Christmas cake, mince pies, stollen and lebkuchen. Usually for us it's a choice between these for us, but this year we seem to have all four. And when I thought more about them, I realised that for each of them we have our own traditions, and I expect you do too.
Christmas cake, for example, you can probably see in the picture below it's still in its cellophane. It's clearly not one I've made and we don't tend to make a Christmas cake. Christmas pudding yes, but not Christmas cake. This one was part of one of our early Christmas presents from our early family Christmas, at the start of the month. I'm a big fan of Christmas cake, and quite often we leave my parents and my in-laws with a chunk of cake, which is always very welcome.
But the one thing about Christmas cake is we never eat it before Christmas Day. And actually after Christmas lunch, a snooze and a turkey sandwich in the evening, there's often not much room for cake, but it's always worth a try, isn't it?
Mince pies on the other hand, for us they're perfectly acceptable to eat in the run up to Christmas and we'll probably have almost a box a week. We'll eat them over Christmas too, but it's unlikely that we'll buy any more once it gets to January. I made mincemeat once, a while back now, when I was clearly feeling more industrious, and it tasted good. I remember it made a lot, but it's the sort of thing that keeps, and matures well. Maybe I'll make it again another year, but in the meantime we've still got these to eat.
Stollen is another favourite of mine and I'd quite happily eat this all year round. The marzipan in this one is more like a swiss roll than how I'd expected it to be. I've not made a stollen, but I think it's something I'd definitely give a go. I'd made something similar, an Almond Kringle Wreath and that tasted way better than it looked! Although I personally think anything containing marzipan is a winner!
And both of these German treats, we eat in the run up to Christmas too. I'm not sure if that's because they're newer to us, and not part of our childhood traditions, or just because we're making our new traditions with them, and like how they taste! So while I settle in and help myself to at least one of these, let me know about your traditions with cake at Christmas.
And if you're wondering about my Christmas stocking, then pop back on Christmas Eve and I'll share more about its story then.
* This is a collaborative post, with thanks to Bahlsen who sent me these German treats to try. As ever, all views and opinions are my own.