What is your favorite Holiday food?

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It’s that time of year again. Il Pandoro is out and I must have one. In fact, for Thanksgiving, I brought one to my Italian mother. She was so happy, hands clapping, ready to make coffee or tea and have a slice. I warned her though, for some reason, this year, the texture was “different.”

It’s an Italian tradition to have this. Usually, people buy the Panettone, which has the fruit inside. It’s not my favorite, by the time I pull out all that fruit, there isn’t much cake left.

My daughter and I bought Il Pandoro at Jewel (our grocery store). Sorry, I should have taken a picture. It was the Bauducco brand. The texture was strange. It was like a soft dinner roll, instead of bread like.

Every year, I buy one or more. I vow to remember the brand that is the BEST. Of course, every year, I forget and start this process again. This Balocco brand is pretty good.

Next stop, Trader Joe’s for a box of Baci candies. They sell out FAST!

What is your favorite holiday food?

47 thoughts on “What is your favorite Holiday food?”

  1. My favourite holiday food is a Sherry Trifle. Since my family is German it should be stollen, but I married an English fellow and was able to get the family trifle recipe, which is now our family’s favourite treat.

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    2. I am just catching up with this great post and its comments and I have to endorse Darlene’s love of Trifle – mine is from the English tradition, and no longer has sherry (although it certainly did when I was a child and my mother and aunts made it). I also was able to get the family recipe – always so closely guarded by each generation, you’ll know if you have trifle in your holiday traditions. Never knew why it was so secret.

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  3. We have two traditions for Christmas. Frango Mints which first began at Frederick and Nelson’s in Seattle in the early 1900s. Now they’re at Macy’s. They remind me of going shopping in the city with mom for Christmas. We’d end the day with a Frango mint. The other is struedel from Larsen’s Bakery in Seattle that I order online.

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    1. I smiled. We used to buy Frango Mints from Marshall Fields. I still cannot say Macy’s when I think of Chicago’s downtown store location. So glad that Macy’s kept the Frango Mint tradition. Now, they have so many flavors. This is a nice tradition around the holidays. Thank you for reminding me!! The struedel sounds good too. ❤️

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      1. Yes, you’re correct. Marshall Field’s bought out Frederick and Nelson’s and kept the Frangos. There’s a new flavor I found this year called green mint that is so good! It has green mint on the outside of the regular milk chocolate.

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  5. British traditions still linger in Australia at Christmastime. We always have fruit mince pies and plum pudding with brandy custard, my favourites. For a more Aussie flavour a Pavlova (like a meringue) with whipped cream, strawberries and passionfruit on top is always a melt-in-the-mouth favourite more suited to our hot summer celebrations 🎅 G.

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    2. Mince pie! It’s my favorite holiday food, esp. warm with a generous topping of brandied hard sauce. You either love it or you hate it. I’ve never heard of Pandoro cake but the right one sounds perfect with a cup of coffee or tea. We’ve had the Williams Sonoma brand of Panettone a couple of times. No fruit, just nuts – not bad but not memorable either. And the Baci chocolates are nostalgic for my time in Italy; it’s just that I’m not a big fan of hazelnuts.

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      2. Mince was my dad’s favorite so I acquired the taste when I was young. You buy the filling in a ja, so there’s not much “make” in the recipe. Just dump the filling into a pie shell and bake 🙂

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      1. I had to look those up, never had them. But if you’re yearning for some chocolate mints, have you tried Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Honey Mints? They contain just 3 ingredients, guess what they are … 😁

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      2. You are SO FUNNY! I have not tried them and I have to go to TJ this week. Hopefully, they are in stock. Thanks for the tip. Also, it’s nice to see so few ingredients, right. I guess I need a post of TJ holiday favorites, like the Mini Gingerbread cookies. I wish they didn’t put the glaze on them though, still they are nice with coffee/tea in the afternoon.

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      3. Can’t wait to hear what you think of them! TJs tends to hang them between shelves, they don’t get the shelf space they deserve 😁

        In days of yore I was similarly conflicted with chocolate-enrobed Oreos: the chocolate robe seemed like such a great idea, but how do you dunk it in milk/coffee? The Imponderables of Life? 🤪

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  7. Dave makes fruit mince pies sound easy but it’s not traditional to open a jar 🙂 The pastry crust is made like shortbread and the dried fruit is minced and marinated and often has chopped glacé cherries through the mix. It is spooned into the pastry shell and covered with pastry (sometimes latticed) and dusted with sugar before baking. I hope you get to try some this Christmas ✨

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    2. Gretchen — I just read your lovely post on Ngarrindjeri Weaving. What a treasure that you still have a small basket from your grandmother. Thank you for sharing. I remember placements, etc. too. So nice to learn about this through your post. I’m smiling. Oh, sending you msg here as your posts are not open to comments. I can STILL reach you. 😉💕

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      3. I just read your post on talking to Santa via telephone. What a great idea. I don’t think we have any telephone booths in America anymore. Thanks for the Google article too. Love your idea of visiting Santa and the mall and slipping him some eggnog. Fun idea! Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Monica

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  8. My favourite holiday food is gingerbread cookies. In Latvia, it is a national pastime in the days leading up to Christmas – store-bought gingerbread just won’t do. However, most will be happy to use store-bought gingerbread dough and every self-respecting bakery and supermarket will have it for sale. The biggest discussion around this time is what dough to buy as some will give you crunchy and crisp cookies, while others will lead to a softer and puffier outcome.

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    1. Thank you for sharing. I like gingerbread cookies too, but here in America, I don’t see dough we could buy. So, we would have to make them from scratch. Do you have a good recipe? Do you make them in the shape of gingerbread men/lady, etc. I think you know what I mean, the cookie cutter for this.

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