Holiday Foods!

Home made bread is one thing that was a huge part of my upbringing and that I now continue using. Instead of a wedding cake we had my mother remake some of her bread in a special shape and had our hands tied over it. Bread is a general 'super-special-awesome' food that we use for gifts, special occasions, etc, and decorate/modify as needed per the season. Aside from bread... we favor food we will work on together and participate in equally. So if we're spending the day with friends, it'll be a gingerbread decorating session. If it's a quite celebration between just me and my partner, we will work at carving out a pumpkin, blending the flesh, and serving the soup in another prepped pumpkin. So, it goes per holiday but also per the type of celebration.
Basically, the food (for us) represents the event, and so we try and encompass that as best we can. there will be special food for our deities according to their tastes, food that is traditional local and family recipes, food related to our beliefs of the season, and foods that we just love. It's different everytime. Except for Samhain- there's almost flawlessly pumpkin something, and something cake-related around Yule. Actually, an overdose of cake/pastries/goodies around Yule.

I have a feeling that Colecannon is going to turn into a holiday thing for me, probably for multiple holidays.

I don't do a lot food-wise in general, but I do want to make Maggie Stiefvater's November Cakes a Thing for Samhain.

Hmm. I should start incorporating more food into my holidays, since I love to cook.

I do have two family recipes that my Mom and I make every Christmas (and Yule by extension. I've decided to sort of combine the two, since they have so much in common). We always make Swedish Meatballs on Christmas night, and some time during the season we make Pfeffernüsse. We're not totally sure where the Pfeffernüsse recipe originally came from, but it's gigantic. The original calls for 14c of flour. We usually half it and it's more than enough for us and for everyone else. I usually gift a portion to my friends, and since all of you are my friends ☺️? here's the recipe:

Pfeffernüsse
*This is the full recipe. I highly suggest halving or even quartering it.

3C sugar
3C brown sugar
1C melted butter
1 1/2 C warm water
1 C chopped nuts

3 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves
1 tsp anise (oil or extract)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla (oil or extract)

14C flour

Mix sugars, butter, water & nuts. Then add eggs and spices. We usually double some of the spices. Especially the cinnamon, ginger, and anise. Next, mix in the flour. I find that doing 2 cups at a time is the best method. If you add all the flour at once, it's going to get everywhere while you're trying to stir. Now comes the somewhat tedious part. You're going to grab a chunk of the dough and roll it into a long log. Maybe as thick as your thumb. I find the best method is to place the dough on a flat surface and then roll it back and forth with your fingers. If the dough is sticking to your fingers too much, add some more flour to it. Then with either a knife or cooking scissors, cut the log into about 1in long little nuggets, and place them on a baking sheet. Next, bake them in the oven at 350°F for 8-10 mins. I prefer them soft, but my Nana tends to make them on the dry side. So I'd suggest starting at 8 mins and going from there.

For reference, here is a picture that I took while making them this past year: