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Favourite Holiday Food

Sal

Veteran

What is your very favourite seasonal holiday food? What evokes that Christmas or Solstice or Hanukkah or any other seasonal celebration warm happy feeling for you?

You can choose three favourites only - and then one that you don’t love ( or you think is over rated!!)

My favourites for Christmas (our big holiday)

- Strawberries - the sweet redness evokes a NZ Christmas
- Pavlova - sugary light and with cream it is perfect with the strawberries
- Christmas mince pies - these have dried fruits in them and short crust pastry. Perfect with a cup of tea whilst opening gifts or in the lead up to Christmas.

Over rated
- Turkey - takes too long to cook on a hot summers day- and NZers don’t do it well so it is dry and tasteless.

Over to you!!

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41 replies

Latest reply was from Sal

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

Seeing as I’ve already baked another round of sweet potato mini-pies/tarts, I guess I have to own up to liking them or pumpkin pie. I love stuffing too (even though I should say “dressing” because I don’t put it in anything but a bowl). And you all know I like Christmas cookies. I have grand plans for baking this year, but time is getting short.

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Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Greg and I are HUGE stollen or stol fans - a very German and Dutch tradition. It's one of our favourite things of all time! We grew up with it. It's part of my culture and a true comfort food. Christmas is not the same without it. There is nothing I love more than stol at Christmas time.

My late Mum used to bake a few every season - headache! I don't do that although I love to bake and cook. We import ours from Germany, or I bring some back from the Netherlands when I used to travel to see my Dad before Christmas. We eat a LOT of it in December. OUR BEST!!!

This year we started eating stol end of Nov ....... proof in pic

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Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Sal, I love Pavlova, berries, and mince pies too

At the Cox Castle, we don't eat pumpkin pie or sweet potato pie.

JAileen

Veteran

For New Year’s, I love fresh crab and sparkling wine. I also love tamales this time of year. I really love Ghiradelli’s peppermint bark. I’m going to try making it this year.

I don’t like candy canes, even though they are used in peppermint bark recipes.

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Synne

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Sal, how fun to see the summery light foods you prefer for Christmas! Here in the northern hemisphere we are craving anyting heavy, greasy, salt. At least me, lol. I love dried and boiled sheeps meat. With cabbage- and potato stew and lingonberry jam. It is soo good. My absolutel favourite of all dishes in the world.

Anonymous

My first love is ALL the cookies. All of them.

Not a big eggnog fan, though. Maybe because I don't know what a "nog" is, and I'm a little suspicious.

Side note about turkey cooking: I used to have a problem with it being too dry, but discovered that brining it for about 12-24 hours prior to cooking will assure a nice, juicy gobbler! I have to say, though, it doesn't seem like this would be a good warm-weather project. Better to sit poolside with a cool white wine!

Happy holidays to you!

Anonymous

*carries off strawberries*
I like gingerbread, anything with lots of cinnamon, and chocolate!
Otherwise I've never been one for American traditional holiday foods at all.
I Much prefer spicier food like Indian or Thai, and summer fruits and veggies

Anonymous

Mine are very different : Christmas baking of all types , real rum eggnog , and my late aunt’s fruit cake . I don’t really get to indulge in any of this anymore - an aging metabolism means those calories put me over the daily limit plus the sugar alone freaks me out . Funny how none of this mattered when we were young ! But these things to me are Christmas .

Sal

Veteran

Lisa - I don't know if I have ever tried eggnog!! One day - I have had one Northern Hemisphere Xmas and I would love another one.

Yum Suntiger - I like those things too!! Traditional holiday food is a little bland at times (but nostalgic)

Thanks Xtabay. Yes bubbles or sauvignon blanc or rose work well for us. Turkey does not suit a hot day...

Synne - how interesting. I would love to try that - lamb is popular here of course but usually roasted or BBQ not boiled. And I have never had a lingonberry!!

JAileen - I don't like candy canes either but I will have a piece of peppermint bark please...

When you come and visit Angie (and I hope it is summer) I will make you a pavlova!! And I am going to hunt out some stollen because I love European sweet breads. Especially with almonds...

Fashintern - I have also never tried sweet potato pie but I have tried pumpkin pie (and liked it). I imagine they are similar - the spice blend is right up my alley!! (I don't like pumpkin spice latte though....)

JAileen

Veteran

Sal, funny you want another northern hemisphere Christmas. I’d love a southern hemisphere Christmas. One year, I went with my parents to Mexico for Christmas. It wasn’t southern hemisphere, obviously, but it was tropical.

cjh

(website)

Veteran

Our favorite cookies are gingerbread cutouts. I use a Santa shaped cookie cutter, plus other holiday shapes like bells, a train, and a tree.

