My mother would bake them and we would frost and decorate them. I have 3 sons and they would help with the frosting and decorating. They would only last for about 3 cookies leaving me to finish the rest. lol
Cookies are our traditional part of Christmas. My boys now 40 & 36 expect Christmas Snowballs, a chocolate chip cookie ball rolled in powdered sugar, and Ginger Snaps.
I make a simple broccoli casserole that my mother always made at Christmas and Thanksgiving. It is basic but so good. I use fresh broccoli cooked and chopped. Mix that with a can of cream of mushroom soup, 1 cup of shredded sharp cheddar cheese, a little mayo (3/4 c.), a splash of milk, some sautéed onion in butter, and salt and pepper to taste. Bake at 350 until bubbly. I then put Pepperidge Farm dressing on top with melted butter and let it brown a tiny bit! Yum!
Cookies, cookies, and more cookies!
I’m a terrible cook can’t wait to see your talented ideas
We make beef stroganoff every Christmas Eve. I like to ask my family what they would like to eat when they all come home, and this is always requested.
Our holiday tradition is to make butter tarts and shortbread cookies. There is always more but we are never without these two.
I make sugar cookies every year, a tradition from my mother. We frost and hand decorate the cookies and share with other family members!
My favorite recipe is the hershey kiss cookie. My Mom makes them for me every year.
Every Christmas my mother-in-law made a sweet (ricotta cheese) pie with chocolate chips. I have continued the tradition along with a seafood Christmas Eve dinner and a handmade take home gift for our guests.
Such a great release. Can´t decide what to buy first.
On christmas we bake a lot of cookies. One of our favourites are Traumstücke – Dreampieces
500 g flour (sifted)
5 eggyolks
250 g Butter
6 tsp vanilla sugar
150 g sugar
later about 250g powdered sugar
knead all ingredients together (except powdered sugar, let rest for about 15 minutes in fridge.
Heat oven to 180° C
Make fingerthick rolls out of the dough. Cut into 1cm pieces. Bake about 10-15 minutes in a baking sheet
Let them cool down a little bit, they should be warm, not hot. Put then in a bowl of powdered sugar and mix. Get them out and let cool down complete
Our favorite and something we have every Christmas is Nanaimo Bars! My husband actually gets in the kitchen and helps with these. You can google and find many recipes out there but basically it’s a chocolate, coconut, and nut base – creamy vanilla center and chocolate top! I’m drooling just thinking about them! Thank you for the chance to win!
Fruity Cookies! It’s a spritz-type cookie with gelatin in the dough and I’ve been making it since I was a kid. I have no idea where my mom got the recipe, but it isn’t Christmas without it. 🙂
We all look forward to our Christmas morning coffee cake made with yeast dough, orange marmalade, creamy almond paste filling on top, sliced almonds and maraschino cherries. It’s amazingly yummy and smells heavenly cooking! My mom started the tradition and my sister and I both enjoy making it for our families too!
At our house we make something my Slovakian grandmother (my fathers mother) made at Christmas, as well as most of the major holidays and special family occasions. So needless to say a great family favorite. She simply called them Nut Rolls. A thin pastry filled with a combination of ground walnuts and honey, rolled and baked till golden. When still warm from the oven they’re rolled in confectioners sugar.
My grandmother would make a large version and cut it into slices. If she had a bit of time she would make a smaller version also that was only a couple of bites. We always like the smaller ones because they would end up being a bit sweeter. 😉
If we make no other treats at Christmas, there are always Nut Rolls.
Unfortunately because of a recent move my recipes are still packed but I can share it later.
My husband says my Sweet Potato Casserole. The kids love my snack mix. I substitute M&M colors accordingly for the occasion.
4 cups popped popcorn
9 cups corn Chex
2 cups peanuts
1 stick (½ cup) butter
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup for syrup
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. vanilla extract
12 oz. M&M’s
Honey graham pretzels
Combine popcorn, Chex and peanuts in a buttered roaster. In a 2 qt. pan, melt butter with brown sugar and corn syrup to boiling. Boil 5 minutes without stirring. Remove from heat. Stir in baking soda and vanilla until foamy. Pour over Chex mixture and stir to coat thoroughly. Bake in 250 oven 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool, stirring frequently to break up the chunks. Add m&m’s and pretzels. Enjoy!
I make my dressing every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas. My children and grandchildren always go on and on about how much they love my dressing that I learned to make from my mom.
The one thing that must be on our table every year at Christmas and thanksgiving is fruit salad – but not your traditional fruit salad…. We spend hours cutting up as many different kinds of fresh fruit as we can get our hands on, we do sneak a little bit of canned fruit in too – and then we toss it all with delicious homemade whipped cream! This is a tradition that has been in our family for as long as I can remember. My family loves it. We make a huge bowl of it and eat it for days!
My favorite Christmas cookie recipe from early childhood ’til today is “snowballs”….some call them Mexican wedding cookies, Russian Tea cookies, etc. Round balls of dough with chopped nuts in them and after they are baked, rolled in powdered sugar two times.
I make what we call Christmas crack every year! It’s Salgines covered with caramel and chocolate. It’s AMAZING!
No recipe involved, but when my kids were little, we’d go for a drive on Christmas Eve to look at all the lights, then come back and have crackers and cheese and hot chocolate. Became a yearly tradition at our house!
My grandmother used to make peanut butter divinity pinwheels, but I could never get the divinity to turn out right. I miss them!
Recipe: roll out divinity into a rectangle, spread with peanut butter, roll up and slice. : )
I make chocolate fudge every Christmas. It is an old recipe my mother was given back in the 1940’s. It makes the smoothest creamy fudge I have ever tasted. My family starts talking about it long before December arrives, so it is fondly anticipated.
I love baking some traditional German Chtistmas cookies, such as Vanillakipferl and Florentiner. They remind me of my German relatives and I love sharing the 6 or so varieties with friends and family when they come over for tea or coffee. 🙂
I make Lemon Shortbread each year. I love this cookie for its simplicity, and delicious taste. I first came across the recipe when one of my co-workers had made some and shared the recipe.
So happy to see the gingerbread house but I’m in love with the thermos set. I can’t wait to create Christmas projects with the new release!
I make Chex Party Mix every year & started this when my children were young as a way to get them interested in cooking. I used the recipe on the box as a base but we like spicy foods so I add to it. It is never the exact same but always tasty! My children are grown but always text when they make their first batch of the season!
I always make shortbread cookies. My Grandmother made them and then my Mother. Since we only have them once a year, they are a special treat.
Every year we make a huge cookie plate with a variety of cookies. The favorite is shortbread with candied ginger. I’d like to say it is a recipe that has been passed down through the generations, but nope, it is a Martha Stewart recipe!
I don’t have a traditional Christmas recipe. We seem to do something a little different each year.
I always make my Granny’s chicken and dressing. I wrote down, in her own words, exactly how she made it. Hers was delicious, mine is almost as good. There’s just something about Momma’s and Granny’s cooking that you can’t duplicate. Perhaps it has do with the feeling that you got sitting down at the table with family after smelling the good smells coming from the kitchen all morning :)Moments in time 🙂 Sweet memories 🙂 I love this release PTI. Such wonderful inspiration and creativity:)
I always make an Egg and Ham breakfast casserole for Christmas Day breakfast every year. It cooks while we open presents:)
I love all the Christmas projects! Also love the “In Christ alone my HOPE is found” – so true! We do a birthday cake for Jesus every Christmas and now that my girls are older – a cheesecake is chosen and they enjoy picking a recipe and making it!
My Grandma was a fabulous cookie baker! Before Christmas she had cookies cooling on every available surface. I make her gingersnap cookie recipe every year-yum!
I confess that I don’t make this holiday tradition food, but my husband is famous for his peanut brittle. We have been known to buy the peanuts (in the shell) in 25 pound bags he made so much. Luckily, that’s reduced a lot these days…but he makes it every year. The recipe is from an old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. Make sure you have a candy thermometer though!
Sorry. Put my answer in the wrong spot. My traditional holiday recipe is lefse. It is my grandmother’s recipe, and she was 100% Norwegian. I’m sure it was passed down to her from previous generations. It’s made with cold mashed potatoes, cream, butter, sugar, and flour. Amounts vary based on consistency and texture. Family and friends look forward to my sharing of bags of thinly rolled lefse. My husband doesn’t look forward to it as he thinks of it as eating paper. He’s not Norwegian!
Lovely new stamps, dies, and ideas in the his month’s reveal.
A few years ago my mother started making these little treats for Christmas. Bacon wrapped Dates with Gorgonzola cheese. I know it sounds awful but they are so good! The ingredients are as follows;
24 dates, pitted
5 ounces Gorgonzola cheese
8 slices of bacon
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cayenne pepper
Toothpicks
Slice the dates open and remove pits, stuff with cheese, wrap with bacon and use a toothpick to hold it all together. Sprinkle spice mixture on top and bake in the oven at 400 degrees F for 10-15 minutes.
Totally Awesome!
Every Christmas eve my family celebrates with a finger food dinner and then we open gifts. One staple on the menu is “sausage cheese balls”. They are easy to make and very yummy. Here is the recipe:
3 c Bisquick or Jiffy mix
1 lb uncooked bulk pork sausage (roll style)
4 c finely shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 c milk
1/2 tsp dried rosemary leaves, crumbles
1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh parsley or 1/2 tsp parsley flakes
Heat 350 oven. Lightly grease cookie sheet with edges or a jelly roll pan. Stir all ingredients together until mixed well. I use my hands and, yes, it will get messy. 😀 Roll into 1″ balls and place on pan. Bake 20/25 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove from pan. Serve warm.
Enjoy! Thanks for another chance to win, too. 😀
I always brought homemade white bark (with toasted almond slivers) candy to my SIL as a thank you for Christmas dinner and a special batch for my DH to take to work. It was a hit with everyone and expanded to others as a special gift. Only once did I not make it (I thought they must be tired of it) and I never heard the end of it, so yes, it’s a family tradition for sure.
I make a cinnamon wreath cookie. I have been making them since my kids were little and now they are all grown with kids of their own. When I think about “not making them” I am always out voted! They are something my kids just expect.
Frosted sugar cookies, my sisters and I made them with my mom, and now I make them with my daughter.
Oddly, ours is a potato romanoff recipe I make for Christmas Eve dinner. Every year I think I’ll change, but the family protests. I realized what an important part of the family it was when my nephew (about 9 or 10 at the time, now a senior in college) came to me and told me he had to do a report on a family tradition and he wanted to know the history of the potato romanoff recipe.
I do not have any..or it would be beef stock and a special salad called hors d’oeuvres and pastry ..which my grand mother and mother made for Xmas…but I don’t make it anymore….I did in the past..now days we just eat something plane and simple…to not join all the hectic overload of food so many buy and eat..
I don’t think Xmas should be a feast of food and presents..
My Aunt Dorothy, yes she was from Kansas, taught holiday baking to me and my dear cousins, on sleepovers out at the farm! Our favorite is a Chocolate Ball, with Rice Krispies, peanut butter, confectioners sugar and butter, all rolled up by hand and dipped in your favorite chocolate! This gem is requested as the number #1 treat for ANY holiday at my home!! The treats were also a favorite at the craft shows, SOLD OUT! The recipe is widely available today, I recommend starting with a double recipe!
I’ve continued on with a tradition I grew up with of having bagels and loxs and all the fixings on Christmas morning. 11 years ago when my in-laws starting joining us for Christmas morning, I started making an egg casserole full of bacon, ham, onions and cheese. I’d be in big trouble if I didn’t make this one year.
My dad and I try to have a cookie day every year where we make 15-20 dozen cookies for gifts and family gatherings. I always bring a few new recipes to try each year, but we always make snickerdoodles, sugar cookies, pecan tassies, raspberry white chocolate bars, and peanut blossoms. Some of my favorite holiday memories are being exhausted and covered with flour at the end of cookie day. I have tried to continue the tradition with my son.
My family has many recipes that we make every year. Probably my favourite is pull apart buns. Stretch out bread dough into large rectangle, spread on butter, cut into strips, layer strips, cut layers in squares and put in muffin tins. When they come out of the oven, brush with butter and serve immediately. To make it extra yummy, after serving, pull apart the layers and spread extra butter on each layer. We only eat these at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
we don’t have any tradition as such but I make plum cake every year. And I came to know about it from one of my neighbour few years ago. And it has become like a tradition since then.
My recipe includes all purpose flour, plums, milk, nutmeg powder, cashews and eggs.
I mix all dry ingredients with wet ingredients and bake it. And it comes out so yummy!!
The original Check Mix made from scratch. My mother started making it years ago and it became tradition. Three kinds of Chex cereal, worcestershire sauce, nuts, pretzels, seasonings, and lots of butter. Yum!
i make christmas morning crepes every year with lots of berries and whipped cream! I started the tradition myself for my boys. Adding the whipped cream means it will carry on for generations!
By all means…the traditional, according to my grandmother, candied sweet potatoes. Requires time and a heavy pot… slice potatoes, rinse with water, put in the heavy pot. Add ONLY butter and sugar…cook very slowly..the potatoes almost have a candied glaze on them once they are done. Add toasted pecans…. Hard to beat even though it takes time and a close eye…but then again, most important things do take time and effort.
We don’t have any special recipes but we always make cookies for Santa using pre=made sugar cookie dough and frosting.
My husband always makes lemon meringue pie using Betty Crocker’s recipe.
I always make a cut out cookie recipe called Kris Kringles. This is like a sugar cookie with cinnamon and clove spices added. My sister in law gave this recipe to me from her grandmother. It is a favorite in our household. I also make a egg casserole called Portugese eggs for our Christmas morning breakfast.
Our holiday tradition was started by my mom. We create a gingerbread house and even though it’s from a kit, we always have fun working on it together.
Christmas morning cinnamon rolls and crock pot pumpkin spice latte. The house smells wonderful and everyone starts the day with a warm belly! The best thing is that they are both prepared ahead of time so just need to be cooked or heated up.
My family and I have had a tradition of making cut out cookies with my nieces! We also make chocolate chip cookies but substitute m&ms, which is something I attribute to my dad – he loves m&ms! Lol. My mom makes potato soup on Christmas eve. Growing up her family always had oyster stew but she didn’t like oysters so she changed the tradition to something she liked more! Oddly enough my dad’s family also had oyster stew (is that a Midwest thing?) but he never liked it either! Lol.
Rolls…warm, buttery rolls are my favorite tradition from my mom’s family. My sons expect me to make the hash brown potato casserole AND baked mashed potatoes both! That’s the only veggie they think I should cook, haha!!
Every thanksgiving my husband and I make the deep fried turkey. For Christmas my mom and I get together and bake cookies.
My dad makes a seafood bisque with Cajun seasoning every year on Christmas eve. I don’t have the recipe to share, but we all look forward to it.
We are starting a new tradition this year. My grand mother was a fabulous baker and she used to make delicious donuts. She passed away twenty years ago but my dad still dreams of her donuts. We will not make them during the year because they are fattening so we will start a holiday tradition that I will take her recipe and spoil everyone at this time of the year with a little bit of memories of my “Granny”.
We always bake gingerbread cookies, and if we have enough time, we use the special cookie cutters I bought when the children were small. With these, you can build a nativity scene, complete with donkey, sheep, palm tree etc.
I don’t use the same recipe every year, but I almost always make cut out sugar cookies. It’s just not Christmas without sugar cookies with thick buttercream frosting and sprinkles… that tradition was started with my mom many moons ago. For the last several years, though, I have made homemade biscotti… orange dipped in chocolate, cherry amaretto dipped in white chocolate, cinnamon… mmm so good. Definitely becoming a tradition.
My mother’s coconut pineapple cake. The Pineapple is in between the two layers of yellow batter, handmade vanilla frosting covered in shredded coconut. I wish i could share the recipe but it’s not a hand written thing, she has no measurements etc…you know what I mean? I have to watch and make it with her to get it down pat. I’m almost there, just need a few more lessons.
We don’t do a lot of baking for the holidays, but we do enjoy more appetizer meals than usual. Our favorite is to make a huge pan of rumake . . . it takes a lot of time to bacon wrap all those water chestnuts, but the sticky sweet chili sauce they bake in makes it all worthwhile 🙂
Don’t make fun, but I’m a terrible cook. The only thing my family will let me bring is mashed potatoes…they figure even I can’t mess those up!
It’s our tradition to make the “Christmas morning wifesaver” (Best of Bridge) for Christmas Day breakfast. It needs to be made the night before and kept in the fridge overnight. We have done this for many, many years.
What an incredible release! Every year my favorite cookie to make with my daughter, that I’ve been making since I was a little girl with my mom and sister are spritz cookies. They’re simple and everyone loves them!
http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/classic-spritz-cookies/aa68df04-bd64-4f1b-8421-0df82064bca4
We have appetizers for our Christmas Eve dinner. My mom used to always make little cocktail meatballs kept warm in a chafing dish with beef consommé. My mom is gone but I still make them, it reminds me of my mom. She made a ton of small things for C Eve plus working, shopping and wrapping beautiful gifts. I sure don’t know how she did it all, and all by herself.
