No matter how you celebrate the holidays, chances are you follow at least one tradition.

For some of us, almost everything we do is rooted in our memories of growing up, while others create new traditions along the way.

In my family, the foods we eat on Christmas Eve are the same as my Italian mother and her family grew up eating. On Christmas Day, our menu was created when my husband and I shared our first Christmas together.

Many of those traditions came with our parents and grandparents as they immigrated to the United States, whether they be Irish, Italian, Polish, Lithuanian — whatever your background, chances are some special recipe may have been passed down to the next generation.

Italy

For Christine Rootes, it wouldn’t be Christmas without homemade cannolis. The story about how she got the recipe is almost as delicious as the finished product.

“More than 60 years ago, my great Aunt Millie gave the recipe to my grandmother, but Millie always kept one ingredient secret when giving out recipes because she didn’t want anyone else to make it better than her,” says Rootes.

“About 15 years ago, Millie’s daughter, Gloria, gave me Millie’s recipe. But like her mother, Gloria also keeps one ingredient secret. My grandmother’s recipe mentions no egg yolks, but has a cinnamon stick, and Gloria’s recipe mentions no cinnamon stick but has 2 egg yolks.

“Between the two, I think I now have the complete recipe.”

Thanks, Christine, for sharing the entire recipe.

Cannoli Shells and Filling

Shells:

1½ cups of flour

1 tablespoon sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking powder

2 tablespoons shortening

½ cup wine (or more if needed) Use white wine if you have it; red is fine but will darken the color of the shells.

Mix flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Work in the shortening, then add wine a little at a time to form a nice dough. Knead well. Take about a nickel-size piece of dough and roll thin, then wrap loosely around a cannoli tube form. Overlap the ends on top of the tube and pinch ends to seal (I wet one end of dough by dipping my finger in water and running it along the edge of dough before overlapping. This works well to seal the dough).

Deep fry in shortening, rolling tube to make sure all sides become a nice golden brown. Carefully remove from oil and drain on paper towels. Allow to cool very slightly, carefully remove shells from tube forms by pushing gently down the form so as not to break the shells. You must not let the shells become too cool on the tubes or they will stick and break (finger burns are part of the process unfortunately). Shells must be fully cooled before filling.

Cannoli filling:

3 pounds *ricotta cheese

2 cups milk, plus ½ cup milk

8 tablespoons cornstarch

2½ cups sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 egg yolk

½ orange peel

1 cinnamon stick

1 cup Hershey’s almond bars, chopped (the big block kind, not the small candy bars)

Pistachio nuts, chopped (optional)

Mix milk and sugar together with vanilla and egg yoke in a medium-size pan. Place orange peel and cinnamon stick in the liquid mixture before it starts to thicken. Meanwhile, mix ½ cup milk with the cornstarch (it will be thick and hard), then add this to your mixture in the pan.

Cook on medium heat; continue to cook until the mixture starts to thicken. This should start to happen in a few minutes, then remove the orange peel and cinnamon stick. Continue to boil this mixture until it gets really thick, even after this has thickened continue to boil for about 5 minutes more. It has to be extremely thick, like paste. When you think it is thick enough, remove from the stove and cool completely (I put it in the refrigerator). As it cools it will get even thicker.

After this “custard” has cooled blend it together with the *ricotta cheese. You can mix and beat the ricotta and the custard until your arm is numb, and then mix some more. Or you can also use a rotary food mill. Take part of the custard and part of the ricotta and put into the food mill and blend. Repeat process until all ricotta and custard is mixed well. (The whole mixture may need to go through the food mill several times) The filling should be well-blended with a creamy texture.

When this process is complete, chop the Hershey’s chocolate bar and add to your filling. Mix well.

Keep in refrigerator. Fill shells (from both ends) only when ready to serve/eat. You can dip the ends of the cannoli in chopped pistachio nuts. And sprinkle powdered sugar on top before serving.

*A word about ricotta: Ricotta brands sold in regular grocery stores today have a higher liquid content than ever before and will make your filling watery, no matter how long you attempt to drain it on cheesecloth. For best results, go to an Italian market and buy good ricotta; Impastata ricotta is wonderful for cannoli! But I’ve also had good luck with making my own so-called “ricotta” cheese in an instant pot.

Norway

Gretchen Anthony says lefse is a staple on the holiday table for anyone of Scandinavian descent.

“Think of lefse as a Norwegian tortilla, but softer and sweeter. Like potato bread compared to bread made with white flour,” she says.

“At our house, we love it slathered with sweet cream butter and cinnamon sugar. Other families use it as a wrap for the Swedish meatballs.

Either way, it’s best fresh off the griddle because after a day or so, you may as well be eating cardboard.”

Lefse

Makes 24 rounds

5 pounds potatoes

1 tablespoon salt

3 tablespoons butter

3/4-1 cup heavy cream

1 cup all-purpose flour

Peel and boil potatoes in a pot of salted water until they pierce easily with a fork. Drain and transfer to a large mixing bowl. Mix in the butter and cream until completely smooth. An electric mixer works great. Dough should be moist but not too wet to shape into balls. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Roll the dough into 24 equal balls and set aside. Roll out each ball as thinly as possible, using just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking.

Heat a griddle over medium heat. Cook each round until golden brown bubbles begin to form on the heated side. Flip and repeat.

Stack finished lefse and cover with a tea towel to keep moist. When completely cool, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Freeze for up to a month.

Back to Italy

It doesn’t seem like Christmas without a bowl of struffoli in our house. These Italian honey balls are a colorful holiday treat. I’ll be making them with my granddaughter this year, hoping to pass on the tradition to another generation.

Here’s my mother’s recipe.

Struffoli

6 eggs

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup margarine, melted

1 3/4 cups sugar

8 cups of flour

3 tablespoons milk

2 tablespoons vanilla

Combine 7 cups of flour with the dry ingredients and create a well on a clean counter top (real Italians never use bowls!) or in a bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Add the last cup of flour a little at a time, until all ingredients bind together.

Deep fry in oil until golden brown. Drench in honey and sprinkle with multi-colored nonpareils.