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Home for the Holidays: Gluten Free Fritters (also called Förtchen, Futtjens or Ferdons)

 

Welcome to Day 3 of Home for the Holidays – Gluten-Free Style, hosted by Shirley Braden of Gluten Free Easily.

In case you’ve missed the first two posts, here’s a quick recap for you:  From November 28 – December 23, we have 25 bloggers sharing 26 gluten-free recipes that mean “home” and “holidays” to us.  We will be giving away almost 100 prizes, everything from cookbooks (print and e-books), resource books, apps, magazine subscriptions (print and digital), and other various “helpers” for gluten-free, whole-food living.  There will also be 3 grand prizes, including a top of the line Vita-Mix!

Few things say Christmas more to me than Elvis’ I’ll Be Home for Christmas because my dad traveled extensively when I was a kid – but he always made it home in time for Christmas (the best present of all) – so a post about home for the holidays would not be the same for me without a little mood music from the king!

I love Christmas, so much so that I begin decorating right after Halloween.  It takes me that long to transform my home into a little North Pole oasis in the heart of the desert of New Mexico…complete with four Christmas trees and an outdoor spectacle that would make Clark Griswold proud!

Growing up, we didn’t have many holiday food traditions and for that, I’m actually thankful.  Sure, we made cutout sugar cookies and glopped several tubes of Betty Crocker’s red and green icing on top but that was about it.  Instead, our traditions had more to do with activities: driving around looking at Christmas lights and visiting the old Lazarus department store in downtown Columbus, Ohio to see the talking tree and visit with Santa.

I’m pretty much the same way with my kids today, focusing most of our traditions on activities instead of food.  Traditions like decking our halls with a ridiculous amount of boughs of holly, visiting the New Mexico Bio Park Society’s River of Lights and watching Christmas Vacation and A Christmas Story no fewer than 432 times!  And yes, I have a replica of the famous Leg Lamp as well as the crazy Moose Mugs for my dairy-free nog (see photo below).

Of course, I’ve made more than my fair share of gluten free and allergy friendly holiday sweets over the years too:

Gingerbread House: Gluten Free, Dairy Free and Egg Free

Buckeyes: Dairy-Free

Cutout Sugar Cookies: Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Corn Free and Egg Free

Biscochitos: Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free and Corn Free

Winter Oreos: Gluten Free, Dairy Free and Egg Free

Peppermint Bark

Fudge: Dairy Free

Handcrafted Caramels: Dairy Free

Marshmallows: Corn-Free and Egg-Free and Hot Cocoa: Dairy-Free and Refined Sugar-Free

And today I will be sharing an old family recipe from my German/Danish heritage.  This traditional Christmas treat goes by many names; Förtchen, Futjens (or Futtjens) and Ferdons being just a few of them.  For simplicity sake, my gramps used to called them fritters.

Seriously, you have got to make these…without a doubt, the best dessert I’ve made in 6 years! 🙂

Gotta love that 70’s sofa!  When Gramps passed away, I got his pocket protector and eye glasses, one of my most precious possessions.

I lost my beloved grandfather in 2006, but if he were alive today, he’d be 99 years old!  He was born in the United States but both of his parents were from Germany…and my gramps only spoke German for the first few years of his life.

Förtchen are a traditional Christmas pastry in parts of northern Germany, especially in Schleswig-Holstein and in Denmark.  My family’s original fritter recipe is much like a very dense cake-style donut hole.  They taste great when they are freshly made, but they become hard as rocks the day after (so don’t plan on storing the leftovers unless you want to break a tooth).  This fact is true whether you make the glutonium-filled version or the gluten-free variety.

The original recipe is also a bit time consuming because it contains yeast and therefore you have to plan ahead to allow time for rising.  I’m much too impatient for that silly business so I did what I do best…I converted my own family recipe to be not only gluten-free and dairy-free but yeast-free and sitting on your behind for 2 hours-free! 😉

I contacted my Aunt Maggie in Minnesota (she’s our family’s ancestry guru) about the fritter recipe and here’s what she had to say:

The fritters were a tradition handed down on the German side of the family.  Your Grandpa Schmidt grew up with this Christmas Eve meal and I know that some of the German American families still have this tradition.  Your cousin Tim has a friend who lives in southern Iowa and he told me that this is his family tradition as well and is also the tradition of many in his town.

Our German ancestors were from the most northern part of Germany, in an area called Schleswig-Holstein.  That part of the country was once a part of Denmark and I suspect that this recipe is somewhat Danish in origin.

The recipe, as written, came from your Great Grandma Hannah (Petersen) Schmidt and I’m sure that it was handed down from her mother (the Petersen family came from the city of Eckernförde in Schleswig-Holstein).

Several years ago, I was talking to your Grandpa Schmidt and he told me that they were actually called “futjens” (foot-yens) in his family.  I was on a Schleswig-Holstein genealogy list and there was a conversation about this.  There was a variation on the spelling but I believe this was the correct German name for the fritters.

You are very brave to try and convert the recipe to gluten free. 🙂 But, here it is.  This recipe is really large, it was large enough to feed our family of 7 for our whole meal.  I usually cut it in half and we still have lots left over.  We now have it for Christmas Day breakfast but when we grew up, this was our Christmas Eve meal.

**For the original Schmidt/Petersen family Fritter recipe, click here.

Gluten Free Fritters (also called Förtchen, Futtjens or Ferdons)

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 4 Eggs, separated
  • 1 tsp. Sea Salt
  • 2 Tbs. Agave Nectar (or Sugar)
  • 1/3 cup Butter, melted (for dairy free, use your favorite vegan butter)
  • 1/4 tsp. ground Cardamon
  • 1/2 – 1 cup Raisins (optional)
  • 1 3/4 cup Milk (for dairy-free, use your favorite milk substitute – I used So Delicious Vegan Nog for a special twist)
  • 2 cups Gluten Free All Purpose Flour (I use and recommend Better Batter)
  • 3 tsp. Baking Powder

Directions

  1. In a small bowl, sift the flour and baking powder together, set aside.
  2. In a small saucepan over medium heat, scald milk, set aside.
  3. Meanwhile, in the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg whites with the whisk attachment until stiff, set aside (or use a hand mixer).
  4. In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the salt, sugar, melted butter and cardamon. Slowly add the milk, whisking constantly so you don’t scramble the egg yolks.
  5. Slowly add the sifted flour/baking powder to the egg yolk/milk mixture.
  6. Fold in egg whites.
  7. If using raisins, add those now.
  8. Now that the batter is ready, heat the aebleskiver pan over medium heat, adding 1 tablespoon of shortening into each well of the pan.
  9. Drop rounded spoonfuls of batter into each well of the pan and fry until the first side is a dark golden brown. Flip (I use chopsticks to do this, but a fork will also work) and fry until the second side is golden brown.
  10. Remove fritters from the pan and immediately drop into a paper bag or bowl of sugar, toss to coat.
  11. Eat and Enjoy!

Notes

The fritters also taste great tossed in a cinnamon sugar mixture. Combine 1/3 cup of sugar with 1 tsp. of ground cinnamon. If you don’t have any cardamon, you can also use an equal amount of cinnamon, nutmeg or pumpkin pie spice.

https://www.adventuresofaglutenfreemom.com/2011/11/home-for-the-holidays-gluten-free-fritters-also-called-fortchen-futtjens-or-ferdons-and-a-few-fabulous-giveaways/

 

 

 

I own this cast iron Aebleskiver Pan.

 

Look at the texture – equal to that of glutonium…if not better! 😀

 I just cannot get into the texture of cooked raisins, so plain it is for me!

 Ready for some loot?

 

**This giveaway is now closed**

Shirley has worked her boo-heine off to gather some great giveaways for Home for the Holidays…Gluten Free Style!  There will be 3 winners of today’s giveaway…each person will win one of the following books (each will be a signed copy):

Healthier Without Wheat by Dr. Stephen Wangen (I LOVE this book!!!)

Perfect One-Dish Dinners by Pam Anderson

Artisanal Gluten-Free Cupcakes by Kelli and Peter Bronski

To enter this giveaway…

Simply leave a comment telling me your favorite family holiday tradition!

The winners will be announced on Friday, December 2nd, 2011…and don’t forget, each entry will count as an entry for the three grand prizes!

p.s.  If you have a blog and want to share your favorite gluten-free recipe that means “home” and “holidays” to you, please feel free to grab the badge for your post (kindly linking back to Home for the Holidays – Gluten free Style, of course)!

And be sure to check out tomorrow’s post from Ali over at The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen. 😀

 

Comments

  1. Oooh that looks good. I love the moose mug. With my daughter our fave thing to do is watch the nutcracker ballet. She was two when she first went and sat still in awe of the dancers on stage. As a kid it was when we all piled in the car with hot coco and pop corning and a tape of Christmas carols playing and driving thru the neighborhoods looking at all the lights.

  2. With all of these options, I'm starting to wonder why I thought I needed gluten to have good food. 🙂

  3. My family had a tradition of having a Christmas Eve party at my grandparents house. Everyone new about it so people we hand't seen all year would randomly show up. You new new who was going to walk through that door.

  4. AnnMarie Deis says

    My family has a tradition for when we decorate our tree. It becomes a whole-day project and everyone is involved. We reminisce of the ornaments from each of my husband's and my youth (my godmother was generous enough to send me an ornament every year from the age of three through thirty) and the ornaments that we have collected since our marriage: wedding showers, baby showers, travels. Each ornament holds a special memory for each of us. Of course, there are the few baubles that are just "fillers," but we try to make each ornament mean something. There are ornaments that my son (four years old) has made and he gets excited to tell us the story of those, too.

    After the tree has been decorated and lit and "ooh"ed and "aah"ed over, we sit down to a nice dinner in the "candlelit" glow of our newly decorated tree. It's usually a nice steak dinner with all the trimmings. And we enjoy the best part of all: gluten-free sugar cookies and homemade egg nog.

    Just speaking of our tradition makes me eager for this year's special holiday family time. In a time of hustle-and-bustle, it's nice to take a day out and just cocoon ourselves up in a great tradition.

  5. AnnMarie Deis says

    AMAZING RECIPE!!!!! I'm excited to print it out and plan to make it myself. 🙂 Happy Holidays!

  6. oh my word your blog is beautiful and so are those fritters! One of my favorite holiday traditions is our Christmas morning – we hurry our little Christmas along at our own houses to have all my sisters and their families meet at my parents where we all have Christmas morning together. The gifts aren't the extravagant part, but just being together and sitting around the tree for hours as we open gifts slowly and break for breakfast and again for lunch. When we finish with our gifts and laughter and new things we play games and watch movies in sweats all day. It is so fun. And yes, we usually have coffeecake and buckeyes for breakfast 😀

  7. My favorite tradition is singing Christmas carols!

  8. Thanx so much for all your efforts for those of us so new to the GF world. I am wondering if any other fruit would work in these lovely fritters.We use apples and cherries in the glutenous version in our family.I think I will try dried cranberries first, then maybe put chopped dates, a little soda, & boiling water,add dried milk to that and try for the flavor of Grandma Whaley's Boston Brown Bread. It was baked in tin cans and given as gifts to all. Thanx for the idea to do activities for holidays.In our family, if there are more than 2 Sinclair's gathered, we cook! Since the children have flown the coop and live so far away,it's up to me to fill my time with new activities.Can't wait to try these, I think I will slip them in on my fairly non-GF-supporting husband. I just tell him I am cheating so he will try them. He lives for his donut holes in the am with his coffee! Love & Light to you & yours!

  9. When I was growing up my mom made peppernuts (Pfeffernusse) for my dad every Christmas. I started making them with her when I was a teenager. The reciped called for 8 cups of flour so it took both of us to get all the cookies made. I continued making them for my dad after mom passed away but my dad passed away almost 4 years ago so I haven't made them since. My husband doesn't care for them and I haven't found a gluten free recipe I like as well as my moms.

  10. These look delicious!!! 🙂

  11. My favorite family holiday tradition has to be decorating the tree with the kiddos – hot chocolate, Christmas music, and something yummy to snack on. 🙂 Oh, and baking with my kids – some special times together!

  12. Thanks for sharing such a yummy looking Christmas treat and for all you do for the gf community!

  13. Wow, you went all out girl! My tummy is grumbling, wish I had time to make these before work. I bet your grandfather was one great man — your post brought tears to my eyes as I think back to Christmas with my grandparents too. (the Norwegian side, where one year I FINALLY tried lutefisk, to make grandpa happy — not a fan, but I can say I tried it, and when we went to Norway this summer, I felt like a pro)

    We always had soup and finger foods on Christmas Eve night — and we all waited (im)patiently to open gifts. Might have to bust out grandma's cheesy broccoli/cauliflower soup this year.

    Thanks to all of you crazy-cool bloggers for doing this, made my holiday a little brighter!

    Happy Holidays, Heidi!

  14. My favorite Christmas tradition is cookie baking!! I'm so glad there are so many decent GF recipes these days so we can keep this tradition going.

  15. Those look absolutely incredible!!!

    My family's favorite tradition is having a gigantic breakfast on Christmas morning, followed by birthday cake for Jesus. We typically stay home with just us on Christmas, so this is our feast. Extended family is the night before or another evening, so we get to feast again, but at a different meal. 🙂

  16. Heidi, I love your Christmas traditions of activities. With each passing year, it seems I can handle fewer food traditions unless I have more activities, so this is the right direction for me to go anyway. Otherwise I may look like Mrs. Claus pretty soon!

    One of my family's favorite food traditions is a bread made mostly of dates and pecans, with a very little candied fruit (cherries and pineapple) for color. My grandmother insisted that the pecans had to be sliced crosswise, not chopped, so we had family pecan-slicing sessions right after Thanksgiving. I guess that was an activity, wasn't it?

    My husband (who is not GF) will probably love these fritters — anything that looks like a donut attracts him. I'll have to try them soon. We'll probably eat the whole batch before they've cooled!

    Thanks so much for sharing this!

  17. One of my favorite family traditions is going to our Christmas Eve service together. I love all the music, pretty lights, and most importantly the reminder of why we celebrate Christmas in the first place!

  18. Thanks so much for the recipe! My favorite holiday tradition is singing Christmas hymns. Our whole (extended) family loves to sing and so after Christmas dinner each year, we get out the hymnals, gather in a circle, and sing our favorite Christmas songs in four part harmony. Usually the more complicated ones end in uncontrollable laughter because we haven't practiced together since the last Christmas! The tradition is so beloved in our family, that whenever someone is not been able to be present for the holiday celebration, we call them so they can hear/sing with us on the phone. It is one of my most treasured holiday memories and I wouldn't trade it for anything! 🙂

  19. My favorite holiday tradition is opening the stockings on Christmas morning. It's still peaceful and everyone is slightly sleepy and tousled, but so excited!

  20. Our favorite tradition is decorating the tree while listening to Christmas music and having some eggnog. I wish I could make your recipe but I dont have one of those Aeblskiver? pans

  21. These are wonderful looking

  22. Jennifer Hotchkiss says

    This all looks so wonderful! One of our favorite traditions is to bake cookies. We have so much fun making them and sampling them :). I am so thankful to have found all these great recipes since this is the first year our cookies will have to be gluten free.

  23. First off… SO jealous of your leg lamp!! 🙂

    Our neighbors are from Holland.. and always bring us some of these on New Year's. This year I won't be able to have their fritters (they call them Ollie Bollen, and yes.. I probably just butchered the spelling). I may have to learn to make my own!