I love to make gingerbread cookies every year ? My mom always Made them every year.
I always make Sweety & Salty Mixed Nuts–our family loves them and looks forward to them during the holidays. Great releases this month!
I make toffee butter crunch with my girl friends. We give it away at the holidays. It is really yummy! I also try to have a girls cookie making day before the holidays each year.
My Mom’s pumpkin pie cake! Yum! Just makes me think of the holidays.
I use my Grandma’s recipe for Christmas pudding with Guiness and it’s delicious! I can’t share the recipe at the moment as my recipe notebook is currently packed away whilst we do some remodelling in our kitchen.
My sister’s pumpkin bread pudding.
Our family celebrates Christmas with a gathering at our home, a large farmhouse, in the middle of the state. Together with a traditional Christmas breakfast, and dinner,
we have ‘simit’, an Armenian sweet bread, that is totally irresistible! My daughters and I start early, so the bread rises by the fire. We form twists with the dough, brush on an egg wash, and finish with toasted sesame seeds. Fresh baked, the house is filled with the aroma of Christmas!
My mom started making this almond toffee and people just went wild for it. It became so popular that at one time she made 40 batches (or more). She passed away 6 years ago and sometimes we make it for nostalgia. It really is good too.
I always like to make white chocolate-covered pretzel rods decorated with holiday sprinkles. I grew up helping my mom make these and give them to friends and neigbors.
The one thing my hubby wants every year is pumpkin bread, so if nothing else gets done I at least make that. The recipe came from a relative sometime during the first 10 years of our marriage. Gotta get ready for work, but I will share the recipe on my blog soon.
I make monkey bread Christmas morning every year. We LOVE it! I use an ice box roll recipe that I make ahead and it rises for the second time in the frig overnight. In the morning we form it into balls, dip them in melted butter and cinnamon sugar, and stack them in a greased tube pan, and bake at 375 (I think) for about 45 or 50 minutes. Yum! I first tasted it when my sister-in-law made it for Christmas morning many years ago. (My mother-in-law often made it from canned biscuits and added nuts, which is faster and easier, but I love the homemade roll recipe.)
Grandma Edie’s Sugar Cookies with her cooky cutters and sprinkles is my favorite holiday recipe!
We make a butter cookie that’s been in my Grandfather’s family for over 100 years. His family made it when they lived in Yugoslavia and my grandfather brought it to the US when he immigrated here in 1912. I think butter was easy to come by but sugar wasn’t. The cookie has almost no sugar, but after you cut it out you brush the top with egg whites and dip in a sugar and nut mixture.
We have a fabulous little gingerbread recipe from my mom that we use every year. It’s sturdy enough to make a gingerbread house if it’s cooked a little longer, but it also makes the most soft and chewy gingerbread cookies that are perfect with a little cream cheese frosting. Yum! Thanks so much for the chance to win some PTI goodness, and thank you for all the lovely holiday inspiration this week!
I make Heavenly Chocolate Pie every year. Easy to make and is great, especially for the kids
1 chocolate crust pie shell (store bought)
5 Hershey’s milk chocolate bars
12 ounce container Cool Whip
In medium size mixing bowl, place the 5 chocolate bars. Microwave them in intervals of 20 seconds, stirring after each 20 seconds. Be careful not to overcook.
Stir in the Cool Whip and mix lightly.
Pour the mixture into the pie shell.
Cover and refrigerate for 6 hours.
This is such a fun and easy pie to make. My kids always loved to help make it.
My husband’s family all start baking Potica as the holidays approach. I see that the recipe has already been shared here. For my side of the family, it’s pork pies… but none of the younger family members have been able to replicate my grandmother’s recipe yet!
I usually make fudge and cookies and candy that I don’t make through the year. So they are a special treat and the family looks forward to them.
We do the holiday baking like all other families, but my son has always been involved (since he was about 8 and he is 25 now)…he enjoys cooking, so much. His favorite cookie recipe is cream cheese strawberry cookies…it was published in a Gooseberry cookbook, called Christmas Cookies. http://www.gooseberrypatch.com/gooseberry/products.nsf/v.weball/Christmas_Cookies_Cookbook_-Itemm913
Eskimo cookies. I make them every year. They’re no cook so they’re impossible to screw up!!!
I always make a sausage, egg, and cheese strata for Christmas morning. There are a ton of recipes on Pinterest that would work, but the one difference is my recipe says to mix a can of cream of mushroom soup with 1/3 cup of milk and spread this on top of the casserole before baking. It keeps it beautifully moist and we love the hint of mushroom. This recipe is especially nice because you make it the day before and refrigerate it. So just top it with the “gravy” and pop it in the oven on Christmas morning. My family loves it, and I don’t make it any other day of the year to keep it special.
Our tradition is to make Jambalaya on Christmas eve and do all the baking. Making sweet potato pies from an aunts recipe and make as many cookies as we can. On Christmas day we make the traditional dinner with turkey. Plenty of leftovers for days!
I don’t make them every year since I eat 90% of them but my grandmother used to make cathedral window candy and I love having it around so I frequneny make a batch at Christmas. It’s yummy and so colorful against a lot of other Christmas candies.
Yes! My husbands Nana always made “Jule Kranser” which is basically a thump print cookie filled with jam. We make it every year and now my younger daughter makes its! It is a family favorite, esp. with homemade strawberry jam!
I make stuffed eggs for holidays. It is a tradition that someone bring them.
Since I was a child we have always dozens of cookies for the Holidays to share with friends and family. My daughter has picked up the tradition and bakes for me now. There are two cookies recipes that have survived 4-generations: spritz cookies and snowballs. It just wouldn’t be Christmas without them.
Everyone expects me (Aunt D) to make my famous sugar cut-out cookies every Christmas. They are a lot of work but I must say they are my very favorite cookie to eat as well.
Every year I made dozens of cookies and treats for friends and family. I always include ginger spice cookies. They are so delicious and taste just like the holidays should. I started making them 6 or 7 years ago and will continue to make them they are just too good!
My boys always leave slice and bake chocolate chip cookies for Sandra. On family Christmas movie night, we always make queso with Velveeta, Rotel, and add sausage. So yummy!
My husband and I have an appetizer making day in late November. We make Spanokpita, mini mushroom tarts and Chicken pinwheels. We freeze it all, then ready for holiday parties.
We make a baked french toast recipe with apples the night before xmas to bake the following morning. Yum!
I make Queens Mix and cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning. Queens Mix is said to be Queen Elizabeth’s favorite recipe. It’s very easy: 1 lb of each bacon cut up in 1/2 inch pieces, chopped ham in bite sizes, sliced mushrooms and ground sausage. I cook the bacon first till it’s crispy then add the sausage until cooked. At the last I add the ham and mushrooms. It is great with scrabbled eggs too!
I love looking through all the recipes that have been included in the answers. Everything sounds good! Even though I’m a vegetarian, I still cook a 20 pound turkey for our friends and family dinner, and always make the stuffing with spicy hot Italian sausage and chopped spinach in with the cubed bread, chopped onions and chopped celery. I’ve been doing it for so many years, I’m not sure if the recipe came from a friend, or my mother. Everyone seems to like it.
My mother in law makes these particular rolls every year for the holidays, I believe it was her mother that started the tradition and everyone requests them and they WILL get upset if they don’t get these rolls! Lol
I don’t have any specific food traditions but I do have a crafting tradition. Every year I host an ornament making party. I look forward to it every year and can’t wait to get all my friends and family together for an evening of crafting and laughing!
Chicken Roast.
Waldorf salad…my mom liked it and always made it for Christmas. It makes it feel like she’s still here.
I make a chocolate Yule Log every year for Christmas Eve dessert. I think the recipe came from a Good Housekeeping magazine from the 1980’s.
I used to bake like crazy when our girls were young but don’t do much any more. My oldest daughter has taken over though, and loves to make my French Mint Brownies and Orange Drop cookies…both favorites of everyone in the family! :0)
We always make my great grandmothers sugar cookie recipe. She made these cookies for everyone year around and even had her picture and recipe in our local newspaper. No one could make them as good as her, but every year we keep trying!
Yes! Christmas breakfast is homemade chocolate croissants. My mom started this tradition and it’s one of my favorites each year!!
I don’t have a special recipe, but try different things each year. The traditional dishes on the menu are made by my mother, and they’re all Finnish or Scandinavian holiday classics such as baked ham, root vegetable casseroles and fish. Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without lutefisk (made of stockfish) with boiled potatoes, white sauce and a generous sprinkling of ground allspice. It’s not to everyone’s taste, but most of my family loves it!
Quite honestly, I don’t bake very much anymore. But at Christmas the rules get broken and I make a super rich and delicious chocolate cheesecake. We definitely don’t eat it immediately following Christmas dinner, preferring to have it for dessert the next day, which just happens to be my birthday.
I only make a couple things every year. My husband loves crock pot candy, so I always make that; and I like shortbread because it’s not too sweet. Very easy, and quite delicious. And quite fattening! 🙂
We have cinnamon bread for breakfast on Christmas morning. You can use any bread recipe or buy a frozen loaf of dough. Roll it out into a rectangle making sure one side of the rectangle is about the size of the length of bead pan you will be using. Spread melted butter over the top, bringing it to the edges. Sprinkle sugar generously over the butter. Sprinkle cinnamon generously over the sugar. Roll the dough from one edge, making sure the length of the roll will be the same as the length of the bread pan. Roll the dough all the way to the opposite edge and pinch the edge to the roll. Pinch the ends closed. Place in buttered loaf pan, tucking one end under if it is too long. Let rise till double and bake at 375 degrees until done. I make it the day before, and we often toast the slices when we eat it.
Every year, my mom and I make this awesome butter squash soup! Everyone loves it! Plus the whole house smells soooo good!
We’re from New England, and on Christmas eve the main event was fish chowder. Yum!
ALMOND RICE PUDDING has become a favorite of our entire family since I began making it many years ago after finding it in a magazine. It is a Scandinavian dish popular long ago when there might not have been enough meat and potatoes to satisfy big appetites. The whole almond, hidden in the mixture, was said to bring luck to the one who found it in his portion; so everyone ate as much as they good in hopes of being the lucky one!
1 and 1/3 cups rice, uncooked, either extra-long-grain or Arborio
4 cups milk, 2% or whole
1 1/3 cups sugar, or less if desired
1 ½ tsp vanilla
2/3 cup chopped toasted almonds PLUS one whole almond
2 and 2/3 cups cream
Stir rice, milk and sugar together in pot. Heat slowly to boiling; then simmer at very low temperature until milk is almost absorbed and rice is tender. (If milk absorbs and rice is still not tender, then add another ½ cup milk and continue to cook at very low temperature.) It’s better if the mixture remains moist and creamy and not cooked dry.
(Another option for cooking the rice is to use a crockpot, set on high and cook until rice is tender and creamy.)
Remove from heat and stir in 1½ tsps vanilla. Cover loosely and cool completely at room temperature.
Stir chopped nuts into cooled rice. Whip cream until stiff and fold in until well-blended. Cover pudding tightly and chill. When serving, top with raspberry sauce. (recipe below)
RASPBERRY SAUCE:
1 twelve oz bag frozen raspberries, partially thawed
Enough water to barely cover raspberries in pot.
Simmer 10 minutes. Then strain thoroughly.
2/3 to ¾ cup sugar
2 T. cornstarch
Mix well together, then add to strained juice. Boil for a full minute.
Cool completely and refrigerate until needed to top pudding.
We have several cookies that are must bakes every Christmas season…Spritz, Buckeyes and cut out sugar cookies. Everyone has their “favorite” so cookie trays abound during Christmas. I can never remember a Christmas when cookie baking was not a part of it. Though we live a distance from my family, we still all make cookies as if we were still living close together and delight in sharing new recipes.
My mother always made Christmas sugar cookies using the cookie press. I love them and make them every year.
Great release! Every Christmas I bake cookies with my kids. They pick the recipes and we work together to make them. Were still trying to find the ones we want to make every year!
Every year I make Rugelach cookies. They are a flaky cookie dough rolled up with cinnamon and sugar, walnuts, and golden raisins. Totally swoon worthy, and my dad’s favorite.
I remember my mother making sweet potato casserole every year and I’ve carried on the tradition. It mainly canned sweet potatoes whipped with brown sugar and eggs and topped with marshmallows before baking. I have to be sure there’s at least one marshmallow for everyone. 😉
Sometime after my family moved to the Annapolis, Maryland, area, my mom started making cream of crab soup for Christmas Eve. This is a rich creamy soup made with onion, milk, chicken bouillon, and of course, crab meat, and we all love it!
Deviled eggs in honor of our oldest grandson. You had to be there when he was describing what he wanted. It took everyone a while to figure out what he wanted so now I make them every year and have a good chuckle.
I’m not sure the exact date, but at least 25 years ago I found a recipe in the newspaper for Holiday Peaches. Over time I have made them into Holiday Apricots and don’t do the elaborate decorations with cloves and gumdrops for stem and leaves, but it is a favorite cookie by all who have it. Some are skeptical at first, but when they bite into the soft cookie with apricot jam, they are hooked.
I’m so glad you asked this question. It reminded me that my mother always made Ice Cream Snowballs. She rolled balls of vanilla ice cream in toasted coconut and drizzled hot fudge sauce over them. I haven’t made them in years because my children don’t care for coconut, but since they are overseas, I’m going to make them for my husband this year. He can’t eat traditional holiday cookies due to being diagnosed with a severe gluten allergy recently, so this will be so much fun!!
At Christmas or New Year’s, my husband likes to make oyster stew with fresh oysters, parsley, lots of butter and cream. It’s a tasty tradition for us.
We make Italian Pizzelle cookies every year. It’s a tradition my daughter and I started because they are my favorite cookie that my grandma used to make for me when we visited her. My daughter loves them too. Since she was about 6 years old (she’s 10 now) we have been making them and then sharing with the neghbors. The recipe makes about 100 cookies so we don’t need that many in our house. My neighbors look forward to them ? Sorry the recipe is a family recipe ?.
Our traditional Thanksgiving dinner item is Scalloped Pineapple – don’t cringe! I’ve also been known to make it again at Christmas! It’s a great dish I got from my mother-in-law and I’ve been making it for about 30 years.
Preheat oven to 350F
CREAM TOGETHER & SET ASIDE:
2 C. Sugar
1/2 C butter or margarine
3 eggs
IN A LARGE BOWL:
10 slices bread (I use wheat bread) cut into 1″ squares – no crusts
3 Tbsp milk – mix well
ADD TO BREAD MIXTURE:
1 – 17 oz can Crushed Pineapple – do not drain
Add egg mixture & stir well
Pour into 9×13 NON greased pan. Bake 1 hour at 350F.
Serve warm with dinner…Also good as dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream…
Yes, we have a family tradition of making “Fannie May Fudge” for the Holidays, started by Cousin, Aunty Ivy:)) The recipe is fail safe using four different kinds of chocolates…Sorry We don’t share the recipe…only the rich, dreamy fudge itself!
My Mom’s side of our family always had the old fashioned Cracker Jack for the afternoon treat on Thanksgiving after dinner and dishes done. At Christmas, it was brought out after dinner and gift opening. I can’t remember a holiday without having that rich, stick to your teeth, molasses cracker jack. My 93 year old aunt, who always made it, passed away about 6 weeks ago, so I will carry on this tradition. My cousin was in the Navy and it was even made and shipped to him in Iraq, it’s such a favorite. His guys over there LOVED it, and it was requested every time we packed him a box from home!!
Hard to decide between ‘Better Than Pumpkin Pie Cake,’ ‘Penutbutter Fudge,’ and ‘Penutbutter Divinity’=)My Grandma Lola always made the Divinity and now I’ve been the only one to be able to get it to hold together.
My grandmother always made chocolate chip cookies. They were the best. I have since then been gluten free for about 30 years. Long before it became so fashionable:) I now make a yummy gluten free version!
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup soy flour
1 tablespoon potato flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 package chocolate chips (6 ounces)
1/2 cup walnuts
Blend the butter and sugar until creamy; and the egg and beat until fluffy; sift the dry ingredients and mix until smooth; add vanilla gently fold in chocolate chips and nuts. Drop by teaspoon onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees ten to twelve minutes or until brown. Yield: four dozen
Enjoy!
When I was a child I always looked forward to receiving home made cookies from my great aunts. I enjoyed pulling the raspberry thumbprint cookies out from all the rest because they were my favorite. Now that I have my own family, we bake them along with a few others to share.
What a fun release! We have three holiday recipes that have become a tradition. Nesbees, which are similar to pizzelli wafer cookies, but just a little thicker. These are made one at a time using a decades’ old very long-handled (and heavy!) iron press held over a flame from a gas burner. One batch of about 12-13 dozen takes about three hours, nonstop. The second is Scotcheroos, a chewy Rice Krispie “brownie” that both of my brothers devour in instants. We always make three extra batches, one for each of them to take home plus one more to trade with a very dear friend for her peanut blossom cookies. The third is lasagna, a cherished childhood memory from Christmas Eves at my Noni’s.