Two other favorite sweets we like to make are cutout sugar cookies and melted bark dipped pretzels.

Oh, I could go on about all the favorite Christmas season food! But you said to list just three.

The one dish I don’t care for in recent years is green bean casserole. (Much prefer lighter and crispier veggies.)

DonnaF

Veteran

For New Year, I love (but rarely get) fresh pounded mochi (sweet rice cake) that is dipped in a thick slurry of sugar and soy sauce or is in zenzai, a sweet soup of sweetened azuki beans. Very Japanese.

I also confess to liking Trader Joe’s peppermint Joe-Joes more than I should. I bought a box to stick in DD’s stocking, but now we won’t be seeing her until who knows when due to COVID. She lives within walking distance of a TJs so it doesn’t make sense to mail to her. But maybe it will be fun to have this summer?

slim cat

Veteran

Rum eggnog for sure, German mulled wine - Gluhwein ( not sure of the right spelling - white or red, cold or hot ), sugar glazed lebkuchen cookies .
Turkey works if somebody else is cooking .

Echo

Veteran

Dh always makes a grilled, rare roast beef for Christmas dinner, and I make twice baked potatoes and lobster. Hot buttered rum on the drink list (not an eggnog fan).

Cookie cut-outs are a lot of work and far overrated, but Dh loves them so I make them anyway. With our low-carb practice, we will skip the potatoes this year (but still make them for the kids).

kkards

Veteran

Another peppermint bark fan!
And any chewy cookie...and add icing, and well, I’m all in.
Not a fan of potato latkes, but give me donut and I’m good.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

If we extend the holidays included into Thanksgiving, I’d have to include stuffing/dressing. I made my own this year from scratch, using all the customary ingredients, but improvising from a couple different recipes (used some slightly stale brioche bread, excellent sage sausage from a local farm store, and oyster mushrooms), and baking it in a casserole dish, not inside the turkey, and it got rave reviews from hubs and me.

This one might sound odd to many of you, but deviled eggs were a huge holiday treat for my family. I never make them because hubs is not the hugest fan of them, and I would surely eat them all. But I just may need to make a little batch for myself this year, just because...2020. As my stepson’s wife says, “Treat yo’self!”

And I’ll add baked goodies — I’m a fan of good old traditional tollhouse chocolate chip cookies.

Most overrated: pumpkin spice everything, and fruitcake.

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Kyle

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Kuchen, for those of you who know what that is. My mom made it, and now my sister and I do, too. Great for Christmas morning with a cup of tea or coffee.

Anonymous

My favorite is frosted sugar cookies (which I can no longer eat). I love a good fruit cake and gingerbread cookies. I am not enthusiastic about lutefisk, a Swedish dried cod dish often served with lingonberries and cream, but it is what I can eat (except the lingonberries)
(Lutefisk is dried whitefish. It is made from aged stockfish, or dried and salted cod, pickled in lye. It is gelatinous in texture after being rehydrated for days prior to eating. Lutefisk is prepared as a seafood dish of several Nordic countries. Wikipedia). I think hard candies are over rated.

MsMary

Veteran

For the past few years we have been really into Italian for Christmas: arancini, pasta aglio e olio, tiramisu, and so on. Traditionally we always have Cookie Day in our house and usually try something new every year -- I think this year it will be macarons.

And I usually try my hand at latkes at Hanukkah even though we're not Jewish. This year I'm doing this one from Food & Wine magazine: https://www.foodandwine.com/re.....-with-kale

rebekahphoto

Veteran

oh we always have lots of traditional goodies over the holidays!

some my sweet favs are a lot of nordic classics: pfeffernusse (german gingerbread style cookies), kringle and lefse. I make a lovely cranberry chutney with spices and onion that is good on both meats and yogurts

Also always have aquavit, deviled eggs & smoked salmon, mexican wedding cookies and we make tamales. (the Mr is mexican so we have a nice mix!)

ah well thats more than 3 !

Angie have you tried Larsens Bakery's Stollen? they have so many good sweets!!

anne

Veteran

I like the particular stuffing I make, which may have some flavour similarities to Janet's. It has sage, cranberry and prosciutto flavoured breadcrumbs and onions. Lots of stuffing I don't like though.
I also like gingerbread and pavlova.