    My favorite tradition is Christmas Eve. It's just my hubby, daughter and I. We order Sushi and watch A Christmas Story. I love spending Christmas Day with tons of family.. but it's so nice to just have a quiet Christmas Eve.

  24. I love this post – like you I can relate to not having any food traditions at the holidays (other than it being tasty 🙂 ) but one of my family's traditions was always to drive to downtown of whereever we were living to look at the Christmas lights and decorations and also attend any Christmas markets near us.

  25. My favorite family tradition is decorating the christmas tree. Dad would untangle and check the lights, Mom would put the lights on the tree. Then the kids were able to decorate the tree with ornatments.

  26. These look yummy!! Oh so yummy! Must try without raisins..maybe chocolate chips dairy free! My favorite holiday tradition is every christmas morning mom would make a fantastic quiche for all of us.. we would way our quiche and open our never ending stalking! 🙂 Now I am thankful for my husband who is home for the holidays this year!

  27. Ooh, I've been craving apple fritters for a month now and here you have the perfect fritter recipe which I PROMISE I'll make as soon as my new stomach comes in the mail. The one that eats eggs and dairy. Should be here any day now. We watch Christmas movies too but although we have the two you mention we also have Scrooged, White Christmas, Bishop's Wife, Miracle on 34th Street, Scrooge, Trading Places, Nutcracker and I don't know what all. We generally start watching them right after Thanksgiving which is when we go decoration crazy but I don't think that'll happen this year. Will there be a gingerbread house and will we get to see it? I hope so. I love them so much I even went out and bought a cast iron form.

  28. By far one of my absolute fave blogs to read!

    I think my favorite Christmas tradition is making decorations and ornaments with my kids. We use egg cartons cut up and decorated and the ole construction paper garland! Christmas is definitely my favorite holiday!

  29. I love watching the kids sprinkle the reindeer food on the yard with the neighbor kids…they get so excited!

  30. My favorite Christmas tradition is hanging up the ornaments one by one with my husband and my sons.

  31. Heidi. OMG. These look SO good. I am coming over for Christmas, mmmkay?

  32. Thank you for your time and effort to help make gluten free normal. Never have tried to make Fritters but I have a craving for them now!

  33. Alright, those look amazing. My family always loved apple fritters as a fall tradition…just like these except with apples. My husband's family calls these New Year's cookies. I think we may have to try these this year!!!

  34. Because my husband and I both come from a blended family (aka, divorced parents, steps, etc.), there are a mess of people. We've only in the last two years started our OWN tradition of staying in our OWN house Christmas Eve with just our kids. It's beautiful family time we so rarely get. Christmas day we run all over, but the eve is OURS!

  35. One of my favorite traditions was making anise Pizzelles with my Grama. Now I may make them with my mom and daughter.

  36. Growing up my mom and I always made a ton of holiday cookies, which I continued to do into my adult life. It was really, really hard the first year we had to go gluten free, then I seemed to get a hold of that and this year will be the first egg free year. I am still going to try and continue the great tradition because it really means the holidays to me…so we will see how the new recipes turn out.

  37. My favorite tradition is getting together with my mother and girlfriends and baking cookies as a group. It's great bonding and you suddenly have marvelous cookies too!

  38. Joanna Talley says

    We go out in the woods to pick our christmas tree and chop it down, then bring it home. The kids love going up in the mountains, it is truly a great escape. Then we decorate the tree and put up all the other christmas decorations. The kids really love a Santa snow globe that we have. When you wind it up there is a train that goes around the globe. Every christmas eve we drive around and look at all the lights at all the houses in our town. It is so fun to drive in the dark and look at all the sparkling, glittering lights. Ever y christmas morning we open stockings. Then because we have family that lives in England, we call them to with them a Happy Chrstmas before we open all the other presents. It is very organized but that is our family for you. 🙂

  39. Denise Fedor says

    Recipe looks GOOD! dd and I make tons of gf cookies each year. Maybe this year we will remember to freeze some ! Love your moose mug. Thanks, Dee

  40. Our holiday traditions don't revolve around food either! My favorite tradition that my husband and I started when we got married 7 years ago is on Christmas Eve we go to Christmas Eve service at church, come home and open one present (always pajamas!) and then watch Charlie Brown Christmas. And now we have 4 beautiful little girls that join in this tradition with us 🙂

  41. Thanks for sharing your holiday traditions. It really put me in the Christmas spirit this morning! I'd love to see a picture of your house all decorated. I can only imagine. Must be quite a sight! 🙂

    And those fritters look so good! I'm going to give them a try this weekend. I know the kids will be happy to be my taste testers. Like you, I may have to make a batch without raisins though.

  42. Growing up, we weren't big on "traditions," necessarily. But now with my own family, my husband and I decorate our tree every year the day after Thanksgiving. I get the itch to do it much sooner, but this is our tradition, and it keeps the anticipation high!

  43. Favorite Christmas tradition is reading tne story of Jesus birth out of the Bible while drinking orange juice on Christmas morning before unwrapping gifts.

  44. Your grandpa (pictured with you on the couch) always made the fritters and I got to shake them in a big brown bag of sugar so they were well coated with all that sweetness. And of course after eating them for Christmas eve we always saved a big plate full for Santa. Just a quick note, a couple of seconds in the microwave the next day will make them soft again, but only for about 12 seconds and then they become hard as diamonds, so nuke and eat quick.

  45. My husband and I don't really have any traditions of our own yet. We're expecting in March, so I think this Christmas will be trying out a few things and seeing what we like in order to know what traditions to start next year with our little family.

    Growing up, when my dad was in the navy and we lived near Norfolk, VA, one of my favorite holiday traditions was when he took us to the shipyard and we looked at all the lights the decorated the ships, some of which went all out. It was special because it was one of the few traditions my dad started, and since he wasn't always home for Christmas, it made the times that he was home that much more special.

  46. Wow, those look divine!

  47. Liliane allen says

    My favorite holiday tradition, hmm, I have a few, but this year I think my favorite would have to be decorating the tree together. This year was especially meaningful because our oldest went off to college this year and she was able to come home to decorate with us and because my husband was home. Last Christmas my husband was in Afghanistan, so we were m issing one. I am so blessed to have had us all together this year!

  48. These look amazing. My grandmother's family came from Germany so in memory of her, I will give these a try. Our family tradition has been going to my mother in laws house (she is 93), but because her house was ruined by the hurricane, this is the first Christmas we will be staying home.

    When I was in college at New Mexico State University, we used to drink hot chocolate and drive around to see the lights! When you mentioned New Mexico, it brought back so many wonderful memories!

    Thank you!

  49. Oh, those look so good! It made me wonder if my great-grandfather ate these as a child. He was not a very nice man, so we don't really know much about his past in Denmark before he came here.

    My favorite tradition is that one of the men in our family gets dressed up as Santa, and he visits when we have our family gathering. Everyone sits on his lap and tells him what they want for Christmas, and he hands out brown paper sacks full of candy, peanuts, an orange and a candy cane. So fun!

    Thanks so much for this delectable recipe. Now I need to find a pan like that – are they specifically for fritters, or are there other uses, too? Is there an alternative way to make them if I don't have the pan?

    • You can buy them at Williams-Sonoma or even Walmart, Target, or Amazon–look for abelskiver pan, or aebelskiver pan. But read reviews carefully–I know the ones they have at WS can't be used on a flat cook-top (like mine 🙁 ) because their rim raises the wells off the surface. You can use them on a gas stove or one with raised coils, though. There are comments from people who use them for other things as well–apparently some kind of Asian street food. And all sorts of different recipes for "fritters"/abelskivers, filled or not, sweet or savory, etc.

