Festive Family Feasts

Family Recipes

by Jessica Hulett

The holiday season means togetherness. People travel from far away places to be reunited with their loved ones and carry on family traditions, or begin new ones as members are welcomed into the fold. Some celebrate the holidays through a lens of faith, while others bask in the simple joy of being with those who mean the most to them.

At the holiday table, food is the centerpiece. Certain dishes are symbolic of this time of year -- turkey, pumpkin pie and mashed potatoes, just to name a few. But the foods that really spell "holidays" are as unique as the people celebrating. We asked folks to share the fare that they couldn't live without during the holidays.


Joulutortut

"Joulutortut are buttery, delicious, star-shaped Finnish Christmas cookies. And they have prune filling. Yes, prunes.

When I was a little kid, I loved joulutortut without fear. I did not know that prunes were looked upon with such suspicion. (Let's face it, no fruit endures more mockery than the prune.) I just thought they were the yummiest cookies on earth. But when I started going to school, I realized that joulutortut, much like my mom's Finnish accent, were strange.

So for years, I just wanted her to make American sugar cookies in the shape of Santa Claus and Christmas trees, glittering with sugar crystals and frosting. Those always went over better at school parties than the joulutortut, which usually remained untouched. One year, I even left them at home, instead of facing ostracism from my classmates. But that was nothing compared to the shame I felt when mom discovered what I'd done. She cried and said I was embarrassed about my Finnish heritage, and ungrateful that she'd made the cookies at the crack of dawn, before leaving for work at 8:00 a.m.

While attending college in London, I knew I wouldn't be home for Christmas, and I asked her to send me the recipe. She wrote it down on a tablet of Dulcolax Laxative paper, crossing out the word "laxative" and drawing an elf and a Christmas tree.

Every year since then I've hosted a little Christmas gathering, and I offer joulutortut with pride. Guests are still wary of prunes, but they have to admit the cookies are fantastic. And to anyone who doesn't like them, why, that just means there's more for me." -- Saara D., New York, NY
Get Kaisa Dutton's Joulutortut recipe.

Saara Dutton

Deviled Eggs

"I grew up with an almost pathological fear of deviled eggs, but in college, I was invited to spend Thanksgiving with my boyfriend's family. I wanted to make a good impression, so when his mom brought out a tray of her signature 'smokin' eggs', I plastered a smile on my face and just went for it. It turned out, I'd just been eating the wrong ones all this time! The relationship didn't last, but I still have to have deviled eggs -- with a pinch of smoked paprika in the filling -- every single year. My new husband likes them, too!" -- Kitty G., Williamsport, PA

From the editor, a few tips for egg-cellent eggs:Try starting the eggs in water that's already boiling. It helps keep the shells from sticking to the eggs -- which is what makes them difficult to peel.

Brown shells are thicker than white shells, and thus more crack-resistant, making them ideal for hard boiling. There's no other differences between white and brown eggs -- they just come from different breeds of hen.
Explore our deviled eggs recipes.

Green Bean Casserole

"I get a lot of flack for this, but I really can't bear the thought of a holiday season going by without my Aunt Jane's green bean casserole. Her mother (my grandmother) got the recipe from a Campbell's soup can back in the 50s, and it hasn't changed since -- frozen green beans, canned cream of mushroom soup, and French fried onions on top. It's not gourmet, and my foodie wife declared it "revolting" the first time she came home with me for the holidays (not in front of my family, of course), but for me, it's the tastiest thing on the Thanksgiving table." -- Greg D., Worchester, MA
Get the Campbell's Green Bean Casserole recipe.

Italian Ricotta Cookies

"Every Christmas, as my family trickles into my grandparents' house, each member has the same question.

"Where are the cookies?"

Amidst whispering and furtive glances, the secret location of my Italian grandmother's ricotta cookies is revealed. One by one, we sneak into the garage, or the back patio, or wherever my grandma has chosen to hide them. Cookies are consumed on the sly, until we are discovered.

