Merry Christmas!
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in America is a time when family and friends enjoy feasting on good rich food, sweet rich dessert and thick and rich drinks as well. This page is a list of Christmas dishes as eaten in America and even a few adopted dishes as eaten around the world. These items are traditionally eaten at or associated with the Christmas season.
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Traditional Foods of Christmas
- Brandy Butter - Brandy butter is a sweet, rich sauce, usually consumed with traditional desserts during the Christmas and New Year period in the UK. Brandy butter is a blend of soft dark brown or icing sugar, unsalted butter and brandy. Refrigerated until it is relatively hard, it is typically served cold to provide a contrast with hot desserts such as: Christmas Pudding (alternatively known as plum pudding). Freshly baked or microwaved Mince pies.
- Christmas Pudding - Christmas pudding is the dessert traditionally served on Christmas day, although still available and popular throughout the year in Britain. It has its origins in England, and is sometimes known as plum pudding, though this can also refer to other kinds of boiled pudding involving a lot of dried fruit.
- Red Velvet Cake - Red velvet cake is a type of rich and sweet chocolate cake (though it is often made without chocolate flavoring) which has a distinctive dark red color. Common ingredients include buttermilk, butter, flour, cocoa powder, and often either beets, or red food coloring. It is most popular in the Southern United States and is a traditional dessert at Christmas, though known in other regions. The most typical frosting for a red velvet cake is a butter roux icing also known as a cooked flour frosting or Cream cheese buttercream frostings.
- Eggnog - (or egg nog) is a sweetened dairy-based beverage made with milk, cream, sugar, beaten eggs (which gives it a frothy texture), and flavoured with ground cinnamon and nutmeg; alcoholic versions also exist with the addition of various liquors, such as rum, brandy, or whisky. Eggnog is a popular drink in North America and is usually associated with winter celebrations such as Christmas and New Year's. Commercially, non-alcoholic eggnog is available around Christmas time and during the winter and is available all year round in Australian stores.
- Fruit Cake - (or fruit cake) is a cake made with chopped candied and/or dried fruit, nuts and spices, and optionally soaked in spirits. In the United Kingdom certain rich versions may be iced and decorated. Fruitcakes are often served in the celebration of weddings and Christmas.
- Gingerbread Man - A traditional treat at Christmas. A gingerbread man is a sweet snack made of gingerbread, usually in the shape of a stylized human, as per the name (though making other shapes, especially seasonal themes, is quite common). Most gingerbread men share the same roughly humanoid shape, with stubby feet and no fingers. Many gingerbread men have a face, though whether the features are indentations within the face itself or other candies stuck on with icing or chocolate varies from recipe to recipe. Other decorations are common; hair, shirt cuffs and shoes are sometimes applied, but by far the most popular decoration are shirt buttons.
- Yule Log - A Yule log, sometimes known as the Great Ashen Faggot, is a large log which is burned in the hearth as a part of traditional Yule or Christmas celebrations in some cultures. It can be a part of the Winter Solstice festival or the Twelve Days of Christmas, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, or Twelfth Night. --- The expression "Yule log" has also come to refer to log-shaped Christmas cakes, also known as "chocolate logs" or "Bûche de Noël". Sometime in the late 18th to early 19th century, a facsimile of the Yule Log became a traditional French dessert. Usually, it is in the form of a large rectangular yellow cake spread with frosting and rolled up into a cylinder - one end is then lopped off and stood on end to indicate the rings of the "log." This "Bûche de Noël" became a traditional Christmas dessert, and has recently spread to other regions, where it is often referred to as a yule log.
- Candy Cane - A candy cane is a hard cane-shaped candy stick. It is traditionally white with red stripes and flavored with peppermint; however, it is also made in a variety of other flavors and colored stripes of different thicknesses. The candy cane is a traditional candy surrounding the Christmas holiday in the USA, although it is possible to find them throughout the year.
- Cranberry Sauce - Cranberry sauce is a sauce or relish made out of cranberries, commonly associated with Thanksgiving dinner in North America and as the traditional accompaniment to turkey in English-style Christmas dinners . The most basic and simple cranberry sauce consists of cranberries boiled in sugar water until the berries' skins pop and the mixture thickens.
- Carrot Cake - Carrot cake is a sweet spice cake with grated carrot mixed into the batter. The carrot softens in the cooking process, and the cake usually has a soft, dense texture. The carrots themselves enhance the flavour, texture and appearance of the cake. Some recipes include walnuts or pecans, and raisins. The icing is a sweet creamcheese icing.
- Pecan Pie - Pecan pie is a sweet custard pie made primarily of corn syrup and pecan nuts. It is popularly served at holiday meals and is also considered a specialty of Southern U.S. cuisine. Most pecan pie recipes include salt and vanilla as flavorings. Other ingredients such as chocolate and bourbon whiskey are popular additions to the recipe. A new favorite way to cook it is with a layer of cheesecake. Pecan pie is often served with whipped cream.
Honey baked ham
pudding
Apple cider
Christmas cookies
Marzipan
Stuffing
Dressing in the Southern United States
Eggnog
Green Bean Casserole
Potato pie
Stuffing
Dressing in the Southern United States
Corn Casserole
Sweet Corn Relish
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Traditional Foods of Thanksgiving
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