  50. Thank you so much for your blog. We went gluten/dairy/sugar free a couple of weeks ago to help our son. Your blog has been a lifesaver!

  51. I've always loved to bake cookies, especially recipes from my grandmother. Every December I love to make these treats, but this year I am looking for ideas on gluten and dairy free options, since we are working on reducing that from our diets as much as possible. Thanks for the great recipe!

  52. My favorite tradition is really but a moment… When we are a few miles from grandma's house, we put on the song On My Way Home by Enya. It makes me happy and excited in that little moment, and makes me realize I am home!

  53. Oh my goodness! These look amazing!! I love traditions…especially when they pertain to Christmas. My favorite is getting and decorating the tree and of course all the yummy holiday food! 🙂

  54. The recipe looks wonderful. I love the story behind it. Swedish foods surrounded my family's traditions–I always enjoyed the Swedish coffee cake, potato sausage, and many other recipes.

  55. Since I always host the holiday dinners for my family, it was a struggle the first few years to refrain from the foods that weren't gluten free. Now that there is so much information and (great) recipes available on the internet, I now cook a 99% gluten free dinner (they still insist on certain dinner rolls for themselves). I am definitely trying the fritter recipe, thank you! Looking forward to many gluten free sweet treats this season!

  56. Hmm, we have a lot of traditions but my favorite food tradition we have is breakfast casserole for breakfast Christmas morning. We make it the night before, and then put it in the oven as soon as we wake up in the morning. We've tried a lot of different recipes over the years, but the traditional egg, cheese, and sausage strata is the winner.

    This year is my first one being away from home for Christmas. It won't be the same, but breakfast casserole might help make it feel a little more familiar 🙂

  57. Recently, I've started a new tradition of writing a poem each Christmas Eve!

  58. Dana Coughlin says

    Those look so yummy. My favorite tradition is my kids(not so young now)always made a birthday cake for Jesus–Angel food of course. While we ate it, I would read them the Christmas story from the children's bible.

  59. These look very yummy! My favorite Christmas tradition is going to church on Christmas Eve and singing carols 🙂

  60. Looks yummy! My grandmother used to make aebleskivers for us–I have her recipe and her pan, but haven't tried making them gluten-free. Might have to try your recipe, since you've already figured it out. It actually looks similar to hers, but I think hers has buttermilk in it. And, heaven forbid, no raisins!

    We have several Christmas traditions that we started with our kids and they refuse to give up–"It wouldn't seem like Christmas if we didn't…" One is Christmas music–I have a collection of over 50 Christmas CD's, and have to add more every year. I love Christmas music (and if any of you haven't heard Straight No Chaser, you MUST check them out on Youtube!!) Another tradition that my children are particularly fond of is that they each have a Christmas tree in their bedrooms. Starting December 1, Santa periodically stops by the house to check on behavior status–not every night, or even every other night, just randomly. And he leaves little presents under the trees–a Christmas design candy bar, Christmas CD, new Christmas video, Christmas socks, the annual new tree ornament for each. This year I only have two at home and two away in college, but Santa's going to be dropping goodies in the mail until the wanderers come home–It wouldn't seem like Christmas without it!!

  61. We count down the days till Christmas with a chain that the kids make themselves, and of course, make tons of goodies to eat.

  62. Hi, Liked the fritter idea. where do you find a pan like that.

    Does it have a name. Love your blog read every post.

    Thanks for all the info. Peggy

  63. When we decorate the tree, we talk about the special meanings behind many of the ornaments. After we are done, I take a photo of the kids illuminated by the lights of the tree.

  64. We bake cookies…hundreds and hundreds of Italian cookies…yum.

  65. Without a doubt our favorite tradition (ok, we have two) is baking cookies and going to see all of the holiday lights.

  66. My family tradition growing up was to have a big Christmas Eve dinner, which was the stuffed turkey with vegetables, potato, rice and a small starter and the Christmas pudding. We would decorate the table with Christmas crackers, hats, candles etc. Once the siblings started having kids, we changed the tradition to Christmas lunch, mostly cold food.

  67. My dad loves all things German! He was stationed there when he was in the Army way back when. So I think this is a must-try for the Christmas season. And the fact that it's gluten-free allows me to enjoy them with him. Thanks so much for the recipe!

  68. Oh that looks so good! I just had breakfast but I'm hungry again just looking at those pictures. 🙂 My favorite family tradition is making "pastel de zapallo" which technically translates to pumpkin cake but it's really more like pumpkin brownies in look and texture. We serve this with cold evaporated milk and it's just delicious!

  69. Our family tradition is to drive around looking at house decorations and singing christmas carols along the way.

  70. My son (newly G-free and lactose-free) is going to FLIP OUT when I make these for him! They look just like my homemade donut holes. Coat them in cinnamon sugar and the fam will never know the difference. =)

    Our favorite holiday tradition is reading the Christmas story (the one with Jesus, not the one with the leg lamp…LOL) next to the tree on Christmas Eve while we all enjoy hot cocoa and a plate of cookies. Then we let the kids all open one of their gifts (usually a new pair of pj's so Christmas morning pics look better).

    This year will be our first GF and LF Christmas. These blogs are SO helpful to me in getting used to this new diet!

  71. We always have a birthday cake for Jesus and the reading of the Christmas story on Christmas Eve.

  72. My favorite holiday recipe is my mother's mother's ice-box rolls. They're lovely white flour creations coated in Crisco prior to being set out to rise. I'm wondering how I'm going to make them gluten-free….

  73. On Christmas Eve, all the friends and relatives with young kids would gather at our house to wait for Santa, an appropriately dressed volunteer who would deliver one gift to each child with a promise to visit their house later that night.

  74. Michelle W. says

    I don't have one of those pans, but my, those look so yummy I may just have to find one! We're a military family so our traditions don't tend to involve extended family as it's too hard/far to travel. We're like you, the traditions are less to do with food, and more with activities. With each move the traditions have changed to accommodate our surroundings. But we usually give our boys board games as one of their presents, so at some point over the holidays we will sit down and play games together. And in this house a few years ago we started the tradition of watching Polar Express on Christmas Eve and drinking home made hot chocolate – I love that one, hopefully it will stay!

  75. my favorite tradition is the youngest child reading Twas the Night Before Christmas" on Christmas Eve….they are so proud when they get to do this!

  76. My favorite holiday tradition is making fudge with my mom. It makes the kitchen smell so good and I love sitting over a big pot of simmering chocolate! yum

  77. Of course. Who *doesn't* have an abelskiver pan? Has anyone tried an alternative pan- maybe just oil in a frying pan? They might not look so pretty, but I wonder if they would cook in the middle.

    Our favorite Christmas traditions:

    1. The Nutcracker Army. The year my son was born my father started sending us one nutcracker each for Christmas, every year until he was too sick to do it anymore. He had a very rare form of non-Hodgkins lymphoma, which I now suspect was related to gluten. After Dad passed away, we kept up the tradition. Because we get one nutcracker each, we've got over 40 of them now. We line them up in a giant display that my son (now 18) calls the Nutcracker Army. He has created an extensive back story about each nutcracker, including which regiment they belong to and their military rank. When he was little we used to play "I Spy a Nutcracker," a game where I'd pick a nutcracker, and he'd ask 10 yes/no questions to try to figure out which one I picked. He still wants to play that game.

    2. Lego Christmas Village. Who needs those ceramic lighted holiday villages when you can build your own village with Legos? We used to save the Halloween candy to make gingerbread houses, but the Lego Village project has replaced the gingerbread house project. This started the year that Lego came out with the Holiday Train, and we've added the village collectible set every year since. Of course we've made up our own out-buildings for the elves, and even the Lego Star Wars characters come out to entertain visitors to the village. The Lego Winter Village Bakery is certified Gluten Free. : D Find yours here: http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Winter-Village-Bakery-….

