There are certain treats that always pop up this time of year (and no other time).
For me, it’s my grandmother’s Russian TeaCakes (little cookies made with ground nuts and sprinkled with powdered sugar), Dean’s Gingerbread Ice Cream Sandwiches and scalloped corn (my father makes it for Christmas and Christmas only. Meanie).
Any foods you only eat/make this time of year that you crave year round? Any foods that scream “holidays” to you?
Yorkshire Pudding. drool
I work for Starbucks, and they only roll out the Cranberry Bliss Bars around the holidays, so that’d be mine…
Edy’s peppermint ice-cream (though I haven’t seen it yet this year). It reminds me of the HoJo stuff from when I was kid. *(Boy, there’s a reference no one under the age of 40 will get.)
Also my Christmas cookies – drop cookies with fruitcake fruit. Sounds weird, but they’re yummmalicious – and there are several people who start checking in in mid-November to make sure they’ll be getting their annual fix.
Strawberries. Not real, but soooooooo sweet and good. Mmmm…
Sweetened condensed milk, walnuts, coconut, strawberry jello. Mix. Shape into strawberries. Roll in red sugar. Color almond slivers with green food coloring and insert as stem. Eat.
You can find the recipe online. google “christmas strawberries”.
My dad only makes his fudge during the holidays. It’s absolutely incredible.
I know there are places to get regular fudge throughout the year but there is nowhere to get my dad’s fudge throughout the year.
Chocolate-cinnamon squares!
Lordy-lou, they’re good, and my mom makes them every Christmas. Bar cookies with chocolate chips and cinnamon sugar and walnuts, and they melt in your mouth, and you can’t help but eat just one more…just another one…one last cookie before we go… oh my heavens.
Chocolate-cinnamon squares.
oh
my
heavens
Egg nog! 
Gingerbread with whipped cream
Oh man… I have to agree with the eggnog… eggnog in the coffee… eggnog by itself… eggnog with rum or vodka…
But my absolute fave is my Mom’s ‘Cape Breton Pork Pies’. The recipe can be found in the From Old Nova Scotia Kitchens cookbook. It’s wonderful… it’s got no pork or any kind of meat in it (unless you use mincemeat with meat in it). It’s these little tarts about half the size of regular ones with a sweet base, filled with mincemeat/dates and topped by butter icing. She only makes it for special occasions, usually around Christmas. Sadly I haven’t lived with her/near her for years so I haven’t had them and they would do horribly in the mail 
I’m thinking I need to attempt to make them myself this year, but I’ll go simple. I don’t have the patience to make the mincemeat and then the tarts.
But when they are around… man I could eat myself sick on them and eggnog 
Not only do you steal both my names, now you have to steal my favourite holiday cookie too? I swear to you that as soon as I read the thread title I clicked on it intending to post about Russian TeaCakes.
I haven’t had these since before my mother died. Gods, I love this cookie! You just have to be careful not to inhale while chewing. A mistake I’ve made more than once
My mother makes these apricot and cherry coffeecakes shaped into candycanes. It’s pastry cut into strips, then braided, with the chopped apricot and cherries in the middle. Then icing is put on it.
It’s so freaking delicious. But since my mom makes it from scratch, she only makes it for Xmas. I love that treat.
Eggnog and home-made Toll House cookies.
I’m the one who actually bakes the cookies, because my mom would self-destruct if she had to make anything from scratch or actually follow a recipe. I’m not much better, but we manage to choke the cookies down every year without breaking any teeth.
We also drink a lot of cheap champagne at Christmas, and that’s always fun!
Another vote for eggnog here. Mmmmmm.
I also only make my homemade caramels this time of year – give them out as gifts to people. Need to make some tomorrow, actually.
I told you we were separated at birth a * long * time ago, Mauvy.
Bourbon balls. Sweet bourbony goodness!
Grasshoppers! (Equal parts crushed ice, heavy cream, creme de menthe, creme de cacao, whipped up in a blender - liquid candy with a buzz.)
Archway Cookies - Wedding Bells
mmmmmmmmm
sweet round balls of delight rolled in powdered sugar
mmmmmmmmm
please excuse me while I go have a cholesterol-laden heart attack
mmmmmmmmm
A Smithfield Ham.
I started doing this about 5-6 years ago. I get a 15 lb. one and it MUST be a genuine Smithfield. Soak it overnight, cook it on Christmas day and slice and give away half of it to Virginian expatriates around here. The rest goes on buttered buscuits which I make from scratch. ONce a year.
My neighbor makes these little green cookies shaped like Christmas trees. They’re molded, not cut out, so they’ve got these little ridges on them. She puts either green or red sugar in them. I don’t know what it is about these cookies, but they are soooooo good. I could eat the whole plate of them all by myself.