HOLIDAY TRADITIONS | FROM THE TEAM
It’s here, the day we have all been waiting for this Christmas season! A day that is filled with love, laughter, & joy as we celebrate Jesus’ birthday!
The season of Christmas is the Holland House Team’s favorite time of year and were sharing our traditions with you! Take notes as there’s a few recipes you’ll want to share!
Kaly’s favorite tradition is sleeping under the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve after watching the original Grinch cartoon. On Christmas night you can find her visiting her parents and eating Speckindicken, a German wheat waffle with bacon & hamburger.
Speckindicken
4c rye graham flour
2c white flour
2c brown syrup
2c sugar
1tsp soda
1tsp salt
3c warm water
1tsp anise seed or oil
4 well beaten eggs
Mix eggs well and add salt, sugar, syrup, soda (with flour and anise), and water. Allow mix to set a few hours. Mix precooked ground hamburger and bacon into the batter. Spray waffle iron with crisco and pour appropriate amount of batter into iron. Cook until golden. Crisco iron between each waffle.
“My favorite family tradition is our trip to the tree farm opening weekend. Dejah helps pick out our tree and we cut it down together. This year we have two exchange students to share our tree traditon with. ”
Sharing aebleskiver, a danish food, with the family at Christmas is another holiday tradition Randi enjoys. Her favorite way to eat this round pancake is with brown sugar tucked inside the cake.
9oz all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Natron (baking soda)
1 tbsp vanilla sugar
4 dl buttermilk (1 3/4 cups)
100 g butter, melted (3.5 oz)
3 eggs
1 tbsp sugar
Instructions
The Aebleskive Batter
Separate the egg whites and yolks in separate bowls.
Whisk the sugar and egg whites fluffy and stiff. The bowl must be completely clean and dry. A tiny bit of water will make the eggs whites impossible to whisk stiff. Set aside.
Mix the egg yolks, all-purpose flour, natron (baking soda), salt and vanilla sugar together in a separate bowl.
Use a hand mixer to mix the ingredients while gradually adding the buttermilk. Keep mixing until the batter is uniform.
Melt the butter and let it cool off a bit. Slowly add the cooled butter to the buttermilk mixture while whisking.
Use a wooden spoon or similar to slowly mix the stiff eggs whites in the batter.
The Cooking of Aebleskiver
You need a special Aebleskive pan for frying. You can get one online or maybe at your local kitchen store.
Heat up the Aebleskive pan at medium heat and add a small piece of butter in each hole. Fill the holes 3/4 with the Aebleskive batter.
When the batter starts to get firm and you can turn them over without cracking, then turn the Aebleskiver 90 degrees (using a wooden stick or similar) and let the batter flow into the pan.
At this point there is a hole in the side of the Aebleskive. Pour a little extra batter into the hole and turn the Aebleskive another 90 degrees so that the hole gets closed.
When the Aebleskiver have a solid surface turn them regularly so they get an even and light-brown crust.
“Holidays are all about traditions in my family. Christmas Eve with extended family, eating lots of good food (mostly appetizers, my fave!), hanging out playing games, and our infamous white elephant gift exchange which usually ends up in lots of shouting, fighting and laughing!”
Midnight mass on Christmas Eve and opening one present of her choice before bed is one of Designer Bri’s favorite holiday traditions. You can find her enjoying homemade cheese pepper bread today and at a movie tonight!
“Christmas morning at home with our children and Christmas evening surrounded by my siblings and their families is how I love to spend Christmas. We can always count on my mom to make “Grandma Irene’s Cheese Spread”. If there is any leftovers it’s a Christmas Miracle! ”
Grandma Irene’s Cheese Spread
8 oz cream cheese
1 medium jar cheddar cheese spread/cheese wiz
1 TBSP onion and pimento (fine cut)
1 TBSP sugar
Mix together and serve with pretzels or wheat thins
Shirley’s Christmas tradition includes an evening dinner of beef tenderloin and crab legs. Each dinner plate is accompanied with a lit candle. When the grandchildren are stuffed they tie their cloth dinner napkin on their head under the chin and this means that they were finished. NO MORE FOOD! Shirley’s family finishes off with a dessert of cheesecake with a raspberry topping.