Holiday tables are typically laden with mouthwatering items, from glazed ham and buttery potatoes to old-fashioned pies. But somehow, a few recipes make it to legendary status. They tend to be the ones family members make together, or the ones that remind us of a special person. They’re often scrawled on an old recipe card, marked with spatters and drips and fingerprints. As decades come and go, these recipes keep showing up at Christmas gatherings, where people flock to them and reminisce about them, and where the next generation learns to fold them into their own holiday traditions.
Family Recipes
Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
Editor in chief Lynn Greenlaw brings this to the office around Christmastime, and let’s just say the plump loaf becomes a few tiny crumbs in mere minutes. Full of seasonal spices, plus chocolate chips, a slice of this bread makes sense any time of day.
Yield: 3 loaves
Ingredients
- 2 cups white sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 15oz can pumpkin puree
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 2/3 cup water
- 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 2 Tbsp ground nutmeg
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, if desired
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and prepare three 9″x5″ loaf pans by spraying generously with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, mix the sugars, pumpkin, oil, water, and eggs until smooth. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt.
- Slowly stir the dry mixture into the wet mixture until just combined. Gently fold in the chocolate chips and walnuts, if using.
- Distribute the batter evenly between the 3 prepared loaf pans. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until a knife or toothpick inserted into the center comes out dry. Allow bread to cool for at least 20 minutes before serving. Once cooled, the bread can be wrapped and frozen.
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 stick salted butter
- 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup finely chopped pecans
- Powdered sugar
- Preheat oven to 300°F.
- In a large bowl, cream butter and granulated sugar. Add salt.
- In a separate bowl, sift flour, then add it to the butter mixture, stirring until incorporated. Add vanilla and nuts and mix well.
- Shape dough into 1-inch balls and arrange them on an ungreased baking sheet. Flatten balls into a finger shape and bake at 300°F for 30 minutes.
- Let cookies cool slightly (a few minutes) and then roll in powdered sugar. Roll again to make sure they are covered well.
- 1 Tbsp yeast
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 3 eggs, well beaten
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened at room temperature; plus 1/2 cup butter (1 stick) melted, for dipping dough balls
- 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 cup chopped nuts (I use walnuts, but pecans would be good, too)
- 2 Tbsp cinnamon
- Scald milk in a saucepan over medium heat and set aside to cool.
- When milk is cooled, transfer it to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix in sugar, butter and salt. Add yeast, eggs, and flour and mix to make a stiff dough (it should be slightly sticky).
- Cover the dough and let rise until doubled in size. Knead down and let rise again.
- Roll dough in small balls about the size of walnuts. Dip each ball in melted butter, then roll in the dough seasoning mixture.
- Pile dough balls loosely in an ungreased angel food cake pan or bundt cake pan and let rise again for 30 minutes.
- Bake 40 minutes at 400°F; then lower heat to 350°F and bake for another 10 minutes, until brown.
- Let the pan cool on a rack for 10 minutes, then turn pan upside down to release the bread. Serve warm.
Recipe from TOWN’s creative director, Laura Allshouse, courtesy of Shirley Fannin (Mimi) and Monique Renfro (Mom)
“This recipe started with my Mimi and my mom made it often for our family. It’s the dish that my brothers and I always request any time we’re home and we will demolish the entire giant serving bowl in one sitting. There are no leftovers. For my brothers and me, this dish is home.”
“Note that this is an old Southern recipe. As such, it uses measurements like ‘a bit’ or ‘a dash’ more often than not. As my mom told me when she passed the recipe to me: ‘Making good potato salad takes practice, and it’s a lot of tasting and adding.’”
Yield: 12–15 servings
INGREDIENTS
- 5lb bag of Yukon gold potatoes
- 1 egg for every 3 potatoes
- “A bit of” yellow onion (let’s say ½ a medium onion)
- Sweet relish
- Mayonnaise
- a dash of yellow mustard for color
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Paprika
INSTRUCTIONS
- Peel and cube potatoes into small (a little less than one inch) pieces and place in water so they do not turn brown.
- Put potatoes in a pot of salted water and boil until just cooked through (they should still hold their shape). Drain and set aside to cool.
- Hard-boil one egg for every 2–3 potatoes. Peel and chop eggs.
- Finely dice a bit of a yellow onion.
- Add potatoes, eggs, and onion to a large mixing bowl.
- Add sweet relish (or salad cubes, if you’re from Georgia) to taste. Our family usually adds several large spoonfuls of sweet relish—enough to give a sweet crunch to each bite.
- Add enough mayonnaise so that the contents of the bowl are well-coated, but not soupy.
- Add a bit of yellow mustard for color and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Place salad in a nice serving bowl and sprinkle paprika over the top.
Sour Cream Cookies
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup sour cream
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter, sugar, and eggs until smooth and creamy. Add in sour cream and vanilla and mix well.
- With the mixer on low, slowly add in dry ingredients until incorporated.
- Drop cookies by the spoonful onto an ungreased baking sheet
- Bake 12–15 minutes at 325°F degrees until top springs back when lightly touched.
