My mom and grandmother did huge amounts of baking and candy making during the holidays.  One of my fondest memories is coming home from school and stepping into a warm kitchen that held the scents of vanilla, chocolate, mint, and cinnamon.

Well, what I really loved was seeing all those cookies cooling on racks.  Very few were the frosted and decorated type, though she made delicious butter cookies shaped like candy canes.  All of her cookies were so scrumptuous. 

Mom would start baking cookies right after Thanksgiving.  She’d store many of them in the freezer to be doled out as gifts, but there was always plenty on hand for the family too.   Oh, and she made brownies from scratch.  Thick, rich and chocolaty.  They never lasted long!  Same with her fudge which was the creamy type that she cooked on the stove. 

 

Grandmother prided herself on the divinity she made each year, swearing that she had to wait until the weather was just right to make it.  They were just perfectly beautiful little clouds, sometimes tinted in pastels.  In all honesty I was never a fan of it though.

I did like her peanut brittle.  That’s one thing I’ve never tried making, because I also remember her saying how much trouble it was.  Uh, thank you, I have enough trouble without looking for more!                  

She was always experimenting with different types of fudge.  Some were fabulous.  Some were interesting in a who’d have thought way.  Some not so much.  It was the same with the little fruit and vegetable cakes she’d make: pumpkin, zucchini, pear, and some that were unidentifiable other than a strong taste of allspice.   

Those are some of the memories I associate with the holidays.  I don’t do much dessert and candy making at all, but when I do I’m thrust right back to those simpler happy times.

That’s what is was like for the heroine in my latest book, A Cowboy Christmas.  Ellie is a stranger to the kitchen, but she had fond memories of her mother’s baking.  She’s also a total believer of all things Christmas and tries to recreate those traditions that she holds dear just once.

 Do you keep any holiday baking traditions that have special meaning for you, or bring back fond memories?  Are there certain candies, cakes or cookies that you buy for the holidays that have become a family tradition?