    3. "A Christmas Story" movie marathon- we have to watch the movie at least twice during the movie marathon. We can drop a movie quote into almost any situation.

    • First thing first Lisa…THANKS A LOT for the brilliant Lego Christmas Village idea – like I need any more Legos in my house, but this is such a wonderful tradition (I will curse your name when I step on them barefoot in the middle of the night!).

      Second, yes, you can certainly make these without the special pan. I just like the pan because it reminds me of my grandpa.

      Third, I have a Nutcracker Army too (love that name). We only add 1 new one each year, but I’ve already got 10. They will be a great collection to pass on to our kids someday. And I’m so starting the “I Spy a Nutcracker” game, what a smart idea!!!

      xo,
      Heidi

      • In our house the Lego Christmas Village assortment goes back into the boxes and are stored with our Christmas decorations. They are special and don't "mix" with the year-round Legos. Don't blame me for the Legos you step on in the middle of the night! Those are the year-round Legos that would have been on the floor anyway. : D

  78. Oh my goodness! I love this post! We start decorating right after Halloween too. My favorite traditions are Christmas eve making a pallet and everyone snuggling up by the Christmas tree to watch Christmas Vacation and a Christmas Story. And Christmas morning, after opening our Santa presents, gathering with my whole family at one of our houses and exchanging gifts with all the little ones together.

  79. Those fritters look amazing, one more reason for me to break out our aebleskiver pan! I honestly don't remember doing very many traditions growing up, but my two favorite things that I looked forward to were making holiday candies (like caramels) and decorating the tree. I was raised Jewish and we mainly celebrated Chanukah, but when my Mom was growing up she was jealous of all the kids that had a big Christmas tree every year and she didn't want us to feel that way through our childhood.

  80. We always open our presents on Christmas Eve. A lot of people think it's weird, but it's so much fun! We go to church and come back and have a wonderful late night snacking on cookies and milk (non-dairy for me now!) and then in the morning we just do stockings.

  81. Rachel Blom says

    Hmmm…not sure I have a favorite family tradition. I enjoy sitting and reading different Christmas stories to my kids each night starting the day after Thanksgiving and watching different Christmas movies. We've also eaten Jesus' birthday cake for breakfast on Christmas morn…

  82. Interesting post! My favourite holiday tradition is sharing hot cocoa.

  83. My boyfriend's father makes real German stollen every year, usually 3 kinds, spends days getting them made, baked & wrapped, put in the freezer to warm up Christmas morning while we are opening gifts. Then we eat it for toast the next days & then bread pudding. Yum.

  84. A few years back I knitted stockings for our family; I just love hanging them up each year and thinking of what little treats to put in for my boys. We don't do an overblown holiday, so opening up the stockings is a leisurely start to the morning, then omelets and GF scones. 🙂

  85. Thanks for all the yummy recipes and information on your blog! My husband and I have both been recently diagnosed with gluten and dairy sensitivities and he is also allergic to eggs.. It has been interesting to see the results of our dietary changes after only about a month. Anyway, to respond to the family traditions.. I grew up with a mom that always baked… She would make sugar cookies for just about every holiday (except on Valentine's day – she made us a little heart-shaped cake that we got to decorate..) and we would sit around the table and each of us got our own plate of cookies to decorate.. I think that is what I remember the most – other than the yummy home-cooked meals and desserts…

  86. i am loving this whole giveaway adventure of getting to visit all these sites. already a winner even if i don't win a thing. the recipes are amazing. i am only a month with my new gluten free life so it is all extremely fun and exciting. i plan to start a new tradition of my very own this year with one of these delish recipes.

  87. A few years back I knitted stockings for our family. I love hanging them up each year and planning what little treats to put in for my boys. We don't do an overblown holiday, so opening up the stockings is a leisurely start to the morning, followed by omelets and GF scones!

  88. First, thank you so much for your website, it has been a life-saver for us!

    I had the picture of the fritters up on the computer a few minutes ago and my husband (not allergic to anything), walks by and says "wow, are those donuts? They look good!", also hinting that I should make them very, very soon…and I have to agree! We live in a part of the country where on any given day, December-March, a person could take a picture and make a Christmas card out of it. We are surrounded by pine trees, spruce and firs that span a 100 mile radius, and we average TONS and TONS of snow each winter. Our holiday season includes MEGA amounts of allergy-friendly treats, hot cider by the fire, and these past few years we've attended a Lori Line Christmas Concert in December, which seems to really kick-start the holidays (you know what I'm talking about of you've ever been to one!).

  89. This will be my first holiday gluten free. I am SO thankful to have found all of your blogs. THANK YOU for sharing all of your amazing recipes! My favorite holiday tradition is brunch on Christmas morning. After all the cooking and eating my family always sits in front of the fireplace putting a jigsaw puzzle together listening to Christmas music. It's so nice to relax and enjoy eachothers company.

  90. These look delicious! A great introduction to your blog, and I can see I need to become a regular follower.

    Dinner on Christmas Eve is Mexican food, and we like to attend Christmas Eve church services and then I fill the stockings for everyone. My children are grown with families of their own, but they still want Christmas stockings! We also watch the Christmas movies you mentioned, plus It's a Wonderful Life.

  91. We always get together every year and have a giant cookie baking day. Me, my two sisters, my mom, and our good friend. The time spent together is priceless, and we have been doing this since elementary school. I didn't know it then, but the cookies weren't the highlight to that special tradition, it was the love and camaraderie we have all found in each other.

  92. always love to get in on one children's Christmas performance…

  93. Wow Heidi! Fabulous recipe. I have that book Healthier without Wheat and it is great! I still need to get a Pam Anderson book, I hear that her stuff is great.

    Sadly, I didn't grow up with much, really any, holiday tradition. I always wished that I had. My husband would probably say Christmas Crackers. At my in-laws home it is a very British-style festivity, with my FIL downing as many mince pies as he can get away with 🙂

    When we don't have Christmas at my in-laws, I'm working on creating my own traditions, and one is to bake cookies on Christmas day! Because, why not?

  94. I have a very German side of the family and a Grandpa Schmitt, which is very similar to a Grandpa Schmidt I am told, so your stories resonate with me. Our family tradition is all about the atmosphere. Lit Christmas Tree, Vince Gill Christmas music playing in the background, the smell of pine in the fireplace….. then let the kids out to see the presents under the tree. This past year, we moved to house with no fire place. I actually bought the DVD with the fire crackling in the fire place and I think I could almost feel the heat from it. Not the same, but the Christmas magic works every time. Would love to add the fritters back on the menu!

  95. We have so many but tonight the Advent Calendar will come out. it signifies the beginning of the holiday season for us. My kids were excited this morning talking about it!

  96. Those fritters look SO GOOD!

    I also don't have specific foods that are tradition at Christmas. My kids always enjoyed helping me with the Christmas tree and tabletop displays. Now that they are grown they point out the favorite ornaments and remember the history of them.

  97. Those look so good! Just found out I can't have eggs. Christmas morning tradition of fresh baked cinnamon buns while we open stockings.

  98. My favorite Christmas tradition is opening stockings together as a family. We have always done it on Christmas Eve and it always includes a silly string fight! Very fun.

  99. My favorite holiday tradition is Christmas eve. We go to church then go to my aunt's house to exchange presents with the family. It's always nice with yummy dips and cookies to eat!

  100. these look lovely – so many great GF recipes!

  101. My favorite holiday tradition is waiting until midnight on Christmas Eve for Santa a.k.a opening presents!

  102. Looks great! My fav tradition is definitely reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas". My dad always read it with great gusto on Christmas Eve before we went to bed. He's gone now, but I read it to my son throughout the season… my dad's gusto is missing, but the storytelling lives on!

  103. My favorite tradition is making several types of cookies and giving them away to neighbors and friends. I'm glad I have so many gluten free options and ideas now!