As kids, we always had homemade caramel rolls and mom’s rice pudding. Everything is still homemade with lots of traditions kept over the years.
Beautiful release for the holidays! My tradition is to make something called Reindeer Drop cookies. It is essentially a chocolate based cookie with a caramel center. It is topped with sugared pecans and melts in your mouth. I gave it to my work colleagues who now ask for it each year. My family can’t celebrate without these on the table to nibble on. As for the recipe…. secret, sorry!
I make my chocolate and peanut butter fudge and rock candy!! Oh, and I can’t forget to make the cornbread casserole for Christmas Dinner or there would be lots of sad faces!!!!
I make carmel corn every year for Christmas. It is an old Williams Somoma recipe that is so good. The trick is baking it at a low temperature for an hour. Another great release PTI!!!
Every year I make sugar cookies and biscotti…nothing out of the ordinary, but the dh and our kids love them 🙂
There are several recipes that we make each year for Christmas. With my husband’s side of the family, we make lots and lots of cookies! Their traditional family recipe that they always make is gumdrop cookies and my sister-in-law loves to bake gingerbread too. I’ve also added some recipes to the line-up. My favorites are hot cocoa cookies, Mexican wedding cookies, and oatmeal cranberry chocolate chip cookies. In my family we have two traditional treats that my mom makes every year (my Memaw started the tradition). The first are London smog bars. They’re like a layered fudge with a coconut pecan crust. And she makes date balls. You heat chopped dates and sugar to make a syrup, then add Rice Crispies, and then roll them into balls in shredded coconut. Yummmmm 🙂
http://www.bhg.com/recipe/desserts/oatmeal-cookies/
http://sharedsugar.com/mexican-wedding-cake-cookies/
http://www.glorioustreats.com/2013/12/hot-cocoa-cookies.html
London Smog Bars: http://www.saltscapes.com/index.php?option=com_zoo&task=item&item_id=370&Itemid=173
I love making all sorts of Christmas candies! Our favorite is a chocolate covered coconut one. Better than almond Joys. We haven’t been able to do it the last couple of years because we’ve moved twice and things were crazy but my kids are BEGGING me to do it this year. Great release once again! I don’t know how you guys keep coming up with amazing products month after month!
I make a cranberry-orange salad that originated with my Mom in the 1970’s. It’s interesting looking (cranberries, orange, sour cream, pineapple, walnuts, raspberry jello) but a great taste variation after all the carbs!
Cooks Illustrated recipe for Braised Short Ribs…to die for!
i don’t bake. We have Tippins pie for that. I do make candy or candied nuts.
I started this tradition and several more! I always make the pumpkin pie recipe on the Libby’s can because that the recipe they want. Everyone looks forward to this Christmas b/c we are away at Thanksgiving .
I don’t make it every year but I want to try my gigi’s pull fudge taffy one year…
We have a couple traditions, a full day of cookie baking which started with my grandma and for Christmas morning breakfast we must always have pig in the blankets also started by my grandma!
Grilled Lamb Chops, with many “sides”. Its a treat for my husband and I, and all our family. They look forward to it all year. Not exactly traditional, but some”ours”.
I always prepare Mushrooms in Sour Cream for my holiday table. A number of years ago, I received a Polish cookbook as a gift and discovered this recipe. I began making it for the holidays and over the years it’s become my traditional dish. I saute the mushrooms in butter and once their cooked I add a bit of flour to absorb some of the butter. Then I add sour cream, salt and pepper to taste. It’s a great side dish and a wonderful reminder of my Polish heritage.
I usually make home made caramels or English toffee. Tradition started by me, and recipes are top secret! Love this month’s new products.
We have homemade cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning. My husband makes them the night before. We started this tradition and hope to pass it on. I don’t have the recipe as it’s his secret. 🙂
Our Christmas meal is traditionally Indian food as that was how we were raised…homemade by my mom. Some of us help out to keep the tradition going as my mom is getting older and can’t do it all alone. I do the samosa’s…my mouth is watering just thinking of them! It’s the one time of year we can guarantee we will get “the good Indian food”!
I always make my mother’s sweet yeast rolls and merengue cookies. My children look forward to these!
My Mom passed this tradition on to us and we have made Hershey kisses wrapped in sugar cookie since I was little. As an adult, I have made peppermint bark for the last several years. Baking is a big family tradition in our family.
Every Christmas since I was a kid and now with my daughter, we make Peanut Blossom cookies (the peanut butter cookies with the kiss in the middle). We also make a really yummy hash brown casserole to go with our Christmas ham. I can taste them now!
My Grandma makes several different kinds of cookies each year, but there is a very special kind (made with real coffee), that has to be made every year. I don’t know the recipe yet, but some day I will.
My tradition is an apple cake recipe that is rich and gooey and packed FULL of apples and spices. And then it is individually topped with a warm, sweet butter sauce. The recipe came from my Mom’s Mom. In addition to the traditional recipe we always made a trip to the apple orchard to pick our own apples. It was so much fun! ??
Thanks for sharing! I think I’m going to try these this year 🙂
Some years ago, my husband got a recipe for peanut butter fudge from a co-worker, and he got really good at making it just perfectly. Christmas is the perfect excuse to indulge in special treats like this, and he makes it every year. In time, our younger son learned the recipe and his comes out even better for some reason! I don’t know the recipe to share it, as it is in my husband’s head.
I volunteer with a Cairn Terrier dog rescue organization and one of our biggest fundraisers is a virtual bake sale around the holidays so I am always making dog treats. In particular I make a liver treat of my own creation and I dehydrate sweet potatoes for another treat. My dogs love them, everyone in the rescue group buys them for their dogs and I even give them to my co-workers as Christmas gifts (unless of course they don’t have a dog or cat, LOL).
Yes…I started a German tradition about 10 yrs ago with our “Gedeckter Apfelkuchen” following this recipe http://www.chefkoch.de/rezepte/522901148654037/Gedeckter-Apfelkuchen-mit-Marzipan-und-Zuckerguss.html
Everyone who had it was hooked!
I don’t bake, but my sister does. And of course I love to taste test everything. She makes a carrot cake with caramel frosting. I’m not sure of the exact recipe, but I do know it is delicious.
Tollhouse oatmeal cookies. The original recipe was from a bag of Nestles chocolate bits, which my mom altered a little, sooooo many years ago. We can’t have Christmas without those Tollhouse cookies. Lots of chocolate bits, walnuts and raisins. Very chewy and just plain wonderful. Can’t eat just one. Happy Christmas to all!
My family absolutely requires that I make two things for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner; broccoli,cheese & ritz cracker casserole and sweet potato souffle. The souffle recipe is a very old one from my MIL and the broccoli,cheese, ritz is one that a friend brought to a dinner party years ago and I’ve made ever since.
One of my favorite holiday recipes is Cranberry Chutney that I discovered at a join school celebration of Thanksgiving where the students came as Indians and Pilgrims. They exchanged gifts , played games and of course had a feast! I thing it came from Sunset Magazine.
Cranberry Chutney
1 lb. fresh cranberries
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup golden raisins
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup water
1 cup chopped onions
1 cup chopped, cored, pared baking apples
1/2 cup chopped celery
Simmer cranberries, sugars, raisins, spices and 1 cup water in a 2 quart saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently until juice is released from berries, about 15 min. Reduce heat; stir in remaining ingredients, Simmer uncovered until thick, about 15 minutes. Refrigerate, covered up to 2 weeks.
You can use frozen cranberries but I prefer fresh ones!
I like to make a variety of cookies/treats to give family and friends. My favorite recipe is homemade marshmallows coated with sprinkles. They are so much fun to make!!
There are a few recipe traditions each year…
peanut butter balls…
coconut balls…
Mexican Wedding Cookies…
Derby Pie…
none are “secret” or special on their own…
I think it’s just that they’re only made this time of year that has made them special for our family.
Such beautiful, inspiring projects…
another wonderful release!
Every year my Mom always make lasagna for Christmas–we always look forward to it!
We have lots of traditional recipes, coming down from both my husband’s and my sides of the family, but a new tradition comes from our daughter-in-law: a sweet potato casserole that is so good it could be for dessert! Mashed sweet potatoes, brown sugar, pecans, marshmallows on top!
We always have Nutmeg Logs and Granny Balls every Christmas. The balls are a tradition that is over 100 years old from my Grandma’s home similar to Mexican wedding cookies and the logs I’ve served over 50 years and only at Christmas. Simple butter cookies rolled into tiny logs then cooled and nutmeg butter icing “forked” on the top and sides to resemble a Yule log with nutmeg sprinkled over. Delicious with coffee served after a busy day while relaxing with family and stories. Both are nut based sugar cookies and not too sweet.
I love sharing my Brussels sprout recipe with others. We invite framly over and everyone loves it except for my hubby 🙂 It’s simple! All you need is Brussels sprouts, butter, and a bit of Dijon mustard! The mustard goes in after you boil the sprouts mixed with the butter. YUMMY!
We make Peanut Butter blossom cookies every year as a part of our Christmas baking. My brother-in-law’s sister introduced them to our family. When she passed away from cancer, I made them as a tribute to her for my brother-in-law and sister. My husband, children and I love them too. They are an extra special treat.
Absolutely. We look forward to shrimp dip every Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s my grandmother’s recipe, and truthfully it has never tasted quite the same since she and my grandfather passed away. I don’t have the recipe with me at the moment, but the key ingredients are cream cheese, cream, green onions, Worcestershire sauce, and teeny tiny canned shrimp. It’s great with veggies or potato chips.
I’m the “cooker” in my family according to one of my grandsons. Holiday meals and other family gatherings, which include my 3 kids and their families (8 grandchildren ages 7 months to 24) are not complete without one simple dessert…a cherry jello that has cherry pie filling in the jello and a creamy vanilla pudding/cool whip topping, and sprinkled with chopped walnuts. In our large family there is only one who doesn’t love it…he thinks jello is disgusting!
My mother-in-law used to make a potato dish that the kids call “cheesy potatoes” only at the holidays. Now that she no longer hosts the holidays, I have taken over making the “cheesy potatoes”.
Peanut Blossom Cookies (aka Peanut Butter Hershey Kisses Cookie). I started this tradition when my girls were little. I take them (along with other cookies) to family Christmas gatherings and everybody likes them.
We have several food traditions for the holidays – one is chocolate fudge which gets given away (thankfully) and another is cheese onion pie to have with our ham dinner on Christmas. We also do cheese balls and chocolate crinkle cookies!!! Great release and kudos to all the DT who showed gorgeous eye candy each day!!! LOVE!!
My mothers potato salad is only made at Christmas and devoured by all as totally delicious! Imagine finely chopped boiled potatoes, boiled eggs and carrots, with pickled gherkins and green apples, lots of herbs and mixed all through with mayonnaise. Just yummy!
I love to make nuts and bolts and Christmas Crack ( crackers with butter, brown sugar and melted chocolate). Yum!
Every year I make Christmas cookies and peanut cake that are recipes handed down from my mother, which came from her mother (my grandmother). It’s a wonderful family tradition and it wouldn’t be Christmas without making making them! Great release this month! I’m so inspired to start my Christmas cards!
I always make fruit salad like my mother always has. I believe most people call it ambrosia salad. It has canned pineapple, mandarin oranges, maraschino cherries, coconut, marshmallows, and sour cream to stir it all in together. It always reminds me of the holidays. 🙂
Many years ago I received a package of Christmas goodies from my oldest daughter, including Holiday Bark. I almost finished the batch off myself, saving a little for my poor hubby. Instead of my usual Christmas cookies, for 10 years now, I’ve been sharing her easy and OUT OF THIS WORLD, sweet treat. I was so surprised to find out it was made with Saltine Crackers. PLace them face up on a cookie sheet, lined with foil or parchment paper. Pour over a bubbly mixture of 2 sticks of butter and a cup of light brown sugar, cooked for 3 minutes once it’s boiling. Pour mixture over cookies, bake for 5-7 minutes in a 400° oven, remove and add chocolate chips or bars, spreading until melted all over. Add finely chopped macadamia nuts. I do several batches of white and brown chocolate. A tradition I’m very proud to say, started by my oldest daughter and shared by many! The Kraft tubes will be perfect for my bark this year.
I bake Almond Bars every year and Snowball Cookies. The Snowball Cookies recipe I found on the Nestle’s Mini Chocolate Chips bag, and I have made them for several years. Both kinds are a big hit. I like to bake them about a week before Christmas, and then package them up and deliver to friends and family! I’m the one who started the tradition. I can’t think of anyone else in my family who liked to bake!
My grandmother’s thumbprint cookies are a family favorite. They taste like Christmas!
There are a few things I make every year but the one that comes to mind is melt in your mouth shortbread. This is a tradition in our family and everyone loves it. I think some years we have made more than one batch. It’s a fairly easy recipe to make using only butter, cornstarch, icing sugar and flour. The dough has to be whipped with the mixer for a long time, then we use a cookie press to make different shaped cookies. They are then decorated with red and green cherries. Have enjoyed reading some of the other entries!
my absolute favourite christmas (and only christmas) treat is the sour cream fudge that my sister makes by way of our grandmother’s recipe. over the years she has perfected it and now it tastes just the way it did when grama made it. as for me, i make almond bark which is super, duper easy: just sauté dry roasted, no salt peanuts in butter and sugar and allow to cool. melt your favourite good-quality chocolate (milk, dark, white or a combination) and stir in the almonds and some toffee/skor pieces and spread on parchment or wax-paper lined baking sheets. allow to set and break into pieces. try not to eat it all in one go!
this is a beautiful release (seems extra especially beautiful this month) so thank you! fantastic work by the designers and the design team! there is almost too much to love.
My husband makes Coquito. It can be described as Puerto Rican egg nog. I watch him make it every year, but I’d be lying if I said I knew the recipe. It has coconut milk, evaporated milk, condensed milk, vanilla extract, cinnamon and can be made with or without rum. I feel there’s an ingredient or 2 missing, but when he whips it up, it is holiday goodness for sure!
My Mom always made an Italian Ravioli we used to call “Cappeletti” (“little hats”) – a mix of beef and pork with tons of Parmigiano Regianno thrown in. We used to hand make the pasta, roll it into thin strips, cut it and fill it. This took place over the course of a few days as we made so many for family & friends! It was usually our First Course, made in broth as a soup, for Christmas Eve dinner.
Another fabulous Holiday release and the DT did an amazing job!
We make a ham with an apricot pineapple glaze … takes awhile but the results are great! And it makes a killer ham bone for soup. Soooooo yumm! Thank you PTI for sharing your creativity with us.
It’s not Christmas until we’ve made at least two or three batches of loaded Chex mix. The entire family looks forward to it all year and it never lasts very long. 🙂
I always make homemade caramels! Many people love getting them as gifts so it’s become a tradition here now that I started about 15 years ago.
I make shortbread cookies every year and it’s my daughters favorite. I’ve tried various recipes over the years until tasting my Aussie friend’s recipe. Now that is the only type I make. It contains a small amount of rice flour with the regular flour and gives a slightly different texture. Another lovely Christmas release! Would have loved to have seen examples using the thermos stamp set.
My father always males whiskey sours during the holidays. All I know is that he uses a blender and its whisky and frozen lemonade.
My entire family looks forward to a gift of home made peanut butter balls from me. I started making them well over 25 years ago and haven’t missed a year yet.
My family and I have started a tradition of making hot cocoa in the crock pot before we head out for a ski or snowshoe trip. I make it from scratch with milk, cocoa powder, brown sugar, cinnamon and a vanilla bean. The magic ingredient is the cinnamon- it thickens the cocoa as it simmers to a nice creamy consistency. It’s lovely to come home to a nice hot cup of hot cocoa after a long and chilly trip in the snow!
Caramel corn and gingersnaps from my grandma! She was the best baker of all….
I make truffles for friends and neighbors, delivering them is way to stay in touch during the busy and blustery holiday season!
Handed down to me from my mother, I make a fresh cranberry mold. I have the recipe in my head so it is difficult to write it down. Just follow the recipe on the bag but I add an extra 1/2 cup of sugar per cup of cranberries. Also add the juice of one orange and add the skins to the pot. Add 4-5 whole cloves. Bring cranberries to a boil and turn down heat. Simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour. This simmer gets the cranberries to gel without adding pectin. Fish out cloves (if you can find them) and the orange skins. Pour into heat resistant mold and let cool. Refrigerate. The cranberry mold will last quite a long time…it is almost like making jam. It is wonderful with turkey and in sandwiches!! ?
We make a pretzel dip to eat with seasoned pretzels. Take a can of crushed cranberries and add stone ground mustard. Easy and so tasty.
Mom made cranberry relish every year. It was made with fresh cranberries, a couple of oranges (peel and all), and sugar. Grind it all up with a food mill and let it sit in the fridge for a couple of days before you eat it. It’s delicious!
Christmas sugar cookies! My tween daughter is learning to cook and I look forward to teaching her my Mom’s recipe this Christmas!
