Do you have a favorite food that you look forward to enjoying every holiday season? We're sharing our favorite sweet treats here and would love to hear from you. Please share your favorite holiday treat with us in the comments!
Looking for baking inspiration? Check out Holiday Cookies (prize-winning recipes from the Chicago Tribune) and browse our holiday cookbooks for more recommendations.
Katie: When you share your birthday with a holiday (Thanksgiving!), it can be hard to let it stand out. Especially when no one wants birthday cake after turkey! But for a girl who doesn't like traditional pies, it was even harder. Enter Mom with the perfect compromise: Peanut Butter Pie! Simple, sweet and specially made just for me. It's a tradition that I still make every year. Everyone in my family gives the recipe their own twist (a cookie crust or real whipped cream), but no matter how it’s made, everyone reaches for a slice.
Caroline: I have to admit I have not made large quantities of cookies at past holidays, despite having many favorite family recipes, including one grandma’s sour cream sugar cookies and my other grandma’s molasses cookies. Since my kiddo is old enough to help with baking this year, I plan to try out the candy cane cookie recipe my mom has been making since I was a child. She likely clipped the recipe out of the local newspaper and tried them on a whim, but they quickly became a family standard. With peppermint extract giving just the right amount of tingly flavor and the white and pink dough twisted into that signature candy cane shape, these are the perfect festive cookies to make an annual baking tradition at our house — and maybe at yours, too!
Susan: I first tasted rich, delicious fudge when I was a kid and invited to sing at a holiday party given by my mom’s friends. One of the ladies gave us a box of this homemade delight. We asked her for the recipe, and she told us that it was on the back of the Kraft Marshmallow Creme jar. Well, I gave it a try! The recipe practically guarantees perfect consistency, because of the crème. Fantasy Fudge is the taste of the holiday season for me. This chocolatey, sweet treat is an irresistible hit whenever I make it. There are many versions out there, but here is the original recipe from Allrecipes . Walnuts optional, of course!
Justin: Growing up, it was an unstated rule amongst my Jewish peers that no bat/bar/b’nai mitzvah luncheon was complete without a sweet lokshen kugel noodle casserole. For my own bar-mitzvah, the kugel was too sacred to trust to a catering company, so my parents stayed up late baking batch after batch the evening before. Kugel is the perfect holiday treat because it’s both sweet and substantial. Many people say it should be served hot — do not listen. Who wants to eat warm cottage cheese? When you remove the kugel from the oven, you must allow it to become refrigerator-cold before serving. For classic Jewish holiday cooking, check out Joan Nathan's Jewish Holiday Cookbook.
For more baking ideas, check out our 2020 suggestions.
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