Homemade Holidays

Get some brownie points with these tasty treats

Karn Sandy’s brownies — adapted from an aunt’s recipe — are a point of familial pride.

“I’m sort of an indifferent cook and baker and I have a sister who’s very much a baker, but she has been unable to replicate the success of my brownies,” Karn says. “She still holds that these are the best brownies ever.”

So good, in fact, that her sister entered the recipe in a country fair bakeoff.

“She won first prize, for which I took all the credit,” Karn says with a smile.

Low and slow is the key to these Welsh cakes

These Welsh Cakes are a family heirloom dating back to the 1800s, when cooking appliances were limited and recipes were necessarily simple.

“My grandmother came from a little village in the northern part of Scotland,” says Allison Bloomer. “Life was pretty rustic back then; they lived in a small house and she had 11 other siblings… there were coal oil lanterns and wood stoves.”

Though home cooking has changed greatly over the last century, this recipe, passed down through generations, has stood the test of time.

“These are very easy to make; they’re rolled out and cut and done on the stovetop just until they’re brown,” Bloomer says. “A low temperature is the key — don’t cook it too hot — and you don’t need any grease in your pan.”

Stalwart shortbread with chocolate chip accent

Jaymi Derrett isn’t exactly sure where she found her recipe for mini chip butter crisps. Was it printed on a package of butter? Or maybe it was included in a promotional dairy calendar?

Regardless, the recipe has played a starring role in her baking repertoire for more than 25 years.

“I wrote it down and this is what my recipe looks like now,” Derrett says with a laugh, holding up a stained, yellowed card.

These cookies are akin to buttery shortbread with a touch of chocolate. They’re easy to prepare, freeze well and have been a hit with everyone who has tried them — friends, family, co-workers and otherwise.

With these mushrooms, the magic’s in the meringue

During the holidays, Carla Goldstein turns into a mushroom-making machine.

“I probably make four double recipes each season,” she says of the meringue mushrooms she’s been making for the last 45 years. “I walked into a friend’s house once and she had them in a crystal bowl and I said, ‘I have to learn how to make these.’”

When doubled, this recipe yields 100 mushroom-shaped meringues. While they closely resemble real mushrooms, these bite-sized desserts are sweet, airy and cute as a button.

They’re also fairly easy to assemble once you’ve mastered the technique — prior piping bag experience is an asset.

Forget de coconut, put the lime in de cornmeal

Looking to add a little “zing” to your holiday cookie tray? Terrie Leppky’s recipe for Lime-Glazed Cornmeal Cookies might just be the answer.

Give season an Italian twist with honey-based sweets

Christmas tastes like honey for Erminio Caligiuri.

Growing up in southern Italy in the 1950s and ‘60s, he looked forward to the honey-based sweets that accompanied the season — sweet Mostaccioli biscuits, fried Pignulata dough balls drizzled in honey and, of course, giurgiulena.

“It’s a very ancient recipe; my mother used to make it and I cook it because my children and my grandchildren like it,” Caligiuri says of the latter.

The crunchy, subtly sweet sesame treats also offer a tangible connection to his Italian heritage since emigrating to Canada. Caligiuri’s family was one of many Italian households that settled in Winnipeg’s West End and Fort Rouge neighbourhoods and connected over shared traditions and recipes.

Sandwich-cookie recipe passed down through generations

Heather Penno’s date-filled cookies have a long matrilineal history.

Traditional fruitcake laden with many memories

Susan Shortill isn’t a big fan of fruitcake. But she is a fan of this fruitcake.

“Fruitcake is polarizing. I don’t personally love it, especially when you would go to weddings back in the day and you would get that little chunk of dried-out (cake), but this changed my mind,” she says.

For one, it’s moist and chocolatey. For two, it comes from Dr. Sheena Guest, close family friend who hailed from Scotland and has since died.

Shortill has kept this Chocolate Fruitcake in her collection of stained, tattered and well-loved recipe cards for nearly 50 years.

Maraschino cherries, peanut butter a sweet surprise

Homemade Holidays: Though not an exact flavour match, these Chocolate Cherry Surprises may scratch an itch for those missing Cherry Blossoms — the iconic (and divisive) Hershey’s treat discontinued earlier this year.

New go-to cookie recipe voted best by family members

This chocolate cookie became a Conroy family favourite through extensive taste-testing and rigorous reviewing.

Liqueur adds punch to flavour profile of apricot rugelach

The first recipe in this year’s Homemade Holiday series is a hands-on pastry that plays with tradition.

Festive dessert series begins with a good old-fashioned cookie swap

The next dozen issues of the Free Press are going to be high in sugar content and sentimentality.

Our annual Homemade Holidays series kicks off Tuesday and features 12 festive dessert recipes published over 12 days. The goal is to highlight family traditions, while providing readers with inspiration for their own holiday baking adventures.

Past editions have included vintage treats from the Free Press’s archives, reader-submitted recipes and staff favourites.

This year’s batch showcases the connective power of cookies.

Sugar cookie recipe sweet sentimental favourite

Sugar Cookies

Recipe submitted by Anne Thoroughgood

Cranberry orange scones soft, not too sweet

Cranberry Orange SconesRecipe submitted by Marlene Cyncora

Chili paste adds dash of heat to caramel cookies

Gochujang Caramel CookiesA Free Press Favourite recipe submitted by Jill Wilson.

Nutmeg adds depth to classic Christmas dainty

Elsie’s Butter TartsA Free Press Favourite recipe submitted by Nicole Buffie.

Nuts and nostalgia mingle in not-too-sweet nuggets

Shirley's Nutty Nuggets A subtly sweet and sentimental cookie recipe submitted by Denise Duguay.

Crowd-pleasing classic clodhoppers require no baking

Also known as clodhoppers, this big batch of White Chocolate Treats requires no baking and few kitchen tools.

Traditional Dutch dessert a deep-fried delight

Olieballen is a traditional Dutch treat of deep-fried dough.

Get holiday baking on a roll with snowballs

Snowballs: these nutty, subtly sweet cookies are a family-friendly bake.

Rich, spicy hot chocolate a decadent treat

Castilian Hot Chocolate, a spicy and satisfying stovetop hot chocolate recipe from Free Press reader Sandy Rubinfeld.

Almond cookies melt in your mouth

Today’s Homemade Holidays feature is a recipe for delicate, melt-in-your-mouth Almond Crescent cookies.

“This is a cookie my Nana used to make, not necessarily for holidays specifically, but it’s one of my favourites, so now I make them every year. Almond and vanilla is such a classic combo and I love that this recipe isn’t super sweet,” writes Erin Lebar, the Free Press’s manager of audience engagement (and a heck of a baker).

Almond CrescentsFree Press Favourite submitted by Erin Lebar

Ingredients

Pucker up for this oh-so-sweet and easy lemon trifle

Lemon Trifle, an impressively easy trifle recipe from Free Press office manager extraordinaire Margaret McMillan.