Not keen on the dried fruit Christmas treats, ie Christmas pudding, fruit cake or fruit mince pies.
I had to look up peppermint bark which have not seen in Australia, but it reminds me of this https://www.donnahay.com.au/re.....mint-slice
Which I like.
I have never had alcoholic egg nog. Just what I think is actually egg flip, sweetened milk, egg mixture. Not at Christmas though.

Runcarla

Veteran

OMG! Don’t get me started! (I’m doing 4 because I don’t get #1 anymore.)

#1 Christmas pudding with rum sauce (1 cup butter, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup rum heated through). Haven’t had it in years. MIL would send one every Christmas and I would eat it all by myself!

#2 Fruitcake. Another thing I don’t make (cause nobody in the family will eat it.) Last year DS#2 was working at a bakery as an industrial mixer and they made a variety of fruitcakes. He brought home a selection. 10lbs worth. I ate it all over a 6 weeks.

#3 Cinnamon rolls, warm from the oven, on Christmas morning.

#4 Salt marsh grazed leg of lamb from Quebec. Special order from the butcher. Served with pear topped squash (for me) and mashed spuds (for everyone else) and green beans with almonds. Raspberry triffle for dessert. That’s our Christmas dinner!

Not a fan - peppermint anything!

*I’m a mad baker, and deserts over the holidays is a mixed tray for serve yourself. I make Holiday Spice Cookies, traditional Sugar Cookies, Empire Cakes (DH’s favourite), Peanut Butter Balls, Chocolate Fruit Bark, Millionaire Shortbread and Gingerbread Cookies. I’ll add a few slices of fruit cake. The only thing I have off the tray is the fruit cake! Well, maybe the shortbread. Possibly a PB ball.

**I grew up with a lot of German traditions, but only have a recipe for Marmorkucken. There used to be 3 different breads/cakes baked in heavy cast iron molds at breakfast on Christmas Day.

Runcarla

Veteran

@ Angie - my German Dad living in Bellevue is a big fan of Kaffeeklsch in Lake City. Do you know of it?

http://www.kaffeeklatschseattle.com/

Echo

Veteran

Janet, I am completely with you on the deviled eggs. My parents made them on holidays and I didn't understand how anyone could eat them, but tastes change over the years, and now I could each a dozen of them if I let myself. Those and green olives! I buy green olives for the relish trays and end up sneaking half of them late at night from the fridge!

rachylou

Veteran

I have to winnow it to three? Oh man. Well, I’m gonna have to bump stollen for spritz cookies because while stollen says Christmas I get angry if I don’t get spritz cookies, Lolol!

After that it’s Fondue and Beef Wellington. I’ve kicked off egg nog for beef Wellington because that also makes me angry when I don’t get it. Haha!

rachylou

Veteran

Overrated: prime rib

Don’t tell my cousins... that’s what they replaced the beef Wellington with... hahaha!

Runcarla

Veteran

Back to say I’m down for devilled eggs too, but it’s an Easter thing - not Christmas! Easter isn’t complete without devilled eggs - a few with streaks of colour from dye that leaked through a minuscule crack in an egg!

ChrisM

Veteran

Stollen, Swedish butter bars (shortbread cookies with raspberry jam in the middle) and Molasses cookies.

I don’t make stollen, but we get it from Aldi’s which has a store nearby - I’m sure I would have no will-power to resist homemade stollen.

Barbara Diane

Veteran

For Chanukah - latkes topped with both sour cream and homemade applesauce and shaped sugar cookies. Although this year I am also including more inventive ingredients for both the latkes and the toppings. I saved some of my cranberry sauce and made pear sauce too. More to come. Both latkes and shaped sugar cookies are stepped in nostalgia because, in reality, while comfort foods not truly in competition for foods I’d want for a last meal.
I like eating brisket with it, but not necessarily my must have.

For NYE sparkling wine and sugar cookies spelling out the year. 4 cookies for each of us. So, 2021 coming up. Sparkling wine is a fav, cookies a tradition I made up.

Thanksgiving-cranberry sauce made with orange peel and brandy, and a new favorite- bundles of bacon wrapped green beans with a sweet salty sauce (I left off the hot part), and yams with both pecans and marshmallows. This year I cooked one large one, split it in half, mixed in butter and 1 crumbled pecan per side, 3 mini marshmallows on my side, and put my half in the microwave just long enough for the marshmallows to puff up, Might have added brown sugar but I can’t remember.

I like Bud’s eggnog but my Not is the light version. 4 ounces of the real stuff is better than 16 ounces of the other.

Fun question, thanks Sal.

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