I started a tradition of always making rice crispy treats shaped as Christmas trees in green color and decorate with little bits of candy. Trick to making them taste great is adding vanilla. 1 stick butter, 1bag marshmellows- put together in microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 2mins. Check during this time that the marshmellows don’t overflow out the top of the bowl. After 2mins take out of microwave and stir. Make sure marshmellows are all melted. If not, microwave another min. After all of it is melted, stir, add 1/2 tsp vanilla, 2-3 drops green food coloring and stir. Then add slowly 3/4 box of rice crispy cereal and stir to folding in melted mixture. Then place a piece of wax paper on a cookie sheet. Place on cookie sheet. Cool for 5-10mins. Put a small piece of butter on clean washed hands and rub together. This will help prevent the mixture from sticking on your hands. Take some of the mixture and shape into a tree. Then decorate with little candies.
I love to make nanaimo bars and nut cups every year. I started helping my mom when I was a kid and now I do it to share with friends & neighbors.
We bake Christmas cookies every year, using some recipes from both sides of my family.
On Christmas day we gather around the tree at 10 AM at my parents’ house. After all the excitement, we enjoy clam chowder and fresh fruit for lunch. The soup comes from The Fish Market restaurant in Del Mar,Ca.. My grandma started this tradition at least 40 years ago. Yum!
I make cookies every year and the first ones I make are peanut butter with Hershey kisses on top. Then I go down the line making cookies and candies until I run out of time. That’s what my mom did. I also make Chex mix at this time, the only time I ever make it.
We make cookies every year. LOTS of cookies. Sometimes hundreds of cookies. We give them to neighbors, friends, co workers. But we make sure to save some for Santa.
It’s called shrimp dip and every holiday my mom would make it….nothing fancy but great!
Block of cream cheese
1/3 cup Russian salad dressing
1/3 cup ketchup
1 small chopped onion
1 can of tiny Schriber
Mix all together with hand mixer or blender and serve with chips!
I always make cutout sugar cookies for Christmas every year. It was my Grandmother’s recipe and after refrigerating overnight, it is like working with play dough. My grandkids love to decorate them with icing and sprinkles and devour the cookies every a Christmas Eve!
I have made fudge every year since I was given this recipe over thirty years ago:
1 stick of butter
1 stick of margarine
A dash of salt
1 can evaporated milk
5 cups sugar
Add ingredients to a heavy large sauce pan, such as a Dutch oven. Stir, at medium heat, until the mixture comes to a full rolling boil (one that you can’t stir down; it’s takes about 45 minutes of stirring to get to this stage.) Continue to stir for 7 minutes.
Remove from heat. Add 1 Tbsp of vanilla flavoring and 2 cups (1 pkg) of semi-sweet chocolate chips. Stir until chips melt. Pour into 2 rectangular casserole dishes that have been greased with butter (i use the wrapper from the stick of butter.)
Before I pour the fudge, I usually separate it into 2 batches. One batch always gets a couple spoonfuls of peanut butter because that’s my favorite. The other batch I leave plain or add walnuts.
Our tradition is Christmas morning homemade cinnamon rolls. My great-grandmother started the tradition, so I’ve heard. Everyone wakes up to the smell of cinnamon rolls naking (except of course Mom, I’ve been up for hours…LOL).
Karen Letchworth
Among many things I make our cranberry sauce fresh. It tastes so much better than canned and is almost as easy. My mother started this. 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of water, 1 bag of cranberries. Combine the sugar and water and bring to a boil in a saucepan. Add cranberries and simmer for 15 minutes. It is divine.
We make decorated sugar cookies. My sister and I started doing this when our kids were little and we get together every year. Now the kids are grown and married and they all come so it’s a big party!
Every Christmas Eve, our family enjoys our Creamy Wild Rice Soup. It’s “to-die-for” good, and the recipe is our best-kept family secret. Yummy!!
Sierra a Winters
http://www.sierrasgift.blogspot.com
Too many! My nephews love dipped pretzels. But also Tiger Butter. The recipe is too easy!
Tiger Butter Fudge (copycat of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory)
1 pkg white almond bark ( broken into chunks)
18 oz jar smooth peanut butter
1 pkg chocolate chips ( my mom prefers milk chocolate)
Cover a jelly roll pan with parchment paper.
In a large glass bowl, place the almond bark, microwave 1 minute, stir. Then every 30 second until melted. It can burn easily, so be sure to stir each time. When melted, stir in peanut butter. Pour onto prepared pan
In another glass bowl, melt the chocolate in 30 second intervals, stirring each time. When melted, pour over peanut butter mixture in ribbons. Then using a table knife, swirl the chocolate to resemble tiger stripes.
Cool and cut into pieces.
When I was a kid, I used to bake holiday cookies with my Dad. We didn’t rally have any family recipes, typical sugar cookies and whatever else we wanted to make that year. My cousins used to make her sugar cookies, which we will loved. She died this past year and I am hoping to do her recipe justice this year and take over the sugar cookie making!
My mom always made her traditional coffee cake for Christmas morning. I don’t have the recipe, but it always reminds me of Christmas! Christmas just isn’t Christmas without my Mom’s coffeecake!
I’m not much of a cook, but I always make fresh whip cream for our holiday desserts (that generally come from Costco) and I make cranberry sauce, two easy things that make a difference.
My Holiday Tradition is to bake 10-12 different Italian cookie recipes that have been handed down from mom,MIL, aunts and grandmothers. Favorites include Tangy Orange and Rum Pizzelles, Sesame Seed Anise, Biscotti, and Aunt Jenny’s Anise drop cookies. If anyone would like a recipe for these, email me and I will be happy to send it along to you 🙂
LOVE all of the projects from this month’s release!
I took over baking a two day run cake for my aunt that passed away. This year I want to make enough for every person in the family. I know it will bring tears to everyone’s eyes.
In Italy we have a long Christmas tradition. We use to baking two special sweets, Pandoro and Panttone. You can find them only during the Christmas holidays. Another tradition in my family is cooking for the Christmas Day Lunch homemade meat-stuffed pasta, called Tortellini, in capon broth.
On Christmas Eve I prepare a cioppino dinner for my seafood loving family. I slightly copy the Sunset magazine recipe, but add in whatever sounds good and omit what I forgot to buy.
I make a trifle every year for Christmas dessert. The recipe is from a family friend who is British. It is made with lady fingers, seedless raspberry jam, jello, blancmange, peaches, strawberries, cool whip, sprinkles, and maraschino cherries.
Latkes!! I’ve been making them since I was old enough to grate! And they’re my husband’s favorite.
I celebrate Hanukkah and my traditional food is potato latkes served with sour cream and/or apple sauce. I hand grate the potatoes using the old fashioned grate that my grandmother used.
I host Christmas and we do a potluck. I make two big trays of lasagna. I can make it ahead of time, pop it in the oven when I need to, and visit with everyone while it’s cooking. I got the recipe off Epicurious several years ago. We have appetizers, garlic bread, salad and then dessert which everyone else supplies.
My mothers cranberry sauce is always a hit and so simple. Whole berry cranberries in a can with grated orange peels and crushed pineapple!
We get together at my mothers for the holidays, so I bring the tray of cookies and candies. It’s ones I make all year long and some that I only do at Xmas. Whatever is left is split up and taken home by everyone. Here’s an easy one.
Pretzel Bark
1/2 bag thin pretzels – any kind sticks, twists whatever
1 pkg 10 oz peanut butter chips
1 pkg 12 oz white chocolate chips
2 Tablespoons smooth peanut butter
Line cookie sheet with foil, set aside. Crush pretzels in plastic bag.
Pour chips & peanut butter into bowl microwave 2 mins on high.
Stir & microwave until melted, about 1 minute. Stir in pretzels.
Pour on cookie sheet and spread. Refrigerate for 30 mins.
We make an amazing Pecan Pie every year. The recipe came from my Stepmother’s Mother. When I make this pie for other occasions throughout the year, I am always asked for the recipe. This recipe turns out beautiful every time……..not syrupy, loose and just the right texture and sweetness.Here goes…..
1 unbaked pie crust
4 eggs
3T melted butter
1& 1/2 tsp vanilla
1c light Karo syrup ( she insists on using Karo brand)
1c sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 & 1/2 to 2c chopped pecans
Mix all of the ingredients together. Pour into pie shell. Bake @ 300 for 1 hour or until set
YUMMY!!!!
….
We make Fritata every year for Christmas breakfast. This tradition is carrried down from my husband’s family. It consists of eggs scrambled with mozzarella cheese, ricota cheese and italian sausage. Everybody loves it!
We have probably almost a dozen classic Christmas cookie recipes that we make every year – a tradition started by my grandma. There are always too many, but no one wants to give up their favorites!
We really enjoy a cranberry jelly recipe from one of Martha Stewart’s magazines because it has LOTS of fresh grated ginger. The turkey just isn’t as tasty without it.
Fabulous release! I make all sorts of cookies & candy. I think I started this tradition. My mom was not a baker and I don’t remember my grandma doing any baking.
There are a couple cookie recipes from my grandmother that I always make each year. In addition, I always make an onion tart to serve with Christmas dinner. I started making it about 15 years ago and only make it once a year. It’s delicious!!!
Eggs Benedict is my favorite breakfast so one Christmas morning my dad made it for me as a gift. The tradition has continued every year since then, even after he passed. We do not open Christmas presents until Christmas breakfast is over so we get to have that special family time first.
Every year my family wants me to bring my Cream cheese fruit salad. They look forward to this and my niece will take all the left overs home just for her lol.
It is really easy:
1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese
1/4 c white sugar (or substitute)
1 (12 oz) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
3 bananas, peeled and sliced
1 (15.25 oz) can fruit cocktail, drained
1 (15.25 oz) can crushed pineapple, drained
1 large apple, peeled and chopped
1 (4 oz) jar maraschino cherries, drained and halved
1/2 c chopped pecans
1/2 c golden raisins
Beat cream cheese and sugar together in a large bowl. On high speed, beat in the whipped topping. Fold in all the additional ingredients and chill for at least an hour before service.
YUM!
I make caramel corn every Christmas. I make it especially for my Mom, but make enough for a bag for everyone in our family. i only make it for Christmas, because it’s hard to stop eating it!
Not much of a cook, so I don’t have any special recipes. I usually follow recipes I find in magazines particularly for Christmas cookies.
I would make apple pancakes every year for breakfast for my Mom. Recipe is from Time Life series-Foods of the World -New England. Now I make pumpkin pancakes (Trader Joe mix) adding pecans, topped with real maple syrup
I also bake cookies, and one of my faves is Shortbread, also from the Time Life series -Foods of the World – Britain.
Shortbread
1 tablespoon plus 1 lb of unsalted butter softened
1 cup superfine sugar
5 cups of all purpose flour (sift before measuring)
Beat the 1 lb butter & sugar until fluffy (high speed)
Add flour ( a cup at a time) to the mixture ( med speed)
continue beating until smooth.
Roll into a rectangle roughly 10 x 8, 1/2 inch high
Cut lengthwise into 4 2″ strips
Make crisscross diagonal cuts at 2 2/2 intervals forming small triangles
Prick the pieces all over with a fork
Arrange on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or use the 1 tbs of butter to grease the baking sheet.
Bake for 25 to 30 min in a preheated 350 degree oven – middle rack
Makes a great gift
Gorgeous release! Fave recipe for the holidays is Knorr’s spinach dip. 🙂
Obviously I only bake goodies I like so they pretty much become tradition for us. However, my DH loves the date pinwheel cookies the best. First tasted these years ago when visiting his sister and BIL. A friend of theirs had written a family cookbook so when I asked her for the recipe, she gave me one of her cookbooks. Don’t have access to the recipe right now but can add it later if desired.
I love just making traditional chocolate chip cookies and giving them away! I also almost always try and make something new. Love this release! So many hard decisions to be made now! ?
No I don’t have any holiday traditional recipes but we do make applesauce every year for friends and family. It’s just basicallly steaming and peeling apples. Put in a huge crank and out comes the pulp all mashed up. Put into mason jars and cook it. Make labels and ta-da presents for everyone!
I always make a turkey and cranberry crown on Boxing Day. It’s something that I’ve made every year, as every year I’m asked for it!!
Thanks for the opportunity!
My mother always made a Sweet Potato Casserole, the one that has a pecan topping. It is always a much requested dish, especially at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Now, since we meet at my nephew’s home for holidays, his wife makes it. My mother is deceased but the recipe brings back fond memories of past years. It is yummy!
I grew up celebrating St. Lucy’s Day in our home on Dec 13. One of us got to dress up as St Lucy in an angel costume and my dad would put a wreath with 4 real candles on our heads(Do Not Try This At Home!). All precautions were made so we would not get hurt. You would go around the house before dawn and wake everyone up with the candle light and smells of Swedish stolen rolls and bread. We continued to celebrate St. Lucy Day as my children were growing up but we had battery candle wreath on their heads instead of real.
Swedish Christmas Buns:
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp saffron or cardamom
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup soft butter
My mom makes an amazing, cold cherry soup as a starter for our Christmas Eve prime rib dinner (we celebrate ont eh 24th and then have turkey on the Boxing Day – Dec 26th). She also makes a wonderful mix of Christmas cookies.
oops hit the enter button too early
Swedish Christmas Buns cont’d
2.3 warm water
2 pkg dry yeast
6.5 cups sifted all purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup dark raising
1/2 cup ground blanched almond
My family has made Heavenly Hash every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever heard of or had before. It’s a sweet, cold dish with mini marshmallows partially cooked in a dreamy sauce. Pineapple and Cool Whip are also included. There is a secret ingredient that no one can really guess – but it is the key. It’s Longhorn Colby cheese diced very small. I know! Sounds weird but everyone loves it. I think my mom or her mom started it. It’s our most well-known and loved family side dish. The holidays are jus not complete without it!
Great release!
I always make my great-grandmother shortbread cookies. 🙂
When I was in high school, I wanted to make a cheese ball and my aunt Betty pointed out a recipe in our church cookbook. I’ve made it nearly every year since only varying the assembly to make it easier. This is delicious!
2 pkgs cream cheese, softened + 8 oz shredded sharp Cheddar + 16 oz Velvetta cut up – mix with dough maker attachment in mixing bowl.
Add 1/2 tsp garlic powder and mix.
Use wet hands to shape cheese balls and roll in chopped pecans.
We make paintbox sugar cookies. Use your favorite rolled sugar cookie recipe. Make a simple thin powdered sugar frosting. Divide frosting in cups or a cupcake tins and color as desired. Let the kids use the inexpensive craft watercolor brushes to create their masterpieces.
Not a special recipe but my dad would make French toast for breakfast on Christmas morning. He is not able to make it now, but we try to make it when we can get together. Otherwise I always make sugar & gingerbread cookies. My cousins & I would spend an evening with my grandmother making Christmas cookies. Special memories!
Turtles the easy way! They look great in a clear bag with a stamped tag. On a sheet pan,put one Rolo candy on top of a small pretzel. Bake for a couple of minutes to soften candy and then press a pecan half on top. Let cool and wrap.
My dad started the tradition of dipping peanut butter crackers in chocolate. Why? I have no idea, but we can’t have Christmas without those and his famous cheese ball.
It’s not a traditional holiday dish but I I make a thai stylw pumpkin soup because it is so good. Everyone has seconds. The recope is on the Nestlé website.
My grandmother began a tradition of Christmas cookie cut outs. I grew up making huge cookies sheets full of angels, trees, stars, snowmen…you name it! I use a few different recipes now but the tradition lives.
Many years ago my mother started making this amazing cheesecake,that is very involved. A few years ago she passed the torch and now the job is mine! And I happily make it every year!I have one more from husbands great Aunt. She gave me the recipe about 20 years ago and I have made it every year since. Without either of these recipes it wouldn’t be Christmas for our family
Peanut Butter Balls! Always give them to the teachers…the past few years in a fun mason jar.
1 regular size jar crunchy peanut butter
1 package mini chocolate chips
1 c. nonfat dry milk
2 c. confectioner’s sugar
6 tbsp. water
graham cracker crumbs
Mix first five ingredients. Roll into balls. Then roll balls through graham cracker crumbs. Refrigerate at least one hour and ready to go!
Every year, my mom made “Mexican Wedding Cakes”, which are little ball-shaped shortbread cookies coated (twice) with powdered sugar. She even stored them in big Tupperware containers of powdered sugar. My mom is gone now, and unfortunately, I don’t have the recipe. I wish is did!!!
We don’t have one specific holiday recipe that gets made every year. The tradition is more just the baking itself. We usually do some sugar cookies, Nanaimo bars, marzipan slice. It mostly started with my mom. My sister and I will still head over there one day every fall to have an intense baking day!
Every year my grandmother would make the candied yams/sweet potatoes for our family dinner…. And she taught me how to make them years ago. After she passed away, I became the one to make them for the holidays. It is now expected that I will make them for EVERY family dinner and if I don’t, well there was only one time that I didn’t make them and my grandfather said I ruined Christmas by not making them!!! And he was serious! Lol! So now, if I plan on going out of town for the holiday I have to make them for the family before I leave…. and there are usually 30 – 40 people at our family dinner so I am peeling and slicing a whole lot of potatoes!!! There recipe is pretty simple….
