# Favorite Christmas candies and desserts? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 6, 2011, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-christmas-candies-and-desserts/605237 "2011-12-06T04:51:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BeaMyra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@BeaMyra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeaMyra)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-christmas-candies-and-desserts/605237/41 "2011-12-09T13:11:43Z")
I love soft gingerbread. But it has to be soft. ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2011, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-christmas-candies-and-desserts/605237/42 "2011-12-10T05:56:56Z")
> [@UntouchedTakeaway](#): > > @dwyr: > > Thank you so much! Looky what I found! > > [Liwocz Polish Flower and Fruit Design Fruit Flavored Lollipops - Small - Lizaki Deseniowe | Polish Art Center](http://www.polartcenter.com/Polish_Flower_and_Fruit_Design_Fruit_Flavored_Loll_p/9703315.htm) > > šŸ˜ƒ > > UT Those are really neat! ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-christmas-candies-and-desserts/605237/43 "2011-12-11T01:19:37Z")
> [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](#): > > My grandmother made iced molasses bar cookies. I havenā€™t had them in forty or so years. I have a partial recipe - Iā€™m sure Grandma never wrote it down, but I guess my aunt took a stab at it: 1 cup oleo 1 cup water 1 cup sorghum molasses 1 cup light brown sugar 1 tablespoon soda 1/2 teaspoon ginger vanilla enough flour to barely roll out cut in strips and bake on cookie sheet at 350 - they rise on touch. So, ballpark on amount of flour? What should the finished dough look like - thicker than pancake batter, but not as thick as peanut butter? ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-christmas-candies-and-desserts/605237/44 "2011-12-11T02:58:44Z")
Iā€™m one of the three or four people in North America who loves fruitcake. My daughter loves it too, so we fight over it. And Iā€™ve been to Nuremburg (Nuernberg) for REAL lebkuchen. OMG. Iā€™d kill for that now. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-christmas-candies-and-desserts/605237/45 "2011-12-11T07:19:31Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > Chocolate Covered Cherries. > [@devilsknew](#): > > Pfeffernuss Both of these are high on my Christmas list. For Pfeffernuss i prefer the type with the hard frosting rather than the one with the powdered sugar. ---
**Author:** ![shellofmyformerself](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f8ce5/32.png) [@shellofmyformerself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shellofmyformerself)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-christmas-candies-and-desserts/605237/46 "2011-12-12T01:14:21Z")
Jingles cookies, although I havenā€™t been able to find them anywhere this year. ā˜¹ My grammy always had a couple of boxes ready for me when I went to visit. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-christmas-candies-and-desserts/605237/47 "2011-12-12T01:33:52Z")
My grandfather always used to make some really great \*\*divinity \*\*around Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-christmas-candies-and-desserts/605237/48 "2011-12-14T02:09:19Z")
I also forgot to mention mincemeat pie. I probably like it so much because it REMINDS me of fruitcake! Alas, I donā€™t even bother with buying it any more. Since nobody else really cares for it, Iā€™m NOT buying a whole pie that will scream at me from the refrigerator, ā€œYoo HOO, VOW! Itā€™s MINCEMEAT! You KNOW you love it!ā€ I hate screaming food. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-christmas-candies-and-desserts/605237/49 "2011-12-14T03:08:07Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > Iā€™m one of the three or four people in North America who loves fruitcake. My daughter loves it too, so we fight over it. > > And Iā€™ve been to Nuremburg (Nuernberg) for REAL lebkuchen. OMG. Iā€™d kill for that now. > ~VOW Iā€™m one of the others! I love fruitcake. The store bought stuff is chancy in quality, but the stuff from The Collins Street Bakery in Corsicana Texas is great. But my mother and I actually MAKE fruitcake. We use a recipe that my paternal grandmother saved from a newspaper in Buffalo New York, some time in the 1940ā€™s. No alcohol, but lots of fruit and nuts. Do you make fruitcake VOW? ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-christmas-candies-and-desserts/605237/50 "2011-12-14T08:50:24Z")
Peanut brittle is my fave. I have a great recipe for making it in the microwave and itā€™s almost as good as the old fashioned kind. Also, Mexican wedding cakes, chocolate fudge with walnuts, and buckeyes. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-christmas-candies-and-desserts/605237/51 "2011-12-14T15:41:35Z")
> [@shellofmyformerself](#): > > Jingles cookies, although I havenā€™t been able to find them anywhere this year. ā˜¹ > > . Me, too. Iā€™ve looked in northern Illinois and central Illinois, but no Jingles. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-christmas-candies-and-desserts/605237/52 "2011-12-14T15:45:27Z")
I havenā€™t seen a tin of Danish butter cookies or a Terryā€™s chocolate orange yet this year. Iā€™m worried. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-christmas-candies-and-desserts/605237/53 "2011-12-15T22:48:54Z")
> [@BeaMyra](#): > > I love soft gingerbread. But it has to be soft. Cookies or cake/loaf? I have an awesome soft ginger cookie recipe, and just made a wonderful pumpkin gingerbread loaf from Simply Recipes (on my phone or Iā€™d link). I love fruitcake also. Maybe Iā€™ll make a poll. VOW have you considered making your own mincemeat? My aunt does and freezes it (and if I quit being so lazy I would too) and when she wants can thaw some out and makes tarts. Might be easier than having a whole pie screaming at you. JayJay, Iā€™ve seen chocolate oranges but Iā€™ve avoided the seasonal aisle so I havenā€™t seen Danish butter cookies either. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-christmas-candies-and-desserts/605237/54 "2011-12-15T22:57:19Z")
To Baker: I tried making fruitcake once, but since I didnā€™t have the right pans, it was pretty much a bust. One year, my aunt decided to make every single fruitcake recipe she could find. OMG, here it is, forty years later, and I still obsess on that one holiday season! Most of the cakes were similar, but two stood out because they were so DIFFERENT from the others. **Chocolate fruitcake:** The cake batter itself was a dense chocolalte cake. The dried/candied fruit assortment included big, fat dark raisins (Muscat?), figs, diced prunes, and candied cherries. Just describing it makes me want a slab with a huge cup of coffeeā€¦ **Hawaiian fruitcake:** A white batter, no real spices to mention, and the dried/candied fruits included candied pineapple, candied cherries, coconut and I THINK macadamia nuts. DAYAM. How do you get drool out of a keyboard??? ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![belladonna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@belladonna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/belladonna)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-christmas-candies-and-desserts/605237/55 "2011-12-15T23:25:03Z")
> [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](#): > > I have a partial recipe - Iā€™m sure Grandma never wrote it down, but I guess my aunt took a stab at it: > > 1 cup oleo > 1 cup water > 1 cup sorghum molasses > 1 cup light brown sugar > 1 tablespoon soda > 1/2 teaspoon ginger > vanilla > enough flour to barely roll out > > cut in strips and bake on cookie sheet at 350 - they rise on touch. > > So, ballpark on amount of flour? What should the finished dough look like - thicker than pancake batter, but not as thick as peanut butter? That seems like a lot of water to me, in relation to the amounts of the other ingredients. That being said, my guess, based on that ingredient list, is that the oleo and sugar should be creamed; then add the water, vanilla and molasses and mix well again. Combine 2 1/2 cups of flour, the ginger and soda and then mix into your wet ingredients. If needed, add more flour, just a 1/8 cup at a time, until it comes together for rolling. That means **just until** you can roll small balls in your hands without it sticking to you. Err on the side of sticky, because youā€™ll be adding more flour when you roll them out. For me, Christmas isnā€™t Christmas without the homemade stuff. I could happily live without the holiday-themed store-bought stuff forever, but a single season without the fudge, iced sugar cookies shaped like snowmen and stars, Chrusciki, buckeyes, spritz, no-bakes, church windows, rum-rings and mince pie would be wrong. I donā€™t even like and/or eat half of them, but something about seeing them all spread out on the table makes the holiday hit home for me. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-christmas-candies-and-desserts/605237/56 "2011-12-16T01:58:00Z")
Bless you, **belladonna**! Iā€™ll give it a shot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-christmas-candies-and-desserts/605237.md?page=2)