  104. Yum, thank you for sharing tradition memories! I have just been asking my new husband what our traditions we will start!

  105. One of my favorite traditions is going for a drive to view the Christmas lights.

  106. I think any and all baking of holiday treats is the tradition. But, it has to be done together, the children MUST be involved. No matter how frustrating, it is still my favourite part of the holidays (and any time of year I suppose).

    I'm always looking for a way to use my cardamom. Now if only we still had our cast iron aebleskiver pan!! Hm, may be worth a new one. Thanks of this recipe.

  107. I follow you on Facebook. Thanks for the great recipes. This one for the fritters looks awesome!! Will have to try. Thanks for giving me the chance to win your giveaways!!!! Good luck to all.

  108. Our favorite holiday family tradition is cooking together. We all get together and cook and bake and make a ton of food and then have a large dinner with friends and family.

  109. Great recipe! I do miss donuts, so will have to try this some
    Saturday…
    I am a big "Fra-gee_lay" fan too! (AKA "The Christmas Story" and the leg lamp!)

  110. Oh my!!! I'm soooo excited. Having a Danish background I loved making these with my grandmother. I wanted to make the same for my kids. Now that both my children need a gluten free diet these will fill the void. Thank you, for helping me keep this family baking tradition going.

  111. This recipe looks so yummy! My family and I like to make sugar cookies and decorate them together =)

  112. My girls and I make all the cookies we can every year and the past 2 we have made so many yummy GF ones!!

  113. I grew up with the tradition of seafood for Christmas Eve dinner and a Prime Rib for Christmas Day Lunch.

  114. Favorite tradition is how all our family gathers on xmas eve, we open our immediate family gifts in the morning, then to my parents for the afternoon to open gift and eat dark chocolate covered orange jelly sticks and drink a Christmas slush with 7-up, then my dad's entire family comes over for the evening and we have a huge meal of just horderve type foods.

  115. My favorite holiday tradition is decorating the Christmas tree whle watching Christmas Vacation and eating Hor d'ouvres!!!!!

  116. I think one of my favorite Christmas traditions is that every year, no matter when we celebrate Christmas, my dad always reads the Christmas story from Luke 2. I think it means so much more to me now that my kids can hear it too.

    And my MIL's family is from Norway, so their tradition is to have Lefsa. It's good, but she uses regular flour and margarine. Too many carbs for my gestational diabetes this year, so at least my son won't be left out! I should see about trying it gfree!

  117. Those fritters look fabulous! Every Christmas my family gets together and makes cherry almond crisp cookies and try to eat more raw dough than actual cooked cookies!

  118. These fritters look AMAZING!! I can't wait to try your recipe. We always make snowball cookies every Christmas. I just love them and honestly I haven't made any yet with gluten free flour. I will have to give it a go. I also love eating persimmon cookies. They're so moist and delicious and are filled with lots of spices, raisins and chopped walnuts. Yum!! Merry Christmas to you and your family, Heidi. :o)

  119. These look delicious. I'm do glad to have found your site.

  120. One of our family traditions used to be making a huge, ginormous pan of baklava. Since this is my first full year of being gluten free, and since I've not yet found gluten free phyllo dough, we will probably not be doing that.

    Another family tradition we had at Christmas time was the snake in the can gag gift. That sucker was passed from family member to family member, sometimes in the nuts can, sometimes in other things. My grandma died just this past March and she was the biggest instigator of this tradition. It will probably die with her.

    I guess since my biggest family traditions are dead in the water, I need to come up with a new one.

  121. My favourite tradition was my dad going out to pick a sprig of holly to put on our Xmas Pudding. They were always made the year before and kept in the fridge. Then on Christmas day we'd heat it up and serve with icing. Yum!

  122. I love everything about the holidays, especially gathering with family. Now that I'm a mom its fun starting new traditions of our own like Christmas movies on the weekends leading up to the big day. I also love seeng my kids faces xmas morning, makes all the hard work with it and now I know how my mom felt.

  123. Just popping in to say that you AMAZE ME … every single time, every single day! This post speaks to everything that our holiday event is about. Thank you so much for such a beautiful job! Now please pass me a fritter and a cup of nog. 😉 But, seriously …

    xoxo,

    Shirley

  124. We always had certain foods for different holidays, but the best part was getting together with our extended family.

  125. our favorite tradition is the candle-light Christmas Eve service with the family… He's the reason for the season!

  126. Another thing to make in my aebleskiver pan, I love it! One tradition I enjoy is making home-made strudel over the holidays with my family.

  127. My mom made sugar cut out cookies that my brother and I would spend hours decoratitng. I remember decorating special cookies especially for Santa. I grew up living 5 hours from family so it was always just me, my brother and my mom and dad for Christmas. Very lonely. I continue the tradition of sugar cookies with my kids and have added the visit from St. Nick on Dec. 5th. The kids put their shoes out and St. Nick leaves them a present. I have only recently been diagnosed with gluten sensitivity (within the last 7 weeks) and the transition has been tough for me as I was/am an avid baker. I especially loved homemade bread. I have not yet found a recipe for bread worthy of eating but I'm hopeful. I do have to say, I am feeling so much better since going gluten free so it has definately been worth it. Now, to find a GF cut out cookie recipe. I will stay posted to your blog!

  128. Those look delicious!

    I love baking cookies at the holidays 🙂 Baking is one of my favorite things to do – and when other people enjoy it too, it's even better! 🙂

  129. My favorite holiday tradition is opening presents and eating food! LOL

  130. Suzanne Hill says

    We don't celebrate the holidays, so for us it's more of seasonal "traditions". My parents come to visit every winter, so we get to spend a lot of time with them. My boys love it!

  131. My favorite holiday tradition is decorating the Christmas tree with my family – my hubby & I unwrap the ornaments and our kids are the "elves" who place them on the tree.

    createwithme@clearwire.net

  132. These look awesome, too bad I don't have that pan! Favourite traditions are Grandma's coffee cake for breakfast (which I've successfully converted to GF) and wrapping all the gifts in the stockings and watching my girls as they open each tiny package with delight!

  133. wow, the egg nog seems like a cool twist. that looks good.

    my favorite tradition is aving a dinner of "appetizers" on christmas eve with my mom & sister

  134. Those look great–even though I can't eat fritters any more these days! I think I'll have to make some for my honey, though (who can eat anything, lucky guy). I'm with you on the cooked raisins–I don't hate them, but always prefer without. 🙂

  135. Our holiday tradition has always been going to the movies and chinese food on christmas with the whole family!

  136. oh, i love it! as a first-generation american with dutch parents, i always love the european baking traditions. the dutch make a pastry called banket which consists of almond paste rolled up in a flaky, buttery crust. last year my uncle made some that was gluten-free and sent it to me for christmas. this year, i'm going to try my hand at it.

  137. I share your "nothing but the best" personality. We haven't had not one mediocre recipe from you!

    You make our allergy free meals bearable!

  138. Wow, these look so scrumptious! I have to try making these vegan with egg replacer, or combination of different kinds, don't know yet what to sub for the egg whites, and hoping a muffin pan will work.

    My favorite Christmas tradition is attending Christmas Eve midnight services, where "Silent Night" is sung (with all of the lights off) while everyone is holding a lit candle to celebrate the true reason for the season, the birth of Jesus Christ.

  139. Not only do I LOVE the looks of this recipe, I love the heart-felt, personal story provided here in this blog post. Thank you for sharing your precious memories, and GF version of your family's recipes. It really warmed my heart!

  140. For many years I had a yearly holiday tradition of making holiday cookies and desserts with my kids using handed down family recipies. However, since two of the four members of our family have recently realized gluten is not our friend, I have skipped a few years of this tradition. This year, with the help of some great one-for-one GF flours I've discovered, I hope to revise some of our prized family recipies and create some heavenly treats once again, renewing our family tradition!

