'Tis The Season For Eating
‘Tis the season for festive holiday merrymaking and nonstop eating. From stringing popcorn for tree decorations to helping to fry the Hanukah potato latkes at grandma’s knee to baking cookies to leave out as Santa’s snack on the night before Christmas, many of our most cherished childhood food memories are tied up in the holiday season. How many of your favorite holiday moments involve food?
It’s the time of year to revive old traditions and start new ones. Some of my old family food traditions include baking the same assortment of cookies each year, sitting down to a huge dinner involving seven plus seafood dishes on Christmas Eve, and indulging in all kinds of chocolate on Christmas Day. More recently, we have started constructing and decorating a gingerbread house every year, and my husband has introduced his family tradition of eating a big late morning brunch on Christmas Day.
Just the other day we discovered an update on the dreaded traditional gift of fruitcake. The local specialty food store was giving out samples of Panettone, a light and fluffy, bread-like cake containing fruits and citrus that is imported from Italy. This is one fruitcake you won’t want to use as a doorstop. I brought one home and it’s been such a hit with my family that I plan to pick some more up to use in a Panettone French Toast Bread Pudding that I can make ahead for Christmas Day brunch.
Special holiday party foods are another one of the things that make the season so festive. Interactive foods are great fun for kids – they love to construct their own sandwiches, decorate sugar cookies and make their own fruit kebabs.
Turkey and cheese pinwheels make a great pick up and go party food for kids. Your kids can help you make these colorful sandwiches with spinach tortillas and a cranberry filling for a festive touch. Once you slice the tortilla wraps (chill for a few hours to make the slicing easier) into pinwheels a little over an inch wide, they can be arranged into a Christmas tree shape on a large platter and decorated with cut vegetables.
Decorating sugar cookies is a fun activity that will keep the whole kid’s table busy once they have whizzed through a holiday meal (Although you may need an adult to supervise so they don’t OD on the sugar!). Put out some pre-baked sugar cutout cookies, and let them have fun decorating their own with various colored sugars, icings, and holiday sprinkles. I found some icing pens at the craft store that would be perfect for kids to use to write their name on each creation.
A really cute take on fruit salad is to use a slab of pineapple as a base (a tree trunk) for fruit kebabs that are inserted into the pineapple to form a Christmas tree shape. The middle kebab can be strung with sliced starfruit for an extra festive appearance. It’s a nice way to sneak in a little healthy stuff in the midst of all the other holiday sweets the kids will be eating.
For your next holiday gathering, you can enlist the help of your kids. Get them involved with some of these fun cooking projects, and make memories that they will hopefully cherish for a lifetime!
Made with cocktail onions and Spanish olives, red and yellow bell peppers, toothpicks, baby spinach, sliced turkey, cranberry sauce, spinach flour tortillas, mayonnaise, Monterey Jack or American
Serves/Makes: 6
- 1 can (16 ounce size) whole-berry cranberry sauce
- 4 large (9- or 10-inch size) spinach flour tortillas
- mayonnaise
- 3/4 pound thinly sliced Monterey Jack or American cheese
- 3/4 pound thinly sliced turkey
- 1/2 bag washed baby spinach
- toothpicks
- red and yellow bell peppers
- cocktail onions and Spanish olives, for garnish
Lay the tortillas on a flat working surface and lightly spread them with mayonnaise using a rubber spatula. Layer each tortilla with cheese and turkey. (When stacking ingredients, leave an inch margin along the top of the tortilla. Roll the bread toward that edge to keep the filling from falling out.)
Pulse the cranberry sauce in a food processor briefly. Spread cranberry sauce on the turkey layers and cover them with baby spinach. Snugly roll up the sandwiches, ending with the loose edges underneath.
With a serrated knife, cut each roll-up into 1 1/4-inch-wide pinwheels and insert a toothpick to hold each one together.
On a serving platter, arrange the pinwheels in rows to create a Christmas tree. Garnish with pepper-star ornaments (cut out with a small cookie cutter) and cocktail-onion or olive lights.
Made with powdered sugar, mascarpone cheese, panettone bread, whipping cream, eggs, whole milk, sugar, butter
Serves/Makes: 6
- 1 loaf (1 pound size) panettone bread, baking paper removed (or Challah bread)
- 6 large eggs
- 3/4 cup whipping cream
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
- powdered sugar, for dusting
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Trim the bottom crust of the panettone. Starting at the bottom end of the panettone, cut it crosswise into 3/4-inch thick round slices (reserve the top piece for toast), and then into one inch cubes.
Grease a 9 by 12 by 2-inch baking dish with the butter. Place the panettone cubes in the baking dish.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until well blended. Add the cream, milk, and sugar and whisk until well mixed.
Pour the custard mixture over the panettone. Cover pan with aluminum foil, tenting the foil so it doesn't touch the pudding. Cut a few holes in the foil to allow steam to escape. Bake the pudding for 45 minutes.
Uncover and bake for 40 to 45 more minutes, until the custard is set and the top of the pudding is light golden brown.
Lightly dust with the powdered sugar and decorate the top with dollops of mascarpone cheese. Serve warm with maple syrup on the side.
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