"You're going to spoil your dinner!" she exclaims, getting up on her tiptoes as she yells to make her 4'8" frame more intimidating.

The thing is, we don't care if we spoil our dinner. We'd gladly trade in the ham, mashed potatoes and peas for more cookies. It wouldn't be Christmas without them." -- Jessica Hulett
Get the Italian Ricotta Cookies recipe.

Rashers and Yams

"Thanksgiving wouldn't be the same without my family's traditional meal of turkey cooked with bacon on top and candied yams. And when I moved to Ireland from upstate New York, I decided to host a Thanksgiving dinner. It took awhile for me to figure out that the closest thing to bacon is something called streaky rashers, and that canned yams don't exist here, so sweet potatoes had to do. The rashers were a bit too salty, and I couldn't find proper maple syrup, but it all worked out in the end. Luckily, my guests weren't all that familiar with Thanksgiving dinner in America." -- Julie B., Kells, Ireland
Explore yam recipes.

Pumpkin Bread

"It's all about the pumpkin bread. My mom makes the densest, moistest and tastiest pumpkin bread I've ever had. In the days before I knew or cared what a calorie was, I would adorn it in chunks of too-cold-to-spread butter and eat piece after piece until I hardly had room for anything else on my plate. Then I would ruefully pick at the turkey and mashed potatoes, until I could scarf one last piece of pumpkin bread with butter as a warm-up to a cherry pie dessert. One year, my mom didn't think anyone would miss the pumpkin bread. I never thought I could feel so forlorn about an absent baked good." -- Katie M., Washington, D.C.
Browse our Pumpkin Bread recipes.

White Rice Stuffing

"I grew up not even knowing that bread dressing existed until I was well into my teens. I actually prefer bread dressing, but white rice stuffin' is a family holiday tradition created by my Okinawan mother and my Anglo American grandmother that I cherish.

It actually started in Okinawa when my parents were newlyweds. My father worked for an American construction company that was rebuilding the war torn island in the 1950s. His secretary was married to a soldier that was the head of the mess hall at the nearby Army base. It was a real treat that she got her boss a turkey from the commissary for Thanksgiving.

Roasting, even today, is not a common method of cooking in Japan and back then my parents only had kerosene stove. Needless to say, a turkey reeking of kerosene fumes didn't exactly set anyone's mouth to watering. So again, my father's secretary came to the rescue and offered her husband's culinary services, adding one more turkey to the 50 he had to roast for the soldiers on the base.

Though bread was available at the commissary, there wasn't enough bread on the whole island to stuff 50 turkeys, but there was rice. Ever since, Mama's turkey has been stuffed with white rice. Over the years the recipe has been revised somewhat, but the main ingredients are the same." -- Margaret B., San Francisco, CA
Get the Bacon Family Rice Stuffing recipe.

Tofurkey

"I grew up with vegetarian parents who were pretty experimental cooks. Each year at the Thanksgiving table sat some kind of tofu, tempeh or seitan dish prepared to resemble meat, with varying degrees of success. When Tofurkey hit the market, they were all over it. They loved it, and my sister and I even had to admit it was pretty good, even though we were surly teenagers at the time. I'm a carnivore now that I'm out on my own, but when I spend Thanksgiving with my boyfriend's family, or with friends, I definitely miss the Tofurkey, and the happiness on my parents' faces since finding the perfect Thanksgiving dish." -- Ariella H., Cleveland, OH
Explore Tofu recipes.

Hawaiian Pizza

"Between Christmas and New Year's, my girlfriends and I always get together to exchange gifts. (Scheduling is pretty impossible beforehand) We buy wine, watch The Sound of Music and sing along, and regale each other with tales from our holiday family get-togethers. And we eat Hawaiian pizza. It's weird, I know, but we've done it for so many years that Hawaiian pizza is as much a part of my holiday tradition as turkey on Thanksgiving." -- Danielle B., Hoboken, NJ