  141. Our new tradition now for our family w/our kids is day after Thanksgiving & the weekend.. no plans made we decorate the house & outside lights for Christmas– everyone stays in jammies if they want; get to eat/drink whenever or whatever & just RELAX!!!

  142. My favorite holiday tradition is going to look at the Christmas lights, I never get tired of driving around looking at the pretty lights and displays!

  143. These sound wonderful! I do have to ask, could you substitute apple for the raisin? And could you cook them in a regular pan with oil instead? (I don't have one of those pans yet!!!) Thank you!

  144. We like to have each child hang their own ornaments at Christmas eve while we play Christmas music. Most were yearly gifts from their Godmother. They look forward to unwrapping them and finding the right spot.

  145. Sounds good, but I do not have that kind of pan. I think I'll try a regular cast iron pan and fry them like my mom use to fry corn fritters.

  146. I love our family tradition of decorating the tree with Christmas music blaring and digging out all of our old homemade ornaments…such fun memories!

    Courtney

  147. Hi,

    My German grandparents raised me and occasionally gram would make fritters. So good. Now I can have them again, GF. Some of our tradions were making froebel stars between Thanksgiving and Christmas and lighting an advent wreath every Sunday. My husband, daughters, son-in-law and grandson have added some food traditions; spaghetti with meatballs, Italian bread and Christmas cookies Christmas Eve. Christmas morning I set the table with a half grapefruit with a cherry in the center for each person. My husband makes some of the best eggs and bacon you'll ever taste. Thanks so much for sharing your fritter recipe. Merry Christmas to you and your family.

  148. Wow, these look wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe 🙂

  149. I'm so excited to have found you via Alissa Cooks. I am pretty much free of EVERYTHING in this house and continue to find ways to please my whole immediate and extended family without them even knowing the difference! Thank you for all the recipes and I'm going to try making the parmesean cheese tonight!

  150. This recipe looks super yummy! I might have to try it! This is going to be a new adventure for us this year as we are new with my wheat allergy. I also love the face that these are yeast free! Another allergy I have, but these are perfect and I really can't wait to experiment!

    I am really thankful for this Home For the Holidays thing!

  151. What a great entry in this series – I had fun looking back at your other cookie links and adding some to my baking list. 🙂

    Favorite holiday memories – driving around looking at Christmas lights and attending zoo and park events where we could walk through the light displays – some were very Christ-centered which was meaningful to us. Celebrating nightly Advent with candles and carols. Baking…and munching on the treats too, of course!

    Thanks for the giveaway!

    Brandae (Also an Ohio State grad – go BUCKEYES!!)

  152. Actually, my favorite family tradition is an Easter tradition, which also happens to come from a German heritage. It's called 'egg becking'. You boil and color eggs and everyone tries to crack the ends of the other eggs. There's a specific way to do it too. At the end, the one with the only crack-free egg is the winner! We always have a fun time doing that, esp. the kids.

    Re: the fritters, can this be made as individual balls in a skillet (with hot oil)? I don't have the pan you use.

  153. Our Family Tradition is spending an evening decorating our Christmas tree, while listening to Christmas music and making homemade cookies.

  154. Tradition I started for my kids: Love making and decorating the birthday cake, lighting the candles and singing Happy Birthday to Jesus. This will be our first Christmas with a GFree cake.
    Tradition from growing up we still do: read the Christmas story before opening up the gifts Christmas morning.

  155. My favorite family holiday tradition I have to thank for my youngest brother. He is the one who carries traditions on throughout the years for us. Every year, for as long as I can remember, the day after Thanksgiving is when he really badgers us to get out the holiday stuff. When we ask him what he thinks we should put out or do, he always says "Everything". He always wanted the whole 9 yards. To him, nothing short of every room having holiday decor was enough. He lived & breathed the holiday spirit & it showed. Our kitchen constantly would be filled with smells of making chocolate or baking goodies. Lights would be on the Christmas tree, outside the house, and in every room with carolers, the Christmas village, and porcelain hand-me-down decorations. While it takes a long time setting up, it is amazingly a therapeutic & relaxing time – it makes one slow down & realize why we honor & love this special time of the year.

  156. Even though it's totally a gluten recipe, I still enjoy making my grandmother's sand tart christmas cookies. They're the best sugar cookies I've ever had.

  157. These look yummy, thanks for sharing!

  158. Michele Miller says

    Thank for such a story of family, tradition and sharing. A family tradition we have is to go to Pepper Drive and see all the houses decorated and have hot cocoa with cookies. Then to decorate our house and on Christmas Eve we go to the family mass and have supper. Then we get to open one gift before bed and set out the plate of cookies for Santa and the baby carrots for the reindeer's.

  159. What a great and generous giveaway! And I love the recipe and history to accompany it.

  160. Pleasure to stumble upon your blog, fellow New Mexican! Those fritters sounds AMAZING! Thank you for sharing your family recipe. "Healthier Without Wheat" would make for a great Christmas present for my Mother who has recently become gluten intolerant. I guess my favorite holiday tradition would just be gathering with family on Christmas Day. 🙂

  161. In our pregluten free days-making homemade cinnamon rolls with the kids to eat on Christmas morning was one of my favorite traditions. These little gems of yours may become our new post Santa breakfast. I love that Christmas day is reserved for just our immediate family. After opening presents and having lunch we head out to the local theatre and catch a movie together (looks like this year will once again involve The Chipmunks!!).

  162. Ooh I grew up with fritters – my mother's family is german. Our fav growing up was to make Christmas stollen. Now I don't need to be gluten free – but it would be great if there was a good GF recipe for Stollen!

  163. Christy Germaine says

    Awesome! My favorite holiday tradition is opening the baby Jesus (a figurine from our Nativity set) as the first gift on Christmas morning with our two children. It was a tradition that my husbands mother used to do before she passed when he was only 10. Right after having our first child my husband told me about it, and we've been doing it every year since.

  164. I love driving around looking at Christmas lights with Christmas music playing. The kids love this!

  165. The best tradition with any holiday anywhere in the world is getting together with the family and celebrating it! which we try every year.. but doesnt always work out..

    love those fritters!

  166. Our family makes ammonia cookies from a recipe about four generations old. It calls for ammonia bicarbonate which causes your kitchen to smell awful but makes your cookies amazingly thick and yummy!

  167. I enjoy watching the old movies like, It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, Meet Me in St. Louis and others. The fritters look awesome and will have to try them.

  168. Making Gingerbread houses has got to be my favorite family tradition.

  169. Can't wait to try the fritters! We do the 12 days of Christmas with a twist. Each night a secret elf leaves a wrapped book for us to read together. My son loves it!

  170. Being the Santa Fe girl that I am, Christmas Eve is red chile and posole at my mom and dad’s house followed by the stroll down Canyon Road to carol and see the farolitos with family and friends. The real magic for me now though is taking my children to see the Gustav Baumann holiday marionette show in mid-December. From Santa, Miguelito, and the elfish duendes, the stories enchant my family every year. Of course we top it off with peppermint hot chocolate on the Plaza!

  171. Your fritters look delicious….wonderfully sweet and a total Christmas indulgence!

    In my family, the opening of our stockings while we have a glass of something (anything) before we dig into all of our gifts is my absolute favorite tradition. I remember as a child hating this stalling technique that my parents made my sister and I go through before the paper went flying but I LOVE the torment it causes my own child! Plus, all the good stuff seems to end up in a stocking!

  172. Baking and decorating gluten free cookies for SANTA! And then driving around in our PJ’s listening to Christmas music and looking at all the wonderful lights!

