My Grandma on my Dad’s side was the kind of person who showed you that she loved you by feeding you. She cooked and baked her way through every holiday, but one of her specialties was Christmas cookies. Every year, all of us (and there were a lot of us) received a tin of cookies - tiny, little bite sized cookies of all different shapes and flavors. There were at least a dozen varieties in each tin. She must have started baking in August.
My Grandma linked Christmas and cookies together in my mind in a way that’s unbreakable. I am certain that most of you have similar memories and I would really love to hear them.
Is there a food or a food tradition that is so deeply intertwined with a holiday (any holiday) that you can’t separate one from the other? Something for which you might say, “It just wouldn’t be {insert holiday} without….”
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It wouldn't be Christmas without the Advent Calendars. I've bought my children a chocolate advent Calendar since they were little, and I still do now they are all grown up, including any grandchildren.
It wouldn’t be Noël without a Bûche de Noël. I make my late friend Annie’s recipe that she taught me to make with apricot filling, a good sprinkle of rum and coffee butter cream from her pastry chef grandpa’s cookbook.
I once heard a tale of a huge American website retesting and republishing a Mince Pie recipe that was sent in by a freelance British food writer. Not being familiar with what Mince was, they (the website) used real Minced Meat and served it with, you've guessed it... custard.
It wouldn't be Christmas without the roast dinner that my whole family contribute to in their own ways.
My husband covers the ham, which he slow roasts with treacle and cloves.
My mum does the Turkey or Duck, which must be paired with pigs in blankets, brussel sprouts with chestnuts, zesty carrots, crispy roast potatoes, honeyed parsnips and my grandmother's chestnut stuffing.
My children and I bake the dessert. But I admit, we change it every year. This year it's going to be a serving selection of chocolate dipped brown butter madelienes, orange curd macarons and Florentine tartlets.
My sister brings a cheese board with fine chutneys, fruit and a very specific cheese selection of applewood cheddar, Bavarian smoked, French roule, Jarlsburg, Brie, Stilton, and cranberry Wensleydale.
My other sister, a former cocktail waitress, makes the whole family her famous Cosmopolitans. Thankfully, we have all eaten so much we don't get too drunk!
It wouldn't be Noël/Natale without my grandpa's lobster tails recipe on the holidays' rotation--we always keep a seat and an empty plate at the table when we eat it. It was a recipe he brought from Sardinia to Marseille, and it was also his way to keep close to his grandmother.
PS: I’m new around here, but these Open Kitchen convos are great! Didn’t intend to share this recipe for this holiday season, but the discussion lit a fire under me; so it’s first up this season :) Thanks!
Beignets! We make them every year in December. It's just not the holidays without golden New Orleans style beignets covered in oodles of powdered sugar. I have been wondering if I should share our recipe in December.... but there are so many other recipes I want to share and one can only send so many emails out. :)
As a child, Christmas was special to me when my paternal grandmother made divinity fudge for us kids. It was delicious. Later, as an adult, I tried to make divinity myself but couldn't duplicate the flavor like my grandmother's. I haven't had divinity fudge in years.
Right! So what is so different about that? This story happened to me early on my marriage. My husband loved his grandmother's red cake that she made at Valentine's Day. So, being the loving wife, I got her recipe and started making it myself for Valentine's day. He complained that it didn't taste like his grandmother's and accused me of changing the recipe. I went to her and asked why my cake tasted different than hers. She said that she always made hers with fresh buttermilk from her cows. Mine was made with store bought buttermilk which is commercially processed and changes the flavor of a recipe. From then on my husband never commented about the cake. He was happy to eat one occasionally. You may want to check your source of ingredients and compare, like the buttermilk incident. Of course, our wheat has changed a lot since GMOs were introduced.
Some years ago, around this time of year, I went on a trip to Belgium and bought a huge festive tin of biscuits from a specialist biscuits shop. We were able to choose what biscuits we wanted to fill the tin. The smell was amazing, and the biscuits were equally as delicious. I wish we had similar shops here in the UK.
It’s not the holidays without a gingerbread house! Starting with ones made from graham crackers and frosting when my kids were young to boxed prebaked assemble-your-own as they got older. We’ve always done one (or more) each year. One year I had grand designs to bake all the house parts but that never happened, lol. Maybe this is the year…
One year a group of us all decorated gingerbread houses then lined them up on the outside balcony and took photos of our little village. It was so much fun and your post has me thinking that we need a repeat of that afternoon this year.
It wouldn’t be Christmas with my mom’s red hot cinnamon rolls! She crushes up the candies and rolls it with the sugar and cinnamon and tops with cream cheese icing. She’s been making it my whole life and I live for Christmas because of these rolls 😮💨
...the popovers and apricot marmalade my mum made for Christmas morning. One year when I was little, I walked through the snowy woods behind our Maine farmhouse with a basketful of warm popovers for our neighbors. Little red riding hood, minus the big bad wolf!
It wouldn't be Christmas without the Advent Calendars. I've bought my children a chocolate advent Calendar since they were little, and I still do now they are all grown up, including any grandchildren.
My mom always bought us advent calendars filled with chocolates when we were growing up! I loved them!
It wouldn’t be Noël without a Bûche de Noël. I make my late friend Annie’s recipe that she taught me to make with apricot filling, a good sprinkle of rum and coffee butter cream from her pastry chef grandpa’s cookbook.
That sounds absolutely delicious.
That sounds so delicious! And what a treasure to have a pastry chef Grandfather and his cookbook.
