With the holidays coming soon, the annual holiday snacks are coming with them too. Here are some quick, easy, and cute holiday treats to make and share for all the holidays that come along during the winter season. 

Christmas is originally the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus, though today it’s more associated with gifts, gratitude and togetherness. Peppermint reindeer bark is a fun, fast, and easy recipe to make which is delicious as well. Peppermint reindeer bark has all the aspects of Christmas, with reindeers representing Rudolph, peppermint reminiscent of candy canes, and chocolate of the festive advent calendars. It’s super festive and honestly, cannot be messed up, so if cooking is not your thing, this recipe is for you. 

https://www.itsalwaysautumn.com/peppermint-reindeer-bark-super-easy-recipe.html 

Hanukkah is the 8-day Jewish festival of light. It is celebrated on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev, which falls around wintertime. Food plays a big part in the celebration. The holiday commemorates the Talmud story of the Miracle of the Cruse of Oil, a myth in which one day’s worth of lamp oil lasted eight full days for a group of rebelling Jews. To celebrate, Jewish people consume food fried in oil over Hanukkah. One very popular dish is sufganiyot, deep fried jelly donuts originating in 15th century Germany. It’s sweet, rich, and a true Hanukkah favorite. We recommend this recipe:

https://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/sufganiyot/

The Dong Zhi (冬至) Festival is celebrated in China, Taiwan, South Korea and Mongolia to celebrate the winter solstice, tracing its roots back to Taoism. It’s a holiday that gets families together, one fundamental tradition being  the consumption of a dish called tangyuan (汤圆). Taoyuan are sweet, glutinous rice balls filled usually with black sesame seed paste or peanuts, although over time other modern fillings have become popular. It is sweet and delicious and a super popular part of the festival. Here’s a link to a recipe if you’d like to try it!

https://redhousespice.com/tang-yuan/ 

Diwali is the five-day Hindu festival of lights that celebrates the victory of light over darkness. A popular food eaten during this festival is gulab jamun. Gulab jamun is sweet deep fried milk solid soaked in sugar syrup. It’s high in sugar, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is very delicious. Try out this South Asian sweet treat with this link:

https://hebbarskitchen.com/milk-powder-gulab-jamun-recipe/ 

Saint Lucia’s Day is a winter holiday celebrated in Sweden, Norway and parts of Finland. It is a festival of light in honour of  the Chrisitan saint Lucia. One dessert that goes along with this cultural tradition is Lussekatter. It is sweet, buttery, saffron infused buns with some raisins on top, that are best enjoyed freshly out of the oven! Here’s a recipe if this sounds good to you!

https://ingmar.app/blog/recipe-swedish-saffron-buns-lussekatt-lussebulle/ 

I hope you enjoy at least one of these wonderful sweet treats over the holidays, they are definitely worth a try!