Only Around for the Holidays

[spaghetttti]

Christmas is my favorite time of year. As Diner Girl says in her "You Know It's Christmas when...." thread, it's all bout the smells, tastes and sounds (and a very touching tv commercial )

When I'm in the States, I always look forward to the See's candy stand at the shopping mall. set up just before Christmas and then gone soon after until the next year.

Here in Indonesia, Starbucks is offering the Christmas blend coffee, my favorite supermarket has stocked up on eggnog, and I even saw Coffeemate Gingerbread creamer, which I believe is seasonal, out only around Christmastime.

There are candy canes, tree/star/angel/Santa shaped sugar cookies galore. And fruitcake, too! Passing by the Baskin-Robbins counter, I spotted an ice cream confection decorated in Yuletide fashion.

What are your favorite "Just for the Holiday/Limited Edition" foods & treats?

[SuzySushi]

In no particular order:

Bahlsen chocolate-covered gingerbread hearts. (I've forgotten their German name.)

Stollen -- some of the commercial versions are okay, but I like mine best!

Fruitcake - just bought 2 from Costco. We've already started in on hte first -- the second is put away for Christmas dinner.

Eggnog.

Eggnog ice cream.

[andiesenji]

I love stollen. I also love pfeffernusse. And eggnog. Steamed pudding. Lots more but I have to stop because I am getting hungry and I am determined not to snack!

[LaurieA-B]

Reese's Peanut Butter Christmas Trees--the holiday versions (pumpkins, hearts, Easter eggs as well) always seem fresher and more delicious than the standard peanut butter cups.

[Pan]

Except for calling a couple of Christian friends, I like to ignore the existence of Christmas on Dec. 25 by going down to Chinatown for dim sum or just sleeping in. I'm sure I'm not the only one. I thought all non-Christians in Christian-majority countries had a little of that bah-humbug attitude.

But more seriously, there are some Christmas-season things I like (e.g.: the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center; great performances of Handel's Messiah and the Bach Christmas Oratorio on TV or radio; nice gigs playing beautiful Catholic or Lutheran religious music), but they're not food-related. I think that would be different if I lived in a country with great traditional Christmas foods. I've read about traditional Christmas foods in parts of Italy, for example.

[Rebecca263]

Well, I'm a Jewish girl who ADORES fruitcake! Send your doorstops my way, I always tell my friends!

[Radio7]

I saw a gingerbread/macademia biscotti at Starbucks today that looked yummy.

I like a half black coffee/half egg nog on Xmas morning.

I dig the gingersnaps.

I like a really good Yule log (NO wet centres like the ones of my youth!)

green bean casserole (the kind made from green beans, crm of mushroom soup, and onion rings. YUM)

A chocolate santa to bite the head off of (just like the easter bunny)

Homemade cookies.

As a kid, I remember being excited about the annual shrimp ring.

Things I don't like:

fruitcake

marzipan

rock-hard gingerbread house.

candy canes. (unless they're in candycane ice cream)

[Ling]

Pannetone...I had my first pannetone just last year. The smell when you open the package is unbelievable. I like it best sliced, toasted, and buttered, but I wouldn't say no to pannetone bread pudding.

And I know you can get Almond Roca anytime of the year, but I usually associate it with Christmas. This year, I'm going to try making my own chocolate almond toffee.

Don't like:

-fruitcake

-candycanes

-Pot of Gold chocolates

-anything with the hard pieces of red and neon green candied fruit

Edited December 2, 2005 by Ling (log)

[edmundcarver]

In the U.K Starbucks do a gingerbread latte which is very tasty.

Mince pies which are also very popular in the festive season are a crime against the tastebuds.

[SuzySushi]

I like a half black coffee/half egg nog on Xmas morning.

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Oooooh! Something new to try!

[annecros]

Funny, but I made my first mince pie (I deplore mincemeat) for the family at Thanksgiving, and they went nuts over it and informed me that it was a new holiday tradition.

I don't like marzipan either. Very pretty, but I find it inedible, personally.

Now, gingerbread is the bomb. I have a recipe that actually tastes good with beer!

Annie

[edmundcarver]

Mince pies, Christams pudding and Christmas cake all seem to be variations on the same bitter, dark, gluey theme. I guess when you eat them they serve as a memory trigger for happy holidays past though which may explain why some people like them, but I personallly can't see the attraction.

Mulled wine on the otherhand, now that is something to look forward to.

[Jenny McClure]

I like mince pies but only if they are hot from the oven with a dollop of cold freshly whipped cream.

Every Christams my Dad orders an entire Stilton. It has always been a tradition after dinner to pass the decantor (sp) of port followed by the stilton. I look forward to that part of the meal most. My husband (recently married) had a bit of trouble the first Christmas when he was hit with the aroma of the cheese, but now he loves it as much as the rest of the family.

[Chezkaren]

Peppermint Ice Cream! We have it every Christmas Day with homemade hot fudge sauce.