Peel and slice your yams (2 – 3)
Put sliced yams, 1/2 stick of butter, tbs vanilla flavor, 1 1/2 cups sugar and @5 cups of water in a skillet and place over low/med heat. Cover skillet and let cook down. As the yams soften you will need to flip them over/stir – add more water if necessary…. the sugar will carmelize so make sure you are watching them as they cook and adjusting the temperature down if necessary.
I make Red Velvet White Chocolate Chunk cookies & they are Amazing with the capital A!
I love cornbread stuffing. My Mom made it and I believe her mother made it as well. Unfortunately by the time I asked for her original recipe, she had developed Alzheimer’s and I discovered she didn’t have it written down. I have done my best to duplicate it but I am not sure it is quite the same as my Mom’s.
Basically I use a recipe of cornbread, add onions and celery sautéed in butter, chicken broth, an egg and poultry seasonings. I believe my Mom sometimes added some croutons. I love it for Thanksgiving as well as Christmas and now that my Mom has passed away, it reminds me of her.
I usually make Lemon Squares.
Combine the following ingredients, pat mixture evenly into pan, bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
1 Cup Butter
1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
2 Cups Flour
4 Eggs
While crust is baking, mix together the following ingredients. When crust finishes cooking, immediately cover with lemon mixture and return to oven. Bake at 350 for 25 more minutes.
2 Cups Sugar
6 Tablespoons Flour
6 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
1 Teaspoon Lemon Extract
Remove from oven and sprinkle with sifted powdered sugar. Cool and cut into squares.
When my dad was still alive, my mom had to make Groboli every year. It is an anise flavored hard cookie baked in a horse shoe shape. The recipe was finally handed to me and this is now my new tradition!
My Grandparents lived out of state when we were children and every Christmas when they came to visit, my Grandmother would always have homemade cookies upon her arrival. One of those cookies were “Sour Cream Cookies with white icing” as we called them. Today, it is my children who ask, “Mom, did you make the “Sour Cream Cookies with white icing”? A tradition, I know that will be carried on for many more years to come!
I make roasted cinnamon and sugar almonds just because they are so yummy and make the house smell so good!
Ina Garten’s Mushroom and Leek Bread Pudding for Thanksgiving. It is so good! I even made it for Christmas and put leftover turkey in it. Gotta have some turkey gravy and yorkshire puddings with it too. Delish! Here’s the recipe link: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/mushroom-leek-bread-pudding-recipe.html
My kids are teenagers. Now that the magic of santa has worn off, Christmas morning starts so much later in the day! I usually get up and make a breakfast casserole so we start the day by having a family meal. We’ve been doing this for quite a few years (at least 5) and it just sorta happened organically.
There is a recipe for a cranberry relish that came from my Aunt Lois. It is sweet and savor and everyone loves it. Everything was perfect when she did anything.
I have quite a few favorite Christmas cookie recipes, but the one I can’t ever skip is spritz. I made them from my mother’s recipe for many years, but now I use the recipe from Rose’s Christmas Cookies, by Rose Levy Berenbaum.
Wonderful release! We have lots of great recipes. A favorite is whipped sweet potatoes with lots of butter, OJ, and vanilla. Yum!
I’m so sorry but I do not have any traditional recipes at all. I sure wish I did. I think it would have been such a sweet thing to hand down to my son for future generations. What I do have is a tradition I began when he was born of buying three similar Christmas tree ornaments (one for each of us) every year and writing the year on the base with fabric glue. Now that my son is on his own he was given his own ornie from years past. I hope he carries on this tradition with his future wife and children.
My husband’s family always serves a cranberry punch the entire month of December. It is great and my family has come to love it. I make it by the gallons in December!
I always make a Cranberry Jello Salad- sugar-free so I can eat it! My mom first made it, it has fresh apples, fresh-squeezed orange jc, pecans… It’s yummy, & makes an attractive presentation.
I love to make Christmas Coffee Cake every year! The whole house smells yummy and it starts our day in the sweetest way! The recipe comes from ‘Christmas from the Heart of the Home’ by Susan Branch. Here’s a link to this recipe (and so many more yummy delights) ~
http://www.susanbranch.com/christmas-coffee-cake/
Over the years, Susan’s ‘Heart of the Home’ books have become a part of our holiday traditions all year long! ♡
My daughter and I every year make decorated sugar cookies! Best part is the recipe I found you can make the cookies in advance, freeze them and then frost them later!
I make a Jingle Java, hot cocoa coffee mix for the teachers and admin office at my son’s school. And I look forward to it, too. A friend shared the recipe with me about 5 years ago and I’ve been making it every year since.
Making Mulled wine is probably the only traditional recipe that we stick to every year!
I always make spritz cookies and use fun colored sprinkles!! I got the recipe from my mom and everyone always loves them:)
I always make fudge. My mom always made candy at Christmas and so it continues. I started making sausage balls for Christmas morning many years ago and now is something’s no that everybody expects and looks forward to.
My mother-in-law used to make thumbprint cookies every Christmas. They are a favorite of my husband’s. She passed away many years ago. I make my dear hubby the thumbprint cookies every Christmas. I do a lot of baking at Christmas time and give cookies to others, but the thumbprint are just for him. I use apricot and raspberry jam to fill them.
One traditional recipe we enjoy in our family is Mince meat tarts. My English grandmother always made a big batch of these mini pies at Christmastime. Now I carry on the tradition. The recipe is easy: one jar of Mince meat and pastry dough cut into circles to fit in a cupcake pan.
For the holidays I make sugar cookies and let my kids frost them.WE have so much fun doing this together and it was a tradition and recipe that was passed down by my grandmother:)
1cup soft butter
1/2cup sugar
1 egg
3tsp. vanilla
3cups flour
1/2tsp. baking powder
Mix ingredients together and chill dough. Roll out and cut into shapes. Bake at 425 for 5-7 minutes. Enjoy!!
This recipe can be doubled or tripled too:)
Cookies, every type, are my family tradition along with pretzels dipped in white chocolate. A couple of years ago we added a caramel layer under the chocolate. It just wouldn’t be Christmas without dipped pretzels and cookies.
In my family we have a few goodies that we only make at christmas time like fudge and caramels. The caramel tradition I started cause no one else in the family had the patience to make them.
I always make Kahlua Cakes to give out as gifts for the holidays. I got the recipe from my friend Deb and it is delicious!!!
Devils Food cake mix
8 oz sour cream
4 eggs
1 cup kahlua
1/2 cup oil
1 cup choc chips
Mix all ingredients and pour into well greased bundt pan. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes. YUMMY!!!
I make mashed potatoes with sour cream, cream cheese and ranch dressing in them! So yummy!
Every year I make chocolate cream bars. The are like Naniamo bars but the creamy filling is much more lik a buttercram. My mom passed her version down with so many others to me. One the road so I can’t share the recipe today!
For our family get togethers, we usually bring a spinach egg salad. This recipe came from one of my husband’s aunts and it is a favorite.
Every year my kids request that I make Pumpkin Chocolate Loaf, around the holidays. I take it when we celebrate at my sister’s or my mother-in-law’s home. The recipe makes 3 large loaves. I’ve given them as gifts to teachers and friends, as well. http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/pumpkin-chocolate-loaf/print
Love our pumpkin pie and pumpkin ice cream. Such a treat.
My aunt Shirley gave me this Bon Bon recipe that I love to make for the holidays.I usually make a big batch of these and wrap them up in cute containers to give to my neighbors:)
Mix together:
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbl butter
1 cup chopped nuts
Shape into balls.Melt 2 cups choc chips in double boiler. Remove from heat. Dip balls in choc. to coat. Place on wax paper to cool. Store in refrigerator.
Delicious!!
My husband usually makes a great ham with all the fixing. We are not turkey lovers, but love ham.
The kids and I do quite a bit of baking each year with some favorites interspersed. My husband makes his fudge each year as well. However, a great tradition has been my Christmas Morning Breakfast Casserole that I have served for the entire family on that beautiful, blessed morning for over 10 years now. That dish is always there regardless of the baking stints or mishaps! Other “traditions” have come and gone, including a great one from my childhood, but my family said that they would like to keep the casserole one going.
My parents in law alwyas bake sugar cookies for the whole family every year! My Daughters
Love to help them!
Thank you – I will try it this year! Sounds scrumptious!
Sandbakkelse – a Norwegian butter cookie. My grandma has always made them and now several of us are trying to carry the tradition but hers are still the best.
Our menu for Christmas Eve changes from year to year, depending on who is hosting. But the one dessert everyone insists on is my daughter’s cheesecake. It’s thick and creamy New York style and it is to die for!
I always make the fudge recipe from Eagle (makers of sweetened condensed milk). It’s the recipe my grandmother always used.
Usually before Thanksgiving, we have “hot pot”, where a bunch of meats and veggies are boiled/cooked and made into a savory broth and you dip all the items into a special sauce. It’s more of an Asian type tradition here.
I make the apple pie every Thanksgiving and for Christmas I have newly been charged with making Great Grandma’s special strawberry desert. It is cut up strawberries with powdered sugar in the special strawberry dish 🙂
I always make hundreds (literally, hundreds) of Spritz cookies for friends, neighbors and my husband’s colleagues every holiday – I am not sure if I can share the recipe here since it is published and I don’t want to infringe on copyright, but you can find it in ‘The Betty Crocker Cookie Book.’ I also make gingerbread cookies as well but use those pre-made refrigerated dough sheets (shhh – don’t tell anyone!). Thanks for the chance to win because I had spine surgery recently and lost all of students to other tutors while I heal so the wallet is a little emptier than usual this holiday season.
I usually take a fruit salad. Thanks for sharing another great release and the opportunity to win.
I make broccoli salad every holiday to take to my parents’ for dinner. Many, many years ago I called a friend who entertains a lot & asked for something different to take to dinner & I’ve been making it ever since.
Yes. For Christmas we always kick off holiday baking with the girls getting together to make my grandmothers raisin filled cookies while the guys go hunting.
My mother in law made the best pies ever. She is no longer with us and I became the pie maker for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I always try to copy her having watched her make them for years. People say the pies are good, but I still say hers were the best.
Every year my mom and i make a special cheese ball for our open house and we make a big batch of the ingredients so each person gets to take a little jar of mix to make their own at home.
I have a friend who LOVES my snowball cookies…..Italian wedding cookies, Russian tea cakes, Mexican wedding cakes. Since he is Italian, I call them Italian wedding cookies.:) I make a BIG batch for him every year at Christmas. He once gave me cookie sheets as a reminder to make the cookies!
My mom always made a seven layer salad , the whole family loved it and then when she passed away I started making it and its still one of my families favorite’s !!
INGREDIENTS Nutrition
SERVINGS 8-10 UNITS US
1 head iceberg lettuce, cored and cut into pieces
1 cucumber, seeded and sliced
1 cup frozen peas, rinsed and drained
1 1⁄2 cups celery, thinly sliced
1 red onions, thinly sliced or 4 scallions, slice thin
6 ounces sharp cheddar cheese (add more to taste)
1⁄2 lb bacon, cooked nice and crisp crumbled into pieces
2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped (optional)
DRESSING
2 cups mayonnaise
2 tablespoons sugar (adjust to taste)
1⁄2 cup sour cream or 1⁄2 cup yogurt
1 teaspoon Lawry’s Seasoned Salt (adjust to taste)
Christmas Eve has always been a favorite time for me. Since my grandma was Swedish we always had the traditional Swedish dishes. My favorite was the Swedish meatballs and potato sausage which we continue to have each Christmas Eve. The family members around the table have changed over the years, but the fellowship and true meaning of Christmas will be around forever!
My mom always makes Melting Shortbread which is AMAZING! She started this tradition and has been baking this every Christmas for as long as I can remember. I wish I could say that I find the time each year to do the same but, I haven’t made it in several years! I might have to get the recipe from her, again. Hopefully, I can find the time, this year, to bake some shortbread and package it up all cute to give away to friends and family!
My family makes phenomenal ginger snaps from a recipe graciously given to us 48 years ago. It has become a beloved family tradition.
There is a special holiday recipe we use for Christmas morning. I make an egg bake. I started this about 6 years ago and the my kids continue to ask me to make it for Christmas morning brunch.
9 Eggs
1/2 Cup Sour Cream
1/2 cup milk
Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. The last 10 minutes sprinkle mild cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese and pre cooked bacon over the top.
I don’t have any recipes I always make at Christmas … prefer to have a change from year to year and try lots of things! Anita 🙂
A good friend of mine gave me this recipe. Been a tradition ever since! Not sure what you would call it, but it tastes wonderful. In a Crock-Pot, layer any pork you want, cooked or not, then chopped potatoes, then sauerkraut and juices, and top with baked beans. Do not stir. Cook until pork is tender. Looks terrible, but tastes great!!
Cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning is our tradition. The pillsbury recipe works fine for us…lol.
I try to make Spritz cookies every year. They are a favorite of mine and my husband enjoys them as well. The recipe I use varies on the cookie press I am using, but lately I have been using my Pampered Chef cookie press, so I use the recipe that is posted on the Pampered Chef website. Thanks for another amazing release!
A super simple recipe found on-line years ago that we affectionately call ‘Hershey Hugs’. Its a FAVORITE for any season, not just for Christmas. Take a pretzel, put a hershey hug on top. Cook for 3 min at 200 degrees. Remove from oven and put one m&m on top (use seasonal m&ms for a festive look). Let them cool and ENJOY!! Side note – these work well with gluten free pretzels!!
Being of Dutch heritage, we enjoy treats with almond paste. I buy a banket or almond torte from a local baker because she does such a great job with the pastries and I don’t have time to cook due to work schedule. Lovely stamp release.
We do Christmas Eve at our house. Menu is Shrimp Cocktail, veggie platter and homemade pizza. My son makes his special recipe for a wonderful thick crust pizza, which we cut into appetizer-sized pieces. There are usually some Christmas cookies later with good ol’ chocolate chip cookies as the favorite.
Cream cheese pumpkin loaves with a streusel topping…. they make the whole house smell like the holidays. I make multiples to share with friends and neighbors. They freeze well and can be grabbed from the freezer for a last minute hostess gift.
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Loaves
****Step One: Cream Cheese Filling
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
6 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Mix cream cheese and sugar until smooth and creamy. Add egg and vanilla and beat well. Set aside.
****Step Two: Topping
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 tablespoon butter
Mix the dry ingredients together and cut the butter in until mixture resembles cornmeal in texture. Set aside.
****Step Three: Pumpkin Batter
3 1/3 cups flour
4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 2/3 cups sugar
2/3 cups oil
4 eggs
1 pound can mashed pumpkin (15 or 16 ounce can)
2/3 cup water
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two loaf pans.
Sift together flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Beat together sugar and oil until light. Add eggs, one at a time. Beat in pumpkin. Add dry ingredients alternatively with water to sugar mixture until all is well-blended.
Spoon one-quarter of the batter in each loaf pan. Spoon half of the cream cheese filling over each. Sprinkle one-quarter of the topping mixture over each. Add the rest of the pumpkin batter. Sprinkle with the remaining topping. Bake both loaves together for about one hour and 20 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.
For a quicker recipe, you can skip the filling and topping for a good pumpkin bread (but not quite as good without all the layers!)
I always make Rolo cookies;it’s the only time of year I make them. It’s a basic chocolate dough with a Rolo candy tucked inside!
Every Christmas we make a lot of different cookies. The cookies that we love to make as a family are called sand dollars. It takes the whole family to be involved in making this cookie. We have a lot of fun as we set up an assembly line to make this cookie. It’s a great way to have our family together and enjoy the time we have.
I make trifle every year at Christmas using a recipe I based on the trifle my paternal Grandmother used to make when I was a kid. If I’m lucky there’s enough left over for breakfast on the 26th!
I make Hungarian kifli cookies every year. They are very time consuming but it wouldn’t be Christmas without them. And of course cutouts for Santa.
The holiday season gets started when I make our first batch of candy cane brownies. I add a few drops of peppermint oil to the mix and crushed candy canes are sprinkled over the top of the batter before baking. This is our favorite treat to share with friends.
I make butter tarts once a year, just for Christmas. It was a tradition in my husbands family so I started making them and have changed and adjusted the recipe over the years but have since come up with “the” recipe and have used it for the past 11 years.
We make every year Coquito, Majarete, Arroz Con Dulce and Tembleque, all of them done with coconut.
The easiest recipe is for the Majarete and it’s as follows:
Ingredients:
1. 4 Cups of coconut milk or in lieu of, one large DRY coconut or 2 medium ones. I always buy more just in case
Note. At least in Puerto Rico you can buy the cans that say COCONUT MILK, they are from Goya.
