This is a curation of my favorite holiday recipes. There’s a little bit of everything, from Christmas dinner, desserts, end of year drinks, mezes and appetizers and so much more:). Happy Holidays!!
Pistachio Cookies with Nutella Drizzle
These pistachio cookies are the perfect festive cookies for December. They not only taste delicious, but they are bright green, look perfect with that nutella drizzle and they’re so easy to make.
Get Recipe: Pistachio Cookies
Baklava with Homemade Phyllo
Baklava is a great Mediterranean and Middle Eastern dessert. It has plenty of variations on different countries and even by region. Sometimes variations depends on filling, for example some people use walnuts, other pistachios, others hazelnuts or even a mix of these.
While in modern times, most people make baklava with frozen phyllo layers, I still make my baklava the old fashioned way with homemade phyllo layers stretches one at a time.
To learn more: Homemade Baklava
Eggnog Cocktail
This rum cocktail with eggnog and kahlua has Christmas written all over it. It just the perfect drink to enjoy while you host friends and family for the holidays. It smells like dessert in a cup with all that cinnamon:).
Get Recipe: Eggnog Cocktail with Rum and Kahlua
Balkan Sour Cream Cookies
I call these cookies kifle but they might have different names around the Balkan region where they’re pretty famous this time of the year. I fill them up with blueberry jam or quince jam, sometimes with nutella too. These crescent cookies have sour cream in their dough which contributes to their softness.
Get Recipe: Sour Cream Cookies Filled with Jam
Raisins Panettone
I love making panettones every Christmas. They’re surprisingly not difficult to make and you can use different flavors on them. Just let that dough rise properly twice and then watch it bake:).
Get Recipe: Raisins Panettone
Chocolate Chips Panettone
This is the first panettone I ever baked. It’s dotted with chocolate chips throughout and it’s so soft and easy to pull apart! This Christmas sweet bread is really the ultimate treat for the holidays.
Get Recipe: Chocolate Chips Panettone
Orange and Vanilla Cookies
These orange and vanilla cookies taste of citrus and smell like vanilla, they are soft and delicious but unpretentious. They don’t need heavy garnishes or decorations but they taste amazing!!!
Get Recipe: Orange and Vanilla Cookies
Old Fashioned Hot Chocolate
Hot chocolate is the quintessential winter comfort drink. While there are plenty of hot chocolate mixes you can dump in milk and make yours really quickly, I still occasionally love to make this old fashioned hot chocolate:). Enjoy!
Get Recipe: Hot Chocolate
Homemade Cranberry Liqueur
You can make your own cranberry liqueur with some cranberries, vodka and sugar. This cranberry liqueur makes the perfect homemade Christmas gift!!
Get Recipe: Homemade Cranberry Liqueur
Plum Cake
This Mediterranean plum cake with almonds makes for a great coffee cake. It’s so so easy to mix and bake and it looks gourmet!
Get Recipe: Plum Cake with Almonds
Almond Cookies
These almond cookies dipped and covered with powdered sugar are typical in many Mediterranean countries. Hope you like this recipe:)
Get Recipe: Almond Cookies
Pistachio Chocotone
Chocotone is a chocolate panettone, instead of chocolate chips inside like in one of my other recipes, the whole dough is mixed with good chocolate powder. Then to make this even more amazing, I add pistachios not only in the dough but also as garnish on top
Get Recipe: Pistachio Chocotone
Panettone Bread Pudding
Panettone bread pudding is the perfect Christmas morning breakfast. I just bake all the leftover panettones with a custard like cream and dust with confectioner sugar and use a Kahlua based drizzle to serve it with.
Get Recipe: Panettone Bread Pudding
Coquito (with no eggs)
Having lived in Miami for decades now, I have gotten my fair share of coquito bottles as Christmas drinks. Some versions have eggs and some don’t. My recipe for Coquito doesn’t have eggs and it’s made with coconut milk. Cheers:).
Get Recipe: Coquito
Albanian Revani Cake
Revani is a cake soaked in syrup and cut mostly in typical diamond shape. This cake is famous round the Mediterranean but there are some distinct methods or ingredients across different countries.
Get Recipe: Revani Cake
Albanian Russian Salad
My home country of Albania adopted the Russian salad recipe when Albania and Russia had close relations during the early years of the Communist era. This version has evolved over the decades to something I call Albanian Russian salad. This is a dish that can’t be missed during New Year’s Eve dinner celebrations.
Get Recipe: Russian Salad (Sallate Ruse)
Cottage Cheese Dip
This delicious dip is a whipped cottage cheese dip with feta cheese. Dip has olive oil, lemon juice, za’atar spice and garlic and it is topped with olives, mint and peppers. Serve this dip before dinner during the Holidays, it’s just perfect!
Get Recipe: Whipped Cottage Cheese Dip with Feta Cheese
Spinach Artichoke Dip with Goat Cheese
Here’s a modernized Spinach and Artichokes dip made with goat cheese! Yumm! This dip is perfect to serve during the Holidays get togethers.
Get Recipe: Spinach & Artichokes Dip with Goat Cheese
Marinated Red Peppers in IP
Marinated red peppers cooked in pressure cooker with garlic, olive oil, vinegar, peppercorn and bay leaves make for a delicious side dish to garnish any meal. I got used to these peppers being a meze on New Year eve dinners. It was really a staple on New Year’s eve together with the Russian Salad.
Get Recipe: Marinated Red Peppers (Gogozhare)
Bolivian Christmas Soup (Picana)
This hearty and comforting soup is called Picana in Bolivia. My husband’s family cooks this soup for Christmas eve (Nochebuena) and we try to uphold the tradition here in Florida too. Obviously, some of the ingredients are slightly different but we manage to keep the tradition alive. Check out this soup, you’ll really love it!!
Get Recipe: Bolivian Christmas Soup (Picana)
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