Festive food traditions

Now that we're into December, cookies and other holiday sweets have officially become a food group in my household, with plans to whip up a batch (or two) of biscotti this weekend. (I'm thinking dark chocolate-orange should hit the spot).

The holidays also mean the sweet smells of apple cider, eggnog and shortbread cookies will waft through my house for the next few weeks, leading up to a holiday baking marathon with my mom when I land back east. We'll mix up a few batches of squares, fudge, a few varieties of cookies, an easy truffle, some bread and a few other treats.

Then, we'll sneak a few treats and set them aside (or at least try) until we're ready to share them at our annual Christmas Eve party.

What are your holiday food traditions? Is there a sweet treat that you just can't live without?

And, if you're looking for some sweet inspiration, check out our Yummy Yuletide Guide and the Star's Cookie-a-day calendar.

Comments

[JD]

My mom's nanaimo bars are definitely the highlight of the season. It's just a shame that, like most mom's, she makes more of her goodies for extended family members as gifts and friends of the family than for us.

I mean, come on, I'm grown up now and I still want to sneak treats from the gift baskets. I don't want to get on santa's bad side but I've got a sweet tooth that won't quit.

[TR]

In my family their are always way to many treats around but only two that everyone fight over. My mothers fudge and my grandmothers shortbread. As with a lot of Christmas treats my mother always seems to have a strict limit on the amount of fudge she makes. So that always means trips to the fridge to sneak some before everyone else does. Thankfully my grandmother knows how much all the grandkids love her cookies and makes us all an extra can to take with us when we leave after the holidays.

[Deborah]

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Deborah

[Mary]

Favourite Christmas treats at our house include my pineapple, coconut light Christmas cake- same recipe for 24 years, rum balls and date squares and Christmas cookies, the latest of which are macadamia nut and cranberry cookies. I like to trade my treats with my friend Cathy who makes her own specialties.