2.1/2 Teaspoon of salt
3.3/4 Cups of sugar
4.3/4 Cups of RICE flour
5. 4 Large slivers of green lemons skins(limes)
6.2 Teaspoons of butter
Directions:
1. Combine in a sauce pot, the coconut milk,salt,sugar,sifted RICE flour,and the lime peels.
2.Move the ingredients constantly on medium high on the stove with a wooden spoon so as not to have granules on it until it sets,I use a whisk.
3.Reduce the heat to low, add the butter and keep on moving it for 5 minutes more.
4. Retire from the hot stove, discard the lime peels and fill small ramekins to about
3/4.
5. Sprinkle ground cinnamon to taste, and I place half a Maraschino cherry in the middle. Place in refrigerator to cool or eat hot, your choice.
6. ENJOY-compliments of this caterer!
Note: If you cannot find the coconut milk cans, you will have to crack the dry coconuts,take the skin off, place it in a cheese cloth over yet another colander, and with clean hands squeeze the life (milk) out of those suckers! Until you reach the goal.
Merry Christmas!
I make cranberry-orange loaf every Christmas, as well as butter tarts! Yum.
My father used to always make me a kids version of a Tom and Jerry mix, using milk instead of alcohol, and lots of extra nutmeg on top. It really was a frothy, warm, treat that I’ve tried to incorporate in my adult holidays.
Love the offerings this month. That along with the weather is making me wonder if I should start getting the Christmas ornaments out.
I love baking for the holidays. My boys and I decorate sugar cookies.We buy those pre mix cookie boxes because during the holidays I need to spend less time in the kitchen and more time with crafting.
Since we’ve been looking at Christmas cards for the last week, I’m guessing you mean a winter holiday recipe – rather than Thanksgiving. A must make each year is my mom’s Basic Cookie Dough recipe. It is nothing special, just a basic roll-out sugar cookie, but the memories that it contains are priceless. I’ve spent hours making the recipe and decorating cookies with family and friends. Each time was a little different and each was what made Christmas for me.
Growing up my mom would make her rum balls. For the kids they would have only rum flavoring but they were a favorite of mine. Now that I am a mom I make them with my kids…..they are a treat that we only make a Christmas!
We always make a big batch of Chex Mix because my Grandma always did. My boys look forward to it each year.
No recipes… in fact I am yet to actually make a Christmas dinner all of my own! Also, in my family, we like to mix things up and have different dishes from year to year, and to enjoy the event more we do get in a lot of the food already prepared.
I too love this recipe. I got it from a friend 35 years ago and have never seen anyone else talk about the recipe. It is great. And people love it when you bring it to a pot luck Holiday Meal.
Pecan pie!! Our recipe of course-all recipes are not the same
No special holiday recipes but a real treat for all of us is some large, delicious cocktail shrimp that we always have. We don’t often buy them because of the price so they are a real treat for us!
I started making a Yule Log when my daughter was 2, and that was 32 years ago. Now we make it together every Christmas Eve. We fight over the last piece every year!!
I make a pumpkin bread for the holidays. My dear old neighbor asked me to make her family pumpkin bread recipe when she was no longer cooking. I made a loaf for her and a loaf for my family. We loved it so much I have made it every year since then.
I like fruitcake and one of my favorite things to make before the holidays start are these yummy little treats called tiny fruitcake gems. In fact I’m getting ready to make a batch!
Hard sauce for our pumpkin pie! It’s super easy! Take icing sugar and add enough butter to make a stiff icing. Slowly add brandy until it thins out a little bit and let set. Yum! My great aunt started the tradition and I still use one of her vintage Pyrex bowls to serve.
my best friend & I get together to make our caramel popcorn. It’s amazing & so is the company!
We have seafood feast every Christmas Eve my husband started the tradition and one certain thing that must be on the menu is crab Newburgh over baked patty shells better homes cookbook ( my son doesn’t eat any seafood so I make his favorite request lasagna ) always finish with strawberry pie and deep fried whoopie pies yum
During the fall and holiday time, if we have company, I make my mother’s Ginger Cookies. I never thought they were unusual, although they are GOOD. However, nearly everytime I baked those cookies to share at an event, people would want the recipe. That made me think they are pretty special after all!
Thanks for all the great inspiration during this release. I love looking at all the great works of art!
My mom makes all of the traditional and special holiday recipes. One of my favorites is her Christmas dessert…Bush de Noel cake. It’s devoured within minutes! The recipe can be found here: http://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/17345/buche-de-noel/
My family, in the tradition of our ancestors, bakes a thin (temperamental!) spice cookie each Christmas season. The cookies are a labor of love as they are not easy to make. The scent from baking fills our home with the most wonderful aroma. Friends and extended family look forward to receiving this annual treat! The recipe is a family secret, so no sharing of that … sorry!
My favorite Christmas recipe is Swiss Christmas Bread. It is a rich yeast dough made with cream cheese. You roll our the dough into a rectangle and then spread on a cream cheese filling. Roll the rectangel and after letting the loaves rise, bake. Frost lightly and decorate with candied fruit and pecans. I used to make 20 of these and deliver them to friends Christmas Eve afternoon. Everyone came to expect it. Great Christmas release. My wish list is long.
Christmas cookie baking is a family tradition – we make about 30 kinds of cookies and most are made from old family recipes. We laugh every year about one recipe where the measurements are things like “butter the size of a walnut”.
We make Crockpot Candy to give as gifts every year.
http://www.flylady.net/d/flyladys-kitchen/slow-cooker/slow-cooker-more/#crockpot-candy
My family originates from Mexico and we celebrate with posadas. What I remember the most is that my gramother would make capirotada. When it was her turn to host the posada and 24th of December was the only time she would make capirotada
Every Christmas I make Cheesecake cupcakes. My son requested them every year and his all time favorite cheesy potato casserole.
On Christmas Eve morning, I make the Cinnamon Rolls from Ree Drummond’s blog http://www.thepioneerwoman.com. The recipe makes about 50, so there are enough left over for Christmas morning, too. Everybody who eats them says they are the best they’ve ever had. Thanks for the chance to win a generous and much-needed gift certificate!
What beautiful projects! I make my grandmother’s fudge every year, however, I promised to her before she passed away that I wouldn’t share the recipe, until I had a granddaughter of my own. It is delicious though!
a college roommate made the most heavenly chocolate sandwich cookies with a mint filling – she gave me the recipe and they are still EVERYONE’S favorite 40 years later – it wouldn’t be Christmas without them!
I am the family baker. I make TONS of goodies for Christmas and supply them for everyone in the family. Love it, but have to be careful. It is getting harder to take off the extra weight I gain every year at this time.
Buckeyes… this has been a tradition with my aunts and mom and girl cousins since I was very little and we still make them to this day… nothing better… 2 sticks of butter melted/softened, 1 jar of 18 oz peanut butter, 1 pack of powdered sugar mixed together, rolled into balls and set in fridge to harden, then dipped in dark chocolate later to look like a buckeye 🙂
Every year I make several recipes of little Rum Pecan bundtlette cakes. I found the recipe in a magazine many years ago – and it’s so simple using a yellow cake mix and instant pudding, and, of course, rum!. Everyone I give them to loves them and looks forward to them each Christmas!
Our favorite Christmas recipe is Christmas crepes. My husband makes them on Christmas morning.
Dessert Crepes
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 egg
1 teaspoon cooking oil
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
Spread batter thinly on a frying pan or crepe griddle filp and put on a plate. We eat them with strawberries and whip cream
I make Christmas Breakfast. It’s essentially a casserole style dish with eggs, ham (or sausage), bread and country gravy that I put together before we go to bed on Christmas Eve.
Then, when the kids are up before the sun the next day, all I have to do is take it out of the fridge, pop it in the oven and enjoy my coffee as everyone opens presents.
It’s my husband who is the baker in the family. He likes to bake apple pies during the holiday season. He just uses his mom’s old Betty Crocker recipe book. He started to make pumpkin pies too since I don’t eat apple pies. He used the recipe on the box/can/bag… no secret recipe yet!
The baking I do is not really based on tradition, though I do include two Scandinavian cookies (Sptritz and Peparkakkor). The thing we make for Christmas Dinner is a salad that my cousin brought one year and when the family friend attending copied the recipe for all of us, she called it Christmas Salad and now it has become a mainstay.
Not big fans of turkey or ham so my family always did a german style Christmas dinner with Sauerbraten and potato dumplings. We let the meat marinate for 3 days in the wine vinegar and onions then brown in at cook it slow in a pan for 4-5 hours. Yum!!!
We make a fudge recipe every year that my Mom found back in the 1970’s when I was a teenager. I have made it every year since, and now my husband, kids, and in-laws all come over and make it with me. We give it to neighbors, friends, co-workers, and family that can’t make it with us. Every year before the holidays arrive, we get requests for more fudge from people who have tried it. It is a fun family tradition, and it is yummy too!
I live far from family so we always travel. Other family members do the cooking.
Christmas is the holiday where I enjoy others’ cooking and I happily do clean up!
I would love to re-institute the popcorn ball tradition we had as children. With food allergies and other dietary restrictions we have been changing up the menu year by year. Probably the only staple is a little Bailey’s Irish Crème with dessert!
We make a fruit punch for the kids (and adults) at Christmas time which is a big hit. It was started when my kids were little by my Mum so the kids felt like they could have a special drink as well. They love using the spoon to scoop out their own drink into a gorgeous glass cup. It is one part orange juice, one part apple juice, 2 parts ginger ale and two parts lemonade. You can change the quantities to suit your own taste. We also freeze small chunks of fruit to add to the punch it tastes great, but also serves as little ice cubes to keep the punch cold.
I make an apple fruit salad with bread and homemade whipped cream. This recipe was shared by my half sister to my mom. It is a holiday family tradition.
Cook apples in a sauce pan on the stove top with sugar, cinnamon and a little water until just slightly firm. Drain and refrigerate.
Pinch pieces from the center of a loaf of French bread into a bowl and mix carefully with the drained apples. In another bowl, whip heavy whipping cream with sugar and vanilla to taste, then gently fold the apples and bread into the whipped cream. Sprinkle with cinnamon. This is all done to taste, so no exact measurements.
This fresh apple cake recipe dates back to the 1800’s in my family. I’ve actually never made the icing and just top mine off with Powdered Sugar sprinkled on top.
Alley Springs Apple Cake
1 cup Butter
2 Tbsp. Water
2 Cups Brown Sugar
3 Eggs
1 T. Vanilla (Mexican Vanilla if you have it)
2 ½ cups flour
2 Tsp. Baking Powder
1 Tsp. Cinnamon
1 Tsp. Nutmeg
1 Tsp. Baking Soda
1 Tsp. Salt (Optional)
3 cups peeled, chopped apples (I like Fuji or Golden Delicious – definitely not Granny Smith)
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix first 4 ingredients. Sift Flour and other dry ingredients and blend into butter and sugar mixture. When well blended, add apples and pecans, stirring by hand. This batter will be thicker than what you are used to with a regular cake. Place in 9 x 13 baking pan that has been greased and floured, and bake for 55-60 minutes at 350 degrees. Decrease cooking temperature by 25 degrees if using a glass baking dish. Top with Powdered Sugar or Brown Sugar Icing.
Brown Sugar Icing
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup Butter
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1 tsp. Vanilla
Melt Butter, then add brown sugar and evaporated milk. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat. Stir in Vanilla and Drizzle over cake.
Cookies is the word for us, too! We make Iced Soft Sugar cookies, which the grandchildren put sprinkles all over and Chocolate Chip cookies with pecans. Mother got the sugar cookie recipe in the 1960s. We also make Shrimp Cooked in Beer after Christmas, and that came from my Grandmother. All are favorites we must have! Thanks for a chance to win some of these pretty holiday stamps!
We moved to another country a few years ago and are often on our own for Christmas. We decided to splurge and treat ourselves to prime rib roast for Christmas dinner.
My mother has a cinnamon bun recipe that either I or one of my daughters makes for Christmas morning. We have the buns, juice and coffee before any presents can be opened. Grandchildren are very impatient and eat the buns as fast as they can so we can get to celebrating Christmas!
Well, before I got married the tradition was to make posole for Christmas eve. The husband doesn’t like posole, so that tradition went by the wayside. LOL Don’t really have any traditional dishes now.
Singing by the tree. One night waiting for Dad to come home the kids were tired and restless so we cuddled in the chair.
We don’t have any particular recipes that we make, usually my family gets together for Christmas and we all pick our very favorite dishes and we make the all and just pick at them all day! A day of indulgence that only comes once a year! My fave is glazed bacon wrapped water chestnuts – I don’t know the actual name or have the recipe but it’s so much better than it sounds LOL.
Baking was always a holiday tradition in our house so now I enjoy baking cookies using the same recipes we used when I was a child. Baking always brings me happy memories. I especially like making sugar cookies because we used to use them to decorate a Christmas tree and I did the same when I first moved away from home.
We make Spritz cookies. Whatever recipe I happen to find online. The key is using my grandmother’s press to make the cookies with. It’s an antique. I’m sure she got it when they first came out. She’s been gone over 20 years now and it’s a sweet reminder of her everytime we make them. (Though she always made them best)
My Grandma’s cranberry salad. It’s been a tradition to have this particular recipe for our Thanksgiving and Christmas meals ever since I can remember. My Grandma passed away a few years ago, but the tradition continues. I only wish it was a bit healthier. It’s really more like a dessert than salad – but nobody complains!
This makes the best cookies for decorating and one whiff of these baking instantly brings Christmas to mind! It uses honey in addition to sugar. I usually leave out the lemon extract, although some people like it. The recipe came from a very old cookbook my Mom had.
Merry Christmas Cookies
1/3 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2/3 cup honey
1 teaspoon lemon extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Chill dough for about a half hour, roll it out, cut to desired shapes (we have a huge collection of Christmas cookie cutters!) and bake at 375 for about 7-8 minutes or until slightly brown around the edges. Frost and decorate as desired. My children always went heavy on the sprinkles!
Years ago I discovered a pumpkin pie for people not crazy about pumpkin pie!
Layered Pumpkin Pie (NO BAKE!)
First Layer:Ready Made graham cracker crust,4 oz cream cheese,1 TBS milk,1 TBS sugar,1 1/2 cup cool whip Second Layer:1 cup cold milk,2 pkg vanilla pudding,1 can pumpkin (16 oz),1 tsp cinnamon,1/2 tsp nutmeg
Mix cream cheese, TBS milk and sugar until smooth (with a wisk). Gently stir in whipped topping. Spread over the crust. Prepare the second layer:Pour cup of milk and pudding in a bowl and mix until blended. Stir in the pumpkin and spices and mix well. Spread over the first layer and leave in fridge for at least 3 hours.
I make turtle every Christmas to give away as gifts. My sister-in-law taught me. I have been doing this for over 20 yrs.
It is simple to make. You place
Pecans in a glass baking dish. Melt caramel in a double boiler. (One must buy good caramel. I get mine from a store that specializes in candy and baking supplies.)
Pour over the pecans to make mounds. Dip each mound in quality chocolate. Everyone looks forward to these each yr.
Pumpkin Pie at both Thanksgiving and Christmas was a holiday treat that I enjoyed the most. My mother started the tradition and it could go back further than that. The fall tradition that I know she started was Sunday night dinner of Apple Dumplings topped with vanilla ice cream. That was dinner! When I smell cinnamon & cloves, I think of my mother. She was quite the baker!!!
We don’t have a holiday recipe – since moving to Australia my Christmas food is so different to the traditional turkey roast I grew up with. Lots of fresh shellfish and salads!
Each year at either Christmas or New Years Eve is the pudding. It full of nuts, dried fruit many spices. We all take turns stirring it. Takes hours to steam then lights go out and the pudding is present flaming. I started this tradition years ago. It continues to be a favorite.
This is a newer tradition started by my sister who doesn’t like to bake but wanted a quick something to make with her kids and mine. SO simple but we can’t help popping them into our mouths.
Pretzel waffle squares
Hershey Kisses
M&Ms
1. Place the pretzel squares on a baking sheet, and top each one with a Hershey Kiss.
2. Cook for 3 minutes in a 200 degree oven.
3. Press an M&M into the center of each Hershey Kiss. Refrigerate for approximately 15-20 minutes or until cool.
Grandma’s jello salad! Lime jello, shredded carrots and pineapple chunks. It’s like having her here again.
My hubby always makes a huge pavlova as our contribution to Christmas dinner. It’s the best. I think it started about 20 years ago when he made one, and he’s been asked to make it ever since 🙂
For every Thanksgiving dinner since I was born: Waldorf (apple) salad. It’s just not Thanksgiving without it.
One of our holiday recipes is an family favorite.
A friend of mine shared it with us decades ago, it’s very easy but oh so yummy. Perfect for when friends stop by or as an hors d’oeurve. It’s called Hanky Panky.
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 lb. bob evans original breakfast sausage.
Brown the 2 meats together, over medium heat, drain fat. Return to low heat
Add 1 lb. velveeta cheese (cubed) , stir until melted.
This blend can be frozen or stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
To serve, spread generously on cocktail rye bread.
