Holiday food traditions

Christine Robertson 4

What are your favorite holiday food traditions?

I grew up with a grandmother who made 30 different types of cookies and candy every Christmas (most of which ended up being delivered to my uncle's fire station because while we tried our best, her 4 grandchildren just couldn't eat THAT many cookies!!). Cookie baking is one of my favorite ways to celebrate this time of year.

Jennifer Kluh

@Christine Robertson
That sounds wonderful and it would be fun to taste test each one!! The Pecan Sandie is one of my favorite cookies to bake for Christmas.

Crystal Bruce

@Christine Robertson I come from a Cajun family, so we do a big pot of Gumbo on Christmas Eve!

Austen Brown

@Christine Robertson - We bake my grandmother's sugar cookies. An optional, but highly encouraged, addition - put one cookie in a sandwich bag, close the bag with a ribbon, and hang on the Christmas tree.

roger berg

@Christine Robertson
Each year - usually the day before or after Thanksgiving we make my Great-grandmother's fruitcake recipe. It needs to be made ahead of time because each fruitcake is wrapped in wine-soaked cheesecloth and needs to age for several weeks. It's an applesauce base with a bit of wine and lots of dried fruit, so it's not cheap, but it's good. The story is that my Great-grandmother would go to a neighboring town to buy the wine so that folks wouldn't think she was drinking it ?

Fruitcake sometimes gets a bad rap, but by making your own, you control the ingredients. For example, I'm not a big fan of citron so I tend to use it sparingly. We usually get 3 generations of family members involved - with the littlest “chopping” dried fruit with a butter knife - and we always send one to my mom (the 4th generation) down in Florida.

Christine Robertson 4

@roger berg I love that it's a way to get your whole family involved in the process! Family recipes have a way to do that like nothing else.

Christine Robertson 4

@Austen Brown I love that you hang one on the tree!

Christine Robertson 4

@Crystal Bruce Gumbo sounds delicious!

Christine Robertson 4

@Jennifer Kluh I am ashamed to say that I didn't know that you could bake homemade Pecan Sandies! All I knew were the Keebler ones…

Carrie Powell

@Christine Robertson, since she was two, my daughter, my mom, and I have spent one Saturday in December baking a variety of cookies – there are some that come back each year — particularly gingersnaps and sugar cookies — but we always try a new recipe or two each year; sometimes they get included in the regular rotation the next year. This is my daughter's last year before college, and it took some doing, but we finally found a date that will work!

Bobby Steurer

@Christine Robertson Authentic ramen. Feel-good dish.

Vicky Lopuchowycz

@Christine Robertson Cookies, Cookies and more Cookies! There are so many that are only made at this time of year - I love making them and gifting them to my family and friends. It's a true gift from the heart given the time and effort that each batch takes!

Rachel Cavalier

@Christine Robertson I really enjoy coming back from Midnight Mass and getting stuck into some hot sausage rolls and mince pies with a cup of tea

Christine Robertson 4

@Vicky Lopuchowycz Do you have a favorite kind of cookie?

Christine Robertson 4

@Rachel Cavalier That sounds lovely!!! I have never had a mince pie, but my UK based co-workers at Zeidman talked them up and I need to try it one of these days.

Vicky Lopuchowycz

@Christine Robertson one of my favorites is a cream cheese thumbprint w/ sour cherry or black raspberry jam, but the espresso shortbread w/ toffee chips and mini chocolate chips are a close second! What is your favorite?

Christine Robertson 4

@Vicky Lopuchowycz I think my favorite are Spritz/Cookie Press cookies. They're a lot like a shortbread, but my family makes them with lemon extract instead of vanilla.

Coco Parham

@Christine Robertson my parents always had a Christmas Eve party that started with the neighbors and grew from there! We would have ham and turkey and the ham had the best glaze sauce. Yum! Fun times!

Jennifer Kluh

@Christine Robertson
I will get the recipe to you, if not this year definitely will get it to you!!! I plan on making some this weekend.

Irene Hui

@Vicky Lopuchowycz The espresso shortbread cookies sound amazing!

Christine Robertson 4

@Jennifer Kluh Thank you!!