What is your favorite time of the year? My favorite time is around the holidays and the traditions my family holds. Every family has cherished holiday traditions, they are important to the holidays and show love. One of my favorite memories begins when I was 8 years old. On my birthday we started a tradition of making desserts with each other because my favorite dessert my grandma made were banana chocolate chip cookies and fudge. My whole family loves her desserts. So every holiday like Christmas, Thanksgiving, and birthdays we all make any dessert we want regardless of what our pick is. My grandma has a family recipe for Banana Chocolate Chip cookies and Fudge. Those are holiday favs in our family. I’m not going to give the family recipe but if you see my grandma you can ask her for it. The general recipe for fudge is (Cocoa powder: Use unsweetened cocoa powder. Dutch cocoa powder is milder and less bitter than natural cocoa powder. Sugar: You’ll need 2 cups of granulated sugar. Milk: Whole milk gives the fudge a rich flavor. Butter: Use 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter for the fudge, plus more for the baking dish. Vanilla extract: Add a couple teaspoons of vanilla extract for its flavor and aroma). You can find this recipe at thekitchn.com. But the fun thing about fudge is you can add many different things into it like nuts, sprinkles, peanut butter, and white chocolate chips. The other holiday dessert is banana chocolate chip cookies this recipe came from allrecipes, 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon baking soda, 1 cup white sugar, ⅔ cupbutter softened, 1 cup mashed bananas, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips. Personally my favorite one of these two to make is the banana chocolate chip cookies, you can make as many as you want and they really aren’t time consuming. Two Christmas’s ago my cousin made her own batch of cookies and it did not turn out the way she wanted to, they were banana chocolate chip muffins… definitely not cookies. Baking during the holidays is so much fun it always brings laughter, inside jokes, and bonding. Other than baking my family does Secret Santa for a tradition. Last year I won $500 off of a $2 lottery ticket from my Secret Santa and my cousin was so livid because she wanted some of the money so she threw both cookies and fudge at me. My family doesn’t really have many holiday traditions but those two traditions still are my favorite things to do during any holiday. The little things matter so much, my family always walks out of each holiday with a smile on their face. Over all holiday traditions are very special and heartwarming. Spending time with family and friends brings all joy and seeing loved ones that may live out of town or you just don’t see often. What are your favorite holiday traditions? Do you travel or stay home?