Heat in 400 degree over for 7-9 minutes or until bubbly.
Yum.
Another favorite for dessert is Pumpkin Roll…
LIBBY’S® PUMPKIN ROLL
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Dazzle family and friends with Libby’s® Pumpkin Roll; moist and creamy, with a tantalizing aroma and beautiful presentation.
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LIBBY’S® Pumpkin Roll
PREP TIME
45 MINUTES
COOKING TIME
13 MINUTES
SKILL LEVEL
INTERMEDIATE
MAKES
10
SERVINGS
OUR BAKERS ALSO LOVE
Iced Pumpkin Blondies
Mini Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
Old-Fashioned Soft Pumpkin Cookies
Old-Fashioned Pumpkin Nut Loaf Bread
INGREDIENTS
CAKE:
1/4 cup powdered sugar (to sprinkle on towel)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup LIBBY’S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
FILLING:
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Powdered sugar (optional for decoration)
IN THIS RECIPE
LIBBY’S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
LIBBY’S® 100% PURE PUMPKIN
BUY NOW
INSTRUCTIONS
FOR CAKE:
PREHEAT oven to 375° F. Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan; line with wax paper. Grease and flour paper. Sprinkle a thin, cotton kitchen towel with powdered sugar.
COMBINE flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt in small bowl. Beat eggs and granulated sugar in large mixer bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Sprinkle with nuts.
BAKE for 13 to 15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. (If using a dark-colored pan, begin checking for doneness at 11 minutes.) Immediately loosen and turn cake onto prepared towel. Carefully peel off paper. Roll up cake and towel together, starting with narrow end. Cool on wire rack.
FOR FILLING:
BEAT cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until smooth. Carefully unroll cake. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Re-roll cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving, if desired.
COOKING TIP:
Be sure to put enough powdered sugar on the towel when rolling up the cake so it will not stick.
Peanut Butter Fudge, my family loves it and its always a special treat at Christmas.
Scottish Shortbread, a recipe handed down from my grandmother and every year it wouldn’t be Christmas without it.
I love Christmas baking and always do quite a bit. Frosted cut out sugar cookies every year and my favorite, crisp gingersnaps, along with whatever other recipes I decide to try each year.
Every Christmas calls for my dad’s favorite butter ball cookies. I seen a similar recipe called snowballs. The recipe came from my grandmother. 1 C butter, 4 Tbs powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 2 C sifted flour, 1 C chopped nuts. Roll into balls. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet @ 350 for 15 -18 minutes. Roll in confectioners sugar while hot. It wouldn’t be Christmas without them!
I have so many holiday favorites that it’s hard to pick one, but one big hit at our house is the chocolate covered peanut clusters that I make. They’re great to give as gifts to our friends and neighbors too.
Every year I make Oreo Truffles around Christmas time. They are so yummy and I love to package them up and give as gifts. 🙂
http://www.chef-in-training.com/2011/11/no-bake-oreo-truffles/
I have the most aweso,e sugar cookie recipe!! All of my nieces and nephews expect them every christmas!! Yummy!
I don’t have a recipe I make every year because I like to try out different things and I also tend to spend Christmas with different friends and family.
We try to make a variety of cookies. A family favorite is called Log Rolls – peanut butter and pecan cookie dipped in chocolate. Learned this one from my mom.
Chocolate pants – love it!!
Chai spice snickerdoodles. They go great with a cozy cup of tea.
Well for Thanksgiving I always make an apple crumb pie, the recipe is from my Applehood and Mother Pie cookbook (which my college roommate found very disturbing as the name of a cookbook) and for Christmas we always have Swedish Meatballs.
For Thanksgiving my daughter always brings over her stuffing for the Turkey. The recipe is long but it’s so good:
Panettone Stuffing
Ingredients
1 (2.2-pound) panettone
1 stick sweet butter
2 bunches fresh sage, leaves minced
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup dried apricots, julienned
1/2 cup dried sour cherries
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 1/2 cups minced yellow onion
1 cup minced celery or fennel
1 cup minced carrot
Up to 2 cups chicken stock (or turkey if you have it)
2 eggs, optional, use if you like a firmer stuffing
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Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Cut the panettone into 3/4-inch squares and place in large bowl. Melt half of the butter in a saucepan over medium heat and continue to cook until light brown, about 5 minutes.
Take off the heat and add half the sage. Season with salt and pepper. Pour the sage butter over the bread and toss gently but swiftly. Spread out on 2 cooking sheets and place in the oven until light brown, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and place back into the bowl.
Meanwhile, place the dried fruit in a large bowl; add boiling water to cover and then set aside for at least 10 minutes. This will plump and soften the fruit for cooking. Drain fruit once plumped.
Raise the oven temperature to 375 degrees F.
Melt the remaining butter and add onion, celery, and carrot. Saute on medium-low heat until soft. Add dried fruit and remaining sage. Toss into cooled croutons. Gently toss and add chicken broth to moisten; add more broth if you like a softer stuffing. Stir in beaten eggs now, if using. Adjust salt and pepper, to your liking. Turn out into an oven-proof casserole.
Bake uncovered until golden brown on top, about 40 minutes.
Recipe courtesy of Michael Chiarello
I make Ricky Road Fudge every year and give it as gifts. Mini- marshmallows, milk chocolate chips and smooth peanut butter, all melted in the microwave. Fast, easy and so good!
Make that ROCKY Road Fudge!
There’s a few Christmas recipes in our family that are always made over the season. Our Christmas Eve meatpie came from my great grandmother on my mom’s side. It probably originated farther back in a different version, but mom makes her grandmothers version! Then we make ‘pork pies’ this also came from my great grandmother and I’m not sure if this is something anyone else makes! Basically it’s dates in mini tart shells topped with icing & a glazed cherry!
Pumpkin Pie! And when I moved from Pennsylvania to Kentucky many years ago, I had to add Pecan Pie! Now we have both.
My family expects Pecan Tarts every Christmas! I got the recipe from my sister-in-laws Mother. I think she’s glad I took them over!
I make bourbon slush, as it is the tradition of my husband’s family for Christmas, and we are always there for thanksgiving, so I make it for us for Christmas.
Every year while growing up my dad made Hamburger Gravy on Toast or SOS for Christmas Eve dinner. We would eat it on my mom’s china and have bottled fruit for dessert. It has been a tradition for over 40 years, my dad passed away 5 years ago and the tradition lives on. My kids request SOS for Christmas Eve dinner.
Our family tradition is creating gingerbread houses and a friend of ours started this when our children were little. We glue graham crackers on empty milk cartons (small ones) and glue those onto a base. Frosting and a variety of candies complete the look and each child in the family can invite one friend to join us. I think we eat more candy than we actually put on the houses.
We LOVE LOVE LOVE to make Potatoe Casserole!! It was my Great Grandma’s Recipe and is made for ALL Holiday’s and Weddings!! THANKS for the Chance to win and have a FABULOUS RELEASE WEEKEND!! =)
12-18 Large Potoatoes Bolied and Diced
1 Onion
1 Can of Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 Can of Cream of Chicken Soup
Salt & Pepper to taste
10 Cups of Cheddar Jack Shredded Cheese
Corn Flakes Crushed and 6 Tbs. Butter Melted
Mix Corn Flakes and Butter together and set aside!!
Mix ALL Ingredients and place in a 9×13 in. Pan and Top with the Corn Flake and Butter Mixture!! Bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until Browned on top!!
Our favorite Christmas cookie tradition is an old recipe from the Betty Crocker cookbook – Galaxy Cookies. They are basically a sugar dough cookie stuffed with all manner of treats inside – chocolate or butterscotch chips, nuts, raisins – anything you can think of! Then iced with colorful icing and sprinkled with jimmies or sugars. It was a tradition when I was a child, and I’ve passed in on to my children, who are now teens and make them on their own. The recipe can be found here: http://www.food.com/recipe/galaxy-cookies-40268
I make batches and batches of cookies – Spritz, Butter Cookies cut in holiday shapes, tons of chocolate chips, peanut butter cookies with Reeses PB cups in the middle, and more – all recipes that were handed down from my mom. There are always containers of cookies to share with family and friends into the new year.
Every year we make either Marshmallow balls or shortbread – or both!
My mom’s Christmas cookie recipes and also her meatballs for our Christmas eve gathering with my side of the family. Every holiday had some type of Italian dish as a side – even Thanksgiving.
Cookies are a favorite tradition in our house. I especially love when we can get together for a cookie swap exchange. Such great memories 🙂
Strawberry pretzel dessert!! It is a tradition started by my aunt. Everyone just loves it!!
I make Sour Cream Crescents. It is a sour cream cookie dough shaped into crescents and topped with walnuts and cinnamon sugar. They are moist and delicious and something we used to make with my mother when I was little. It is as if she is alive again, right beside me, telling me to form the shapes better every time I make them.
I always make almond bread at christmas time. I package it up prettily and give it to friends. It is make from egg whites, sugar almonds or pecans , glace cherries and pineapple, then baked in a loaf. The next day i slice it thinly and bake the slices in a lower heat to make them dry and crunchy.
One of our family favorites is Cherry Dream pie. My mother used to make it every year. My siblings & I continue making this as well. Take 1pkg. Of Dream Whip and prepare according to directions. Whip in 1 cup Confectioner’s sugar and 1 8 oz. pkg. of softened cream cheese. Pour into a baked pie shell and top with 1 can of Cherry Pie filling. Refrigerate until serving time.
Yes! Since we celebrate Hanukkah, my husband makes a big batch of latkes (potato pancakes). It’s a family favorite. We also eat jelly donuts.
My tradition Christmas treats are a soft ginger cookie called Molasses Crinkles. They are delicious little bites of goodness rolled in sugar before baking. They became an instant favorite about 20 years ago!
We make soft molasses cookies every year. they are like ginger snaps but just softer because of the reaction of the buttermilk and baking soda. I remember my grandma making them when I was little and I loved helping her roll them out and make the shapes. they puffed up in the oven and we didn’t even bother icing them afterwards.
I make Roluden and potato dumplings for Christmas dinner. This is something that my mother taught me to make. My boys absolutely love it and goggle it up!
As far as sweets go, my mother makes a wonderful shortbread cookie recipe with finely ground hazelnuts that is then brushed with chocolate.
Linda
Cut out sugar cookies with buttercream frosting are a holiday must-have!! We have a new tradition of decorating cookies together and the competition is fierce!
I always make my grandma’s coffee cake recipe. Same dough makes 4+ kinds!
I make spritz cookies every year. Actually I make a Christmas plate full of various cookies and fudge for our family’s gathering. I have done this for 20+ years. It just became my thing. Even tho the family is watching sugar, we splurge on the cookies. 🙂
I bake all kinds of cookies and make up goody plates and deliver them to my friends. I started doing this and really enjoy it.
Chex mix right off the Chex cereal box. Started back when we were in high school (and maybe when the recipe first came out on the box – ha) Add M & Ms for color. How fun to fill in the Huggable window tubes! And so quick and simple!!
We are of Scandinavian heritage – so we have an afternoon where we all get together and make lefse! So delicious – it is one of my favorite traditions of the holidays!
-Kristin B.
I make the same menu for Thanksgiving and Christmas that my dear mother-in-law did: turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, broccoli casserole, and cranberry jello. The cranberry jello uses a bag of cranberries, an orange, and walnuts in a raspberry jello base–so good!
I make caramels every year! My grandparents made them all my growing up, then passed the tradition on to my dad and uncle. Now it’s my turn! But the recipe is a family secret. 😉
My tradition every year is Kraft marshmallow fluff fudge recipe. It is too die for and is a must every year. Gorgeous release!!
I know itsan odd one – lcrayfish (lobster) thermodore. The guys go out and catch lobster that morning and we all have a crazy heavy lunch of crayfish and sides.
Our favorite Fall & Winter recipe is a non-alcohol drink. We call it “The Recipe”! Lol
2 cups water
2 cups cranberry juice cocktail
2 cups apple juice
2-3 cinnamon sticks, broken up
2-5 cloves
2-3 tablespoons brown sugar
Add all liquids to a percolator, add cloves, cinnamon and brown sugar to brewing cup in percolator. Drink will be ready when it stops percolating. This is a delicious, warm drink for a cold day or night. We always make this drink for Thanksgiving to sip on after the big meal. Enjoy!!!
Pecan Pralines
Recipe: A whole lot of sugar and a little bit of pecans 🙂
Ingredients
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cups half-and-half
1/3 stick butter
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups whole pecans
Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/pecan-pralines-recipe2.html?oc=linkback
I always make peanut butter buckeyes at Christmastime. My mom started the tradition, and I’ve continued it ever since my kids were little. The peanut butter filling is made with peanut butter, softened butter, powdered sugar and a little vanilla. Then the filling is rolled into balls with toothpicks poked into the centers. I put them in the freezer to harden enough for me to dip them into melted chocolate. Then I put them in the fridge for the chocolate to harden. They are so delicious!
I make Jello (or Pastel) Cookies!! In all different flavors. My family loves them!
3-1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. CALUMET Baking Powder
1-1/2 cups butter or margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
2 pkg. (3 oz. each) JELL-O Cherry Flavor Gelatin, divided
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
Make It
Heat oven to 400°F.
Mix flour and baking powder. Beat butter in large bowl with mixer until creamy. Add sugar and 1 pkg. gelatin; beat until light and fluffy. Blend in egg and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture.
Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place, 2 inches apart, on baking sheets. Flatten with bottom of glass. Sprinkle with remaining dry gelatin mix.
Bake 8 to 10 min. or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets 3 min. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.
we make a custard-like pumpkin pie every year from fresh pumpkin. so yummy!
I will be hosting my family for the first time in our new home this holiday season and while I don’t have any “traditional recipes” yet, I’m looking forward to finding some this year.
I make caramels every year. My mom never made candy although the she baked a lot because she thought it was too fiddly. So once I learned, I try to make it every year. It’s much easier than you’d think. I don’t even need a thermometer!
I’m not a very good cook or baker, but I have a lemon bar recipe that my family loves, especially my grandma!
I don’t have my own recipes, but I usually make cookies. Can’t have Christmas with out cookies! Sugar, choc chip & snowballS!
We always have my Mother-in-Law’s vermicelli salad. It’s a family favorite, and just the smell of it brings back many memories of happy family dinners together.
Mint Nanaimo squares have always been my family’s favourite Christmas recipe. I started the tradition with my girls years ago. Here is the recipe I use:
In saucepan combine: 1/2 cup butter, 1/4 cup white sugar, 5 Tbs cocoa, 1 egg, 1 tsp vanilla – Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until smooth and slightly thickened.
Stir in 1 2/3 cup fine graham wafer crumbs, 1 cup dessicated coconut, 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. Press into greased pan (7 x 11 for thicker squares – or a 9 x 13 for thinner squares). Refrigerate
Cream 1/4 cup butter, beat in gradually 2 cups sifted icing sugar, 1 egg, 1/2 tsp mint flavouring and few drops green food colouring. Spread over crumb mixture and chill 15 minutes
In microwave melt 4 squares semi-sweet chocolate (or chipits) – stir in 1 Tbsp butter until melted. Spread on top and chill. When set, cut into squares
This is a side dish my mother used to make in her lennox Christmas dish,, The ivy and holly pattern. It always looked sooo pretty the red from the cranberry and green from the granny smith apples.It went well with our Turkey dinner.
Cranberry Apple casserole.
3 cups chopped apples (preferably Granny Smith)
2 cups fresh cranberries
1⁄2 cup flour, plus
2 tablespoons flour, divided use
1 cup sugar
3 (1 5/8 ounce) packages quick-cooking oatmeal (cinnamon & spice or apples & spice)
3⁄4 cup chopped pecans
1⁄2 cup brown sugar
1⁄2 cup melted butter
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Mix the apples and the cranberries with 2 tbsp.
flour until coated.
Add 1 cup sugar and mix well.
Put it all in a 2 qt.
casserole.
Mix the oatmeal, rest of the flour, pecans, brown sugar, and melted butter together.
Spoon it over the fruit.
Bake uncovered at 350 for 45 minutes.
My dad’s roasted turkey and gravy is a traditional dish for our family during the holidays…so looking forward to feasting on it this year!
I have my mother’s pumpkin pie recipe and her brown sugar cookie cut out recipe.
My grandmother’s cranberry salad recipe is a must for us.
Beautiful release! These products are amazing! Super unique as well which is what I love about Papertrey Ink! I just love all the projects the Design Team made! My most favorite holiday recipe is actually a recipe that was passed down in my family for many years so I’m not sure where it started, but its to make sugar cookies. They are not like your average sugar cookie though. These sugar cookies after being baked are about the size of a saucer plate. They are huge! So moist and loaded with a ton of sugar! Sadly I don’t have the recipe to share with you all as it’s kept in my mom’s family cookbook 🙁
My mother always made lots of different homemade candies (divinity, fudge, toffee, marshmallows and others). She would then make up just the sweetest looking boxes of candy to give to friends and relatives. Long after I had my own family, I still tried to keep this tradition going, although the number of varieties of candy I made dropped off over the years. I still make some, but pretty much only for family now – too many people on diets!!