Respect
That sounds delicious!
Mince pies! And, no, they've nothing to do with meat although the fire brigade they caused to show up (twice) didn't believe me. This is the shameful episode https://juliawatson.substack.com/p/mincemeat-sept-copy?utm_source=publication-search with a recipe for mine, if you're intrigued.
I once heard a tale of a huge American website retesting and republishing a Mince Pie recipe that was sent in by a freelance British food writer. Not being familiar with what Mince was, they (the website) used real Minced Meat and served it with, you've guessed it... custard.
Just dire! And understandable. We've all sailed at some point so close to such a culinary horror
That sounds like that Friends episode where Rachel puts minced meat in the trifle 😅.
I love that episode! 😂
Haha!
It wouldn't be Christmas without the roast dinner that my whole family contribute to in their own ways.
My husband covers the ham, which he slow roasts with treacle and cloves.
My mum does the Turkey or Duck, which must be paired with pigs in blankets, brussel sprouts with chestnuts, zesty carrots, crispy roast potatoes, honeyed parsnips and my grandmother's chestnut stuffing.
My children and I bake the dessert. But I admit, we change it every year. This year it's going to be a serving selection of chocolate dipped brown butter madelienes, orange curd macarons and Florentine tartlets.
My sister brings a cheese board with fine chutneys, fruit and a very specific cheese selection of applewood cheddar, Bavarian smoked, French roule, Jarlsburg, Brie, Stilton, and cranberry Wensleydale.
My other sister, a former cocktail waitress, makes the whole family her famous Cosmopolitans. Thankfully, we have all eaten so much we don't get too drunk!
I would also very much like to come to your house for Christmas dinner, please and thank you. That sounds incredible.
Oh, how fun! Would you have room for one more person? I can bring my appetite! Ha!
Haha, there's so much food we'll need your appetite!!
It wouldn't be Noël/Natale without my grandpa's lobster tails recipe on the holidays' rotation--we always keep a seat and an empty plate at the table when we eat it. It was a recipe he brought from Sardinia to Marseille, and it was also his way to keep close to his grandmother.
PS: I’m new around here, but these Open Kitchen convos are great! Didn’t intend to share this recipe for this holiday season, but the discussion lit a fire under me; so it’s first up this season :) Thanks!
Welcome Dim! I absolutely love your open seat tradition! And I can't wait to get my hands on that lobster tails recipe!
Beignets! We make them every year in December. It's just not the holidays without golden New Orleans style beignets covered in oodles of powdered sugar. I have been wondering if I should share our recipe in December.... but there are so many other recipes I want to share and one can only send so many emails out. :)
Please share! I love beignets! But I've never made them! I'd happily try your recipe because I know for sure that it would be fabulous.
As a child, Christmas was special to me when my paternal grandmother made divinity fudge for us kids. It was delicious. Later, as an adult, I tried to make divinity myself but couldn't duplicate the flavor like my grandmother's. I haven't had divinity fudge in years.
I have made many of my grandmother's cookies over the years but they are never quite the same as the ones she made for us.
Right! So what is so different about that? This story happened to me early on my marriage. My husband loved his grandmother's red cake that she made at Valentine's Day. So, being the loving wife, I got her recipe and started making it myself for Valentine's day. He complained that it didn't taste like his grandmother's and accused me of changing the recipe. I went to her and asked why my cake tasted different than hers. She said that she always made hers with fresh buttermilk from her cows. Mine was made with store bought buttermilk which is commercially processed and changes the flavor of a recipe. From then on my husband never commented about the cake. He was happy to eat one occasionally. You may want to check your source of ingredients and compare, like the buttermilk incident. Of course, our wheat has changed a lot since GMOs were introduced.
Haha! I would never have thought that buttermilk would make that much of a difference!
Speculaas biscuits for St Nicholas day and chocolate figures too. Both are in my book https://www.amazon.co.uk/Festive-Belgian-Bakery-Chocolate-biscuits/dp/B0CP5YSWFZ/ 😉.
Some years ago, around this time of year, I went on a trip to Belgium and bought a huge festive tin of biscuits from a specialist biscuits shop. We were able to choose what biscuits we wanted to fill the tin. The smell was amazing, and the biscuits were equally as delicious. I wish we had similar shops here in the UK.
Oh yes, I had a recipe for biscuits like that in the Fall bundle!
It’s not the holidays without a gingerbread house! Starting with ones made from graham crackers and frosting when my kids were young to boxed prebaked assemble-your-own as they got older. We’ve always done one (or more) each year. One year I had grand designs to bake all the house parts but that never happened, lol. Maybe this is the year…
One year a group of us all decorated gingerbread houses then lined them up on the outside balcony and took photos of our little village. It was so much fun and your post has me thinking that we need a repeat of that afternoon this year.
Omg what a great idea!
It wouldn’t be Christmas with my mom’s red hot cinnamon rolls! She crushes up the candies and rolls it with the sugar and cinnamon and tops with cream cheese icing. She’s been making it my whole life and I live for Christmas because of these rolls 😮💨
ooooo.... that sounds so good! I would have never thought to add red hot candies to cinnamon rolls!
...the popovers and apricot marmalade my mum made for Christmas morning. One year when I was little, I walked through the snowy woods behind our Maine farmhouse with a basketful of warm popovers for our neighbors. Little red riding hood, minus the big bad wolf!
I love this! Just so you know, you can show up at my door with a basked of warm popovers any time you like. :-)
On my way!
Still waiting... 😉
Haha, thank you! It is a good day indeed