[gini]

Except for calling a couple of Christian friends, I like to ignore the existence of Christmas on Dec. 25 by going down to Chinatown for dim sum or just sleeping in. I'm sure I'm not the only one. I thought all non-Christians in Christian-majority countries had a little of that bah-humbug attitude.  

hehehe...i love going to chinese on christmas. it's my favorite part of having the day off from work!

but in all seriousness, i'm a sucker for eggnog and i have been known to frequent the "seven fishes" dinners at local restaurants. i mean, 7 courses of fish - how could that be bad?

[TMus1111]

I love Edys seasonal flavors of ice cream: eggnog, peppermint and gingerbread. Yum.

[spaghetttti]

I read somewhere that there's a Southern Comfort ice cream, must be good?!

[sadie_siamesecat]

Is it bad for me to admit my love of Peppermint Bark? I can eat an entire tin at one go. Yum! I'm going to go look for Edy's Eggnog Ice Cream...

[Megan Blocker]

Like Pan, no holiday season in my childhood was complete without Chinese food with my dad's (Jewish) family (before and after his marriage to my Presbyterian stepmother), and Williams-Sonoma's Peppermint Bark. Sadly, no latkes, but I plan to remedy that this year by participating in the cook-off.

And, with my (Episcopalian) mom, standing rib roast. We only have it once a year, really (usually on Christmas Day), and man, is it good. She serves it with a horseradish-mustard sauce, and I just love it. The one time I prefer beef to lamb.

I've been blessed to experience multi-cultural holiday seasons, I guess. Though I do have to say that it was my Jewish college roommate who made me go to church during Advent - for the music, of course!

[Megan Blocker]

I like a half black coffee/half egg nog on Xmas morning.

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Oooooh! Something new to try!

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A little hair of the dog, eh? That does sound good, though - I'm going to try it, too!

I read somewhere that there's a Southern Comfort ice cream, must be good?!

The favorite of frat boys everywhere.

Edited December 2, 2005 by Megan Blocker (log)

[racheld]

Chris just bought his annual Claxton's fruitcake---got this one at Sam's and it's three of the little square logs...quite a haul, as one stick is his usual supply.

He hasn't yet brought home his one quart of eggnog. He doles it out in nightly doses, a shotglass for dessert, sipped slowly like good Scotch. And since I can tolerate neither the clammy cake nor the nutmeggy nog, he enjoys them both all to himself.

My favorite seasonal memory is a Hostess fruitcake, in the pretty round lace-embellished gold tin, a weighty prize to be opened and savored. The three-pounder was our usual holiday buy, and the lifting of the lid revealed a fancy doily, red ribbon atop a crinkle-cellophaned round cake. It had no soggy rum, no great clumps of neon fruit. The light, soft crumb of the cake was scented with vanilla, and lovely chunks of real pineapple and whole juicy cherries were suspended in that spongy, wonderful cake. Whole pecans, crisp and toasted, provided a salty crunch in contrast to the tender cake and moist fruit.

The cake was doled out in small slices, as well, by my Mother's steady hand on the cakeknife, and despite frequent lid-liftings for a scented savor, never once did I contemplate swiping a slice. That was a SERIOUS cake, for special, for occasions, and we treated it with the respect it was due. I'd love to find one again. We live just a few blocks from the Wonder Bread bakery---and I wonder if they still make those delicious cakes.

This weekend I'll crank up the fudge pot, getting the sugar and the chopped Caillebaut and the nuts and cherries all arrayed. The cocoa can will get a workout, as will the flat wooden paddles which are the only stirring tool used for the swirling, thickening mass. Lines of buttered pans, atop squat cans from the pantry, will cool and solidify, wafting their fragrances of chocolate and vanilla, peanut butter and caramel into the warm air of the downstairs rooms. Summer is not fudge time. Autumn and its chill snap, for mulled cider and jellymaking. Winter is for fudge, for banana bread and breakfast for dinner. The time of the sugaring is come, and Chocolate is King.

Chris did bring in a pack of snowman Peeps, heretofore only an Easter taste. What will they think of next?

[therese]

Pralines. We make them at home every year, and they are lovely.

[Ktepi]

Our fruitcake is already half-gone

I like Starbucks' Peppermint Mocha a lot more than I expected I would.

I miss Friendly's peppermint stick ice cream, and hope that Pepsi Holiday Spice is making a return appearance this year.

My mother makes fudge every Christmas to give to everyone in the neighborhood -- I think it's the standard Fluff recipe.

Gingerbread's something I crave every year but can never get to come out the way I see it in my mind's tastebuds: dark, dense, moist, gingery with maybe a little clove.

[spaghetttti]

I wonder if annecros would share her gingerbread recipe that she mentioned upthread?

How about it Annie, please?

Edited December 2, 2005 by spaghetttti (log)

[JanMcBaker]

Ditto on the Edy's peppermint ice cream. One year I went a little nutso and got about 3-4 containers of it! Needless to say I was rather tired of it at the end of that holiday season...... Only getting one container of it this year! Ditto on the eggnog, fruitcake and the mince pie. All of them have that holiday time spice smells to them.... hmmm- spicy seems to be my theme here. I'll also include stuffing--yep I still call it stuffing even though it's now cooked in a pan. It's just your basic bread stuffing, loaded with rubbed sage and McCormick's poultry seasoning. Gotta be that brand-- it's what we grew up with and it still tastes and smells the same. The smells of all these things say holiday time to me.