Every Fall we make pumpkin custard squares, a recipe given to me by my mother in law years ago. We know it’s Fall when we taste it! Such a fun tradition.
I make homemade cranberry sauce. My grandkids like to help and wait for the cranberries to pop on the stove. I add a little grated orange rind. It adds a nice punch to the sauce.
There are certain items that must be made for Thanksgiving dinner. The usual fare…turkey, dressing, corn pudding, pumpkin pie etc. Nothing special here. But whenever I say I might try something new or tweak a dish, my DH says”Don’t experiment with Thanksgiving!” We have a good laugh and everything stays the same.
Fantastic release!
It wouldn’t be Christmas without sugar cookies at our house. We wait until everyone is home and then bake and decorate them, it is such a fun time, lots of laughter and memories are made. As my children have moved out of state (to both coasts really) our time together is precious but this is a cherished tradition.
We use the Betty Crocker Deluxe Sugar Cookie recipe, it has a bit of almond flavoring in it that makes the cookies extra special
Growing up we always had orange slush. It was made with orange juice and pineapple concentrate frozen, then mixed with Sprite into the consistency of a slushy. It’s like a vintage versino of a granita.Last year my mom’s BFF (86 year old) brought a batch for our Christmas gathering. It took me right back to my childhood.
We make a cookie tray with lots of different types of cookies like decorated cutouts, anise crescents and chocolate mint crinkles. It is a project made easier with many hands helping!
I’m not much of a baker but a good friend of mine makes the most delicious cookies and each Christmas she brings a tray to our family and all her other friends. We look forward to it and it wouldn’t be Christmas without her goodies because we know she bakes them with love.
Every year I look forward to eating home made tamales at my cousins home. My cousin is a 25+ year soldier in the army and I had the pleasure of visiting his family at many of their posts all over the USA. I even ended up moving to Ohio after visiting for the holidays. I think that my favorite flavor of tamale has been pumpkin.
My husband is the one who makes holiday treats. He makes all sorts of candies. The favorite is Buckeyes. A recipe from his mom. Peanut butter and Rice Krispies mix then dipped in chocolate. He knows the recipes by heart. Not sure we have them written down.
We always have a special cranberry dish that my mom & grandma always made. Itis made with raspberry jello , nuts & whole cranberries & is just the right sweetness!
GORGEOUS WORK LADIES! 😉 ONE of my favorite Holiday Recipes is CRANBERRY FOOL! I started making this recipe when we started having Christmas Dinners at our home. I wanted them to be “Americana.” This dish was brought with the colonists from England, where a fool was made of many different kinds of fruit. The meaning of the name? It comes from the French term “fouler,” which means to crush. I LOVE the ease of this recipe!!! And here is the recipe:
CRANBERRY FOOL
Serves 8
1 can (16 oz.) Sweetened Cranberries
1/2 t. Almond Extract
1 T. grated Orange Peel
1 pint Whipping Cream
Pour the cranberries into a medium-sized food processor & grind them up. Mix with the Almond Extract & the Orange Peel. Whip the cream & gently fold it into the cranberry mixture. Serve in very small dishes or wineglasses.
ENJOY!!! 😉
I wish I were a better cook! All I do is use the cut and bake cookie dough. The chocolate chip is really good!
Jesus Birthday Cake…it is just a cinnamon coffeecake, but we only made it for Christmas. We put the candles from the Christmas Eve service on the cake and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus before we even looked at the tree and gifts. It put everything into perspective.
I make a bite-sized spritz cookie every year for Christmas. They’re small and I love to box them up to give them as gifts.
Every year for Christmas Eve I make Arancini “rice balls”. I make them as a Sicilian Christmas Eve tradition from a recipe that my ex-mother in law gave to me about 40 years ago. These tasty treats are from Sicily and the recipe is one that has been in her family for generations. My oldest son now makes them for Christmas Eve as well. They are made with rice, romano cheese, saffron and egg. They are rolled in a half ball filled with Italian sausage, a small amount of sauce and peas. The small ball is covered with egg wash and bread crumbs. Then they are deep fried and served hot with a side of sauce. The filling can be whatever you choose, ground beef, ground pork, sausage, cheese, shrimp. They are fabulous and fun to make. I still have the original 4 page recipe handwritten by my mother in law who is now deceased. It has been used so many times it has stains all over it. I am actually thinking of having it framed for my son to hang in his kitchen as a remembrance of his grandma Rosie. I can’t share this actual recipe due a promise I made a long time ago but you can find similar on the internet.
My family makes a lot of cookies during Christmas. We get together to make one special cookie that my mother-in-law always made…sand dollars. It takes the whole family getting involved in the process in an assembly line way. We laugh and have lots of fun as we make them. I always enjoy that time together.
My holiday recipe is not edible – it’s a stove top potpourri that you can keep using for weeks. Just keep adding water and warm it up and your house smells delicious enough to eat! So easy – cloves, orange, cranberries and cinnamon sticks.
I’ve made candy every year for 30 years. My mother-in-law taught me how to make it the year we were engaged. Family and friends enjoy (and maybe expect!) to have peanut butter cups, toffee, chocolate-covered cherries, coconut balls and a few other goodies.
One of the Christmas traditions I make each year is cinnamon rolls on Christmas Eve to eat on Christmas morning. Everyone loves them!
We do not like Fruitcake in our family, but my Grandma Veenstra passed done this recipe for Pecan Loaf, that we make every year at Christmastime. It just wouldn’t be the holidays without it!
1 lb Pecans
3/4 lb pitted dates, halved
1/2 lb candy cherries, quartered
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sifted flour
1 cup sugar
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 tsp salt
2-1/2 tsp baking powder
Put nuts, dates and cherries in large bowl. Sift dry ingredients together, add to fruit, making sure all is well floured. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix until eggs take in all flour. Pack in 2 loaf pans that have been greased, and lined with wax paper. Bake 1 hour & qo minutes @ 300 degrees. Cool long enough to handle and remove waxed paper.
So good with a cup of coffee!!
My mother always made “Nut Butter Ball” cookies (really Russian Tea Cakes) out of her Good Housekeeping cookbook. I copied the recipe from the book when I moved out on my own, and I still make the cookies for the holidays.
Monkey Bread II on Allrecipes.com Make it every Christmas morning for years and years!
One of our family favorites for the holidays is Wassail made with atoll cider, orange and pineapple juice and cinnamon! Yummy!
I still make the same Christmas cookies my mother made – sugar cut outs, pecan balls, haystacks, stained glass refrigerator cookies. . . . It wouldn’t be Christmas without Christmas cookies.
My mom started the tradition of making Butter Crunch when I was young. Now, I make it every Christmas, as well as for teacher gifts throughout the year.
Butter Crunch: Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and soda crackers.
Melt 1 cup margarine and 1 cup of brown sugar in a sauce pan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir for four minutes, until thickened. Remove from heat and add 1 tsp of vanilla.
Pour over crackers and bake at 350 degrees for 8-9 minutes. Remove from oven and pour 1.5 cups of chocolate chips over top. Let them melt and spread. Sprinkle Skor Bits over top and refrigerate. Cut into pieces and enjoy.
Every Hanukkah, my family and I whip up a huge batch of latkes (potato pancakes) with a side of sour cream…I look forward to it each year!
Traditionally , it would be a couple types of cookies. A short bread made with “real” butter of course, and ” refrigerator cookie” not sure if that is the real name. Once mixed you roll into a log type roll and refrigerate over night then slice and bake. Filled with almonds. The more they age the better they are. Delicious with a hot cup of tea. Merry Christmas everyone.
I always make Oreo Truffles for my work Christmas Munch. They are requested every year.
What You Need
36 OREO Cookies, finely crushed, divided
1 pkg. (8 oz.) Cream Cheese, softened
4 pkg. (4 oz. each) Semi-Sweet Chocolate, broken into pieces, melted
To Make Them
Reserve 1/4 cup cookie crumbs. Mix cream cheese and remaining cookie crumbs until blended; shape into 48 (1-inch) balls. Freeze 10 min.
Cover rimmed baking sheet with waxed paper. Dip cream cheese balls in melted chocolate; place on prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle with reserved cookie crumbs.
Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm.
I don’t have a particular recipe I make each year. I usually try to make butter tarts or cookies. Thank you for the chance to win!
I always make fudge every year for Christmas. My coworkers go nuts for it!! It is just the recipe on the marshmallow fluff label, but it is the best fudge I’ve ever had! One of my favorite holiday traditions!
What an amazing release!! I make chocolate peanut-butter candies every year as one of my gifts, it’s super easy and seems to be well received.
We always make Holiday Spritz Cookies. They are so fun to decorate and so good to eat. The recipe is from an old Betty Crocker cook book.
Growing up we always had Spiced Tea during the holidays. I haven’t made it in years but I know it had Tang in it. Do they even sell that stuff anymore? Lol. Beautiful products as usual. So looking forward to release time.
Since I stopped hosting Thanksgiving quite a few years ago, I’ve been requested to make the stuffing every year, with apples and chestnuts and lots of herbs…
An egg casserole that my sister-in-law made when I first married my husband. We have had it every Christmas since I’ve been married, 38 years! It’s my daughter’s favorite and now she is carrying on the tradition making it every Christmas morning. Love it!
I make cookie and candy trays to give neighbors as gifts. I include a variety of cookies and homemade candies, each year i make different ones. i gather recipes all year for the next Christmas. This is such a hit that my neighbors are already hinting about their favorites. Must of us in the neighborhood work outside the home and have little time for homemade treats, so this is really special to them.
We always make prime rib for Christmas dinner. We made it one year and the grandkids (or nieces and nephew to me) always ask for “the meat with the juice.” Ha! They would be so disappointed not to get it. Sorry…don’t have the recipe handy.
A friend of the family gifted us some cranberry pecan bars a few years ago. They were so tasty we asked her for the recipe and started making them ourselves. They do make a wonderful hostess gift.
Every year at Christmas I make Emeril’s Raspberry Lemon Thumbprint cookies. It has become a tradition. Sometimes I switch it up and fill them with apricot jam instead of raspberry jam. They are the BEST!! You can’t eat just one.
My favorite “adult” cookies to make are Bourbon Balls! Chopped up vanilla wafers, chopped pecans, confectioners sugar and cocoa, bourbon and corn syrup. Roll into balls and roll in confectioners sugar, packs a PUNCH! (…and Verrrrry popular!). I’ve been making these since my parents let me drink Bourbon (KIDDING!) let’s just say it’s been for many a Christmas!!!
I make a cranberry jello salad that was always on our
holiday table growing up. I remember my grandmother making it when I was little.
Our traditional cookie recipe is the cookie press cookies, made with the Christmas Tree ” recipe. We always use the almond flavoring with different designs and different colors of dough! Tasty little treats started by my mother and passed on to my grandchildren!
I make fewer goodies now that my children are grown – but a favorite we all like is Buckeyes, delicious peanut butter balls partially dipped in chocolate to resemble the nut of our state tree, the buckeye!
My favorite, traditional Christmas goodie is my Grandma’s “Poor man’s bread pudding”. I never understood the name, because we all think of it as very rich.
It is Sugar, bread crumbs, an egg, nut meats, cinnamon, hot water, baking soda and raisins and it is steamed on top of the stove for 2 hours and then served warm with lemon sauce.
It just must be eaten at night, around the Christmas tree with Christmas hymns playing in the background.
I like to make a toffee nut crunch every year from a recipe I got from a coworker years ago. Everyone loves it – so addicting! Don’t know why I don’t make it more often!
It make Cranberry Orange Nut Bread every year during the Christmas holidays. It makes 2 loaves, is very moist and freezes very well.
We have lots of holiday recipes. One of the easiest is a punch I use for holiday parties. Combine a 64 oz. cranberry raspberry juice,a large can of pineapple juice and a 2 liter bottle of ginger ale (pour very slowly to keep the fizz)in a large punch bowl. Enjoy!
I love everything in this release! You all are so talented!!!
Chex Snack Mix. I use the recipe on the box and double the spice and butter mixture. And add more nuts or whatever we like the best.
We make Fairy Food every Christmas. It’s a Midwest thing we always did when I was growing up in Milwaukee. I live in Virginia now with my family and I make it out here every year too. It is like honeycomb candy but dipped in chocolate! So good! Found this recipe online but they call it Angel Food Candy: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/23189/angel-food-candy/
Our family makes a strange recipe called pelican droppings. We have done it since I was a small child and I am now in my 60s. Don’t know where it came from. one pound each of hamburger and mild sausage brown together and drain. Mix in one pound of velvetta cheese. Spread on party rye bread and place slices on baking sheet. 350 degrees for a few minutes till hot and toasty. Very easy, very good!
Christmas is my husbands favorite holiday. He loves to have the house all decorated. He is a big kid at heart. My favorite thing to make is 5lb fudge and peanut butter fudge. They are my grandmothers recipes. I remember her with the fondest of memories. Everything I make I hope tastes just like hers.
My sister and I make peppermint brownies every year because it is the only time we get together to bake. We listen to carols and remember when our parents and grand parents were with us still. It is a special time for both of us.
no specific traditional recipe. just make whatever strikes my fancy each year…sugar cookies, nut bread, brownies, etc.
I make a Christmas Toffee Bar that we all love. It’s Christmas for sure when I make that recipe!
I don’t have a holiday recipe but a coworker makes her special coquito. It’s very yummy and I look forward to having some during the holidays every year.
It’s not Christmas without some buttermilk cookies from a friend of my MIL’s recipe! They are soft and so very yummy. A little bit like eating frosted pancakes, or at least that’s what I tell myself when I sneak them for breakfast over the holidays! Hahaha!
1 cup butter softened
1.5 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
3.5 cups flour
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Blend sugar & butter, then add eggs & vanilla
Mix dry ingredients separately, then add to mixture alternately with buttermilk
Bake at 350 for 8-9 minutes
Cool slightly, then frost
Icing:
1 lb butter
2 lb powder sugar
4 tsp vanilla
Add buttermilk to achieve desired consistency.
Enjoy!!
I make pumpkin bread that I learned to make in 8th grade cooking class over 40 years ago. It is always a hit.
I no longer have the recipe as my son is allergic to nut and now we can no longer have gluten. But my grandmother would make the best nut roll every Christmas. The tradition got handed down to my mother and aunt, then to my sister. I wish I could still eat it, because I absolutely loved it as a child!
There are so many. I make my grandmother’so sfuffing every Thanksgiving, plus my mother’s sweet potato recipe and a mashed potato recipe of my own. Then at Christmas I make 12 different Christmas cookie recipes that I have gathered from friends and family throughout the years!
I love to make “white trash”…..Chex cereal, pretzels, peanut m&m’s and melted white chocolate….everyone lives it!
Pumpkin cheesecake and green jello salad are staples. My sweet potato casserole is always a hit. I love cooking holiday food!
Veggie Casserole! It’s made with lots of cheeses, broccoli, onions, & tomatoes! Everyone loves it!
Being French Canadian, tourtière is a traditional meal on Christmas Eve. It’s meat pie. My mom still makes it for us but over the holidays Costco has the best one. Don’t tell her I said that. Lol.
We make cookies cut into Christmas shapes and frosted. Totally messy, totally fun!
English Toffee ,I remember my grandmother making it ,then my mom,now my girls . I can see my grandmother playing the piano with a plate of English toffee on top …I will always remember that , it was an ….. everything is perfect moment for me. 1 lb. of butter sugar pinch of salt and dark chocolate on top.
Thank you thank you pti !! I am sooooooo excited ???
I love making pumpkin bread and apple pie with cranberries for the family! It’s a tradition I started about 9 or so years ago
My mothers spritz cookies, in green and red, with beautiful colored sugars are the ONLY thing I HAVE to have to make it really Christmas.
I make my great aunt’s soft molasses cookies every year-it is a family tradition and they taste so yummy fresh out of the oven-all warm and soft!
I have been making cutout sugar cookies for 50 years! It started with my mom making them with me and I passed the tradition along to my children and now my grandchildren. It just wouldn’t be Christmas without frosted sugar cookies. I use the recipe from the Betty Crocker Cookbook, 1979 edition. The secret to perfect sugar cookies is not to overbake them. Take them out when the edges are just SLIGHTLY brown. Cheers
I make Herseys fudge which is on the back of the Herseys Cocoa container and I add peanut butter to it after it forms the soft ball.
We always make cookies and fudge. Chocolate chip cookies from the Nestle recipe and Mexican tea cookies from my Mother in Law’s recipe:
Mexican tea cookies
1 cup soft butter mixed with
1/2 cup powered sugar and
1. Tsp vanilla
Sift together
2 1/4 cups flour with
1/4 Tsp salt
Mix together and add
3/4 cup finely chopped nuts
Roll into one inch balls an place 2 inches apart on baking sheet
Bake at 400• for 12 minutes
Remove from oven and roll immediately in powdered sugar.
Roll again once cooled. Easy to give second coat by placing cookies on a rack to cool then sifting powdered sugar over them