Four Original Holiday Recipes and Matching Tablescapes

Need some recipes to whip up this holiday season? Or, maybe you’re looking for ideas on how to set and decorate the table? Spoonflower’s Brand Marketing team has you covered for both! We’re sharing our favorite original holiday recipes passed down from our families to you, along with our top picks for coordinating table decor from both Spoonflower and Shutterfly. Continue reading for pies, ciders and more!

Suz: Every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas my family has hot cranberry cider simmering on the stovetop. Family members fill ceramic mugs collected from travels and warm their hands near the steaming beverage after raking leaves or take sips during games like Upwords or Rummikub. My mom or aunt keep adding more ingredients, so the cider never runs out the whole weekend.

About seven years ago, I remembered to ask my Nana for the recipe—one found years ago in a newspaper—and I took photos of it next to the decorative corn my grandad had grown. When searching for this recipe to share with you all, I realized that it was marked in my Nana’s handwriting as “Dave’s recipe”—my grandad who sadly passed away in October of 2022 at the age of 91. He loved this cider more than any of us, and I’m so thankful we have his recipe to carry on the tradition.

Ingredients:
– 1 quart apple cider or apple juice
– 1 (32 oz.) bottle of cranberry juice cocktail
– 1/2 cup of bottled lemon juice
– 1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
– 8 whole cloves
– 2 cinnamon sticks

Instructions:
1. In a large saucepan, combine ingredients and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.
3. Serve warm.

Katie: Our family’s holiday feasts aren’t complete without a homemade pecan pie from our Grammy! With the biggest sweet tooth in our family, she’s the one who’s ready for dessert as soon as she’s eaten the last bite of dinner. There’s always a family feud as to enjoy your slice with vanilla ice cream or Cool Whip, but ice cream’s got my vote every year. Although my Grammy doesn’t remember the origin of the recipe, it’s been passed around our family and will be for future generations to come.

Ingredients:
– 3 eggs
– 3/4 cup of granulated sugar
– 3/4 cup of white corn syrup
– Dash of salt
– 1/4 cup of melted butter or margarine
– 1 tsp. of vanilla extract
– 1 cup of pecans (chopped)
– Unbaked 9-inch pastry shell

Instructions:
1. Beat the eggs thoroughly in a bowl, then add sugar, syrup and salt. Mix well.
2. Add butter and vanilla and beat well again.
3. Put the pecans in the bottom of the pie shell then pour the mixture over.
4. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, then 35 minutes at 300 degrees.

Elizabeth: My Nana makes the best pound cake ever. She makes this cake year-round but especially for holidays and birthdays. We all call it a pound cake, but the original recipe is called a cold oven cake because you don’t preheat the oven. If you invite her to a family gathering, chances are she’ll show up with one of these cakes in a portable cake holder. She has this recipe memorized and has taught it to each of her nine grandchildren. One year for Christmas, we got her a cutting board engraved with the original, hand-written recipe (see below)!

Ingredients:
– 3 sticks of margarine
– 5 eggs (room temperature and slightly beaten)
– 3 cups of sugar
– 3 cups of flour
– 1 cup of milk
– 1 tsp. of lemon juice
– 1 tsp. of almond extract
– 1/4 tsp. of salt

Instructions:
1. Cream the butter (soften in microwave for 30 seconds).
2. Add sugar and mix until blended.
3. Add eggs a little at a time.
4. Add flour and milk alternately.
5. Add lemons, almond and salt, then mix.
6. Spray a tube pan with cooking spray and add the mixture.
7. Put in a cold oven (do not preheat) and bake at 350 degrees for 1-1.5 hours until a toothpick comes out clean.

Jessie: My Dad always makes this apple pie, and his mother made it before him. I have vivid memories of listening to the sound of the hand crank apple peeler peel apple after apple in preparation for holiday gatherings.

This pie wasn’t just a holiday tradition. My Dad occasionally entered it into a some pie competitions at local fairs—he even won a few! He doesn’t reference a recipe at all while baking this, in fact, to get the recipe he talked me through it over the phone. Recently he’s been experimenting with a dryer crust, so the bottom crust doesn’t get too soft, but personally, the gooey bottom crust was always my favorite part as a kid. He also wanted to make sure that anyone who makes this recipe just relaxes and has fun making it (any wonder where I get my love of art and making?).

Pie crust ingredients: 
– 2 cups of flour
– 2/3 cup of shortening 
– 1 tsp. of salt
– 1/2 cup of water 

Pie filling ingredients: 
– 7-9 apples, Granny Smith work best
– 5 very thin pads of butter
– Cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar to taste (the amount is up to you!)

Instructions:
1. Sift the flour and salt together into a bowl. 
2. Cut in the shortening using a pastry blender or knives. 
3. Once ingredients are combined well, slowly add water and combine with a fork or your hands.
4. Separate your dough into two even balls, wrap with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 5-10 minutes while you wash your apples and clean up your workspace for the next step. 
5. Generously dust your work area and rolling pin with flour and roll out your bottom crust. Lightly dust the top of the crust and flip it over to roll again. Do this a few times until the crust is large enough. It should be about 1/8-3/16” thick.
6. Transfer your bottom crust to a glass pie pan. Your crust should be large enough so that you have a minimum of 3/4” extra around the pie pan. 
7. Peel and slice your apples. Add them directly onto the bottom crust in your pie pan. Apples cook down as they bake, so you want to add enough apples to make a mound that is higher than the top of the pie pan.
8. Sprinkle cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar to taste. The amount of brown sugar will depend on how sweet your apples are.
9. Add 5 very small pads of butter on top of the apples. 
10. Roll out your top crust (don’t forget to sprinkle flour again so it doesn’t stick!). Moisten your fingers and run them across the edge of the bottom crust to help the top and bottom crust seal together. 
11. Transfer your top crust to the pie. Using kitchen shears, cut the edges so you have about 3/4” extra all the way around your pie.  Roll the extra edges in and using two fingers on one hand and one finger on the other, crimp the edges together. Cut 5 slits in the top crust radiating out from the center (see above photo of pie for reference).
12. Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes, then down to 375 degrees until the apples are done. If a knife easily goes through all the apples, you’re finished!