  173. Michelle P. says

    Those books are on my wishlist! My favorite holiday traditions are definitely our food traditions: spiral ham & twiced baked potatoes for Christmas even, then use the leftover ham to make an egg/ham breakfast bake (which I converted to gluten-free) and some sort of sweet treat on the side.

  174. oh my word! this looks like one to try for sure! Yummy!

  175. Amy Whitehurst says

    You have FOUR trees? Really? That is awesome! We collect an ornament every year that represents something significant we did that year – new pet, new house, vacation, etc. Then we can remember all of those moments when we decorate our tree. I also love to go driving around looking for Christmas lights.

    I would LOVE a copy of Healthier Without Wheat! I checked it out from the library and I really need one for my personal library! Thanks for this awesome recipe – I need to find one of those aebleskiver pans and try it!

  176. Hi

    Our newest tradition in our household has been to put our tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving. Our boys, 6 & 8, start asking to put it up earilier and earilier every year, but we hold off until after turkey day. This is my first time checking out your site and I will be stopping back again and again. Thanks

  177. My mom used to make a dozen types of cookies, wrap them up all nice and give out as presents to neighbors and friends. I loved helping her and carried the tradition on for a while. This is my first year gluten-free so I'm not sure I'll be ready this year. But I plan to start trying recipes out and gathering my favorites so my daughter and I can do it next year.

  178. My favorite holiday tradition is putting the Christmas angel on the tree. It is a delicate angel with a decorated wax head and wax hands. 49 years old…Mom and Dad were stationed in Germany, and they brought it back with them. I can't imagine Christmas without our angel. 🙂

  179. Oh. My. Goodness! I see a NEW TRADITION beginning for our family. This recipe looks amazing. I told my husband I would need to be purchasing one of these special pans, so we can make these Christmas Eve! 🙂 The Saturday after Thanksgiving, our youngest son, my husband and I head north stopping for lunch at a "taco bus" and then onto a Christmas tree farm. The house is decorated on Sunday and Christmas really begins (after reading your post, I guess I could start ALOT earlier). It's a MUST to watch White Christmas and Muppet Christmas Carol. One of my favorite traditions is baking/preparing goodie bags for our neighbors (20 bags this year). Since the whole family went gluten-free 2 years ago, the baked goods we share are also gluten-free (and dairy-free). Our neighbors look forward to us coming around each year and love what we share with them. This year ~ blackberry cupcakes, chocolate snowballs and peanut-butter cups plus satsumas, candy canes and a packet of seeds to be planted in the spring (this year it's sunflowers). And, if all goes well ~ we will also include a small jar of strawberry rhubarb jam. St. Nicholas Day, December 6th, is a really special day in our neighborhood as we share and visit with many. I love Christmas! (from Eloise at Christmastime ~ another must watch movie)

  180. These fritters look so yummy! I am so thankful to have found your blog along with many others. It has really helped ease the transition of going gluten and dairy free.

    Our family tradition on Christmas Eve includes a nice dinner at our favorite restaurant out in town and then going to church. We used to go Christmas caroling around our neighborhood when my sister and I were young, but we haven’t done that in quite sometime. I hope we can start it up again when my sister’s kids are a little older; I think the kids would enjoy it as much as we did.

    Thanks again and Happy Holidays!
    Megan

  181. My favorite family traditions include watching “A Christmas Story” all day, getting a new ornament, and all of my mom’s delicious food. This will be my first gluten free Christmas!

  182. When we were kids the whole family (6 of us) went to the 5pm church service on Christmas eve. On the way home my Pop drove us through the neighborhood to look at the Christmas lights. Then we ate a quick dinner of cold cuts and put up the Christmas tree. Family friends and aunts and uncles would come over and they would help us decorate the tree. Then at the end of the evening after the guests left, we would turn out all the lights leaving just the candles and the tree lights lit, and sit and relax and enjoy the beautiful tree for awhile before going up to bed. Now we take our kids to my Mom's to decorate her tree on Christmas eve, and we always turn out the lights and sit in the candlelight when we are done. It is a great tradition.

  183. GEEZ! Wow, those look good!! What if one does not have an abeleskiver pan? I use better batter too! Thanks!

  184. Our tradition is sipping cocoa while watching a Charlie Brown Christmas and decorating our own tree. Good times!

  185. These look delicious. Lots of great recipes on your site that i will be trying !

  186. Ronnda Stapleton says

    Our family makes our annual visit to downtown Portland to see Santa and get a photograph on Christmas Eve morning. Mind you, our kids are 20 and 21 now, and in college. 🙂 After the picture we roam around downtown drinking hot chocolate and window shop. When we return home the picture is placed next to the ones from the past years. We have them ALL!

  187. We – the entire Cameron Crew which includes my husband and I and our five children and two dogs – sleep under the Christmas Tree Christmas Eve. This is after we attend service at church, go look at Christmas lights in a neighborhood that goes all out on Christmas Eve, and enjoy our favorite snackies. Our oldest is now 22. 🙂

  188. Kristina Lewin says

    Oh my goodness, my college roommate was OBSESSED with Aebleskivers. I went to her house once for her birthday and they were her traditional birthday breakfast, which of course I could not partake in, along with 90% of the rest of the food that weekend!! These look so delicious. I'm very interested in trying them!

    My favorite Christmas tradition is driving around and looking at the Christmas lights on Christmas Eve. 🙂 We started doing it when we were little kids so that it would get us sleepy and we'd go to bed. Now, it's just fun! Thanks for posting, Heidi. I love our blog!

  189. That looks like an interesting recipe. Yes, it does look like what happen to the donuts' hole. I just wonder if your gluten-free recipe will also become tough on the next day.

  190. A special family tradition is baking holiday cookies with my two daugthers. It is something all three of us look forward to.

  191. So decadent! I bookmarked your site… looking forward to exploring your blog some more! 🙂

  192. Favorite holiday tradition – waking up Christmas morning when I was a kid and eating the quiche my mom had just baked! I will need to figure out a different crust now, right? I just started going gf this week!…but I sure do miss that quiche so much!

  193. My favorite tradition is baking, baking, and more baking! Although I got a dehydrator this year, so some raw treats may be a new tradition to come…

  194. My Mom and I enjoy making pie crusts together. I can't make them but I can finish the edging. She can't edge them to save her life. So we work together! My daughter is now joining in the fun & we share fun family memories. It keeps us close!

  195. Stephanie Moschel says

    These look yummy!! Our favorite holiday tradition is making loads and loads of cookies to take to the fire stations in our town. Visiting the firemen is a very fun thing to do with your kids! These guys serve our community, and giving thanks to them with some cookies just doesn't seem enough…..but they are so grateful for the cookies and a visit. The kids get to climb the firetrucks while we are there too! We usually make a huge batch of "monster cookies" – an old family favorite from the days when we could have eggs. Thanks for sharing such great things for us celiacs!

  196. Wow – this is very cool! This recipe looks almost like MY family tradition of "Porzelky" or "Neuen Kuchen", which is a New Year's Eve tradition for Russian/German Mennonites. I found a gluten free version of Porzelky online: http://www.mennonitegirlscancook.ca/2009/12/portz…. This is the standard, glutinoid version: http://www.mennonitegirlscancook.ca/2009/12/portz…. Thanks for your recipe! I'll be giving it a try this year. By the way, I live in New Mexico, too!

  197. I just started eating gluten free and these look like a fantastic holiday treat!

    Our family's more recent holiday tradition is gathering at my brother and sister-in-law's house on Christmas Eve and reading The Night Before Christmas to my niece and nephew before tucking them into bed. My brother usually reads the story with one kid on each knee. It is a nice quiet time for the entire family.

  198. I wonder how these would turn out without xanthan gum?

    • I think that would be a worthy experiment Audrey! If you try them, please let me know how they turn out (I'm working on an egg-free version!).

      Happy Holidays!
      Heidi

  199. A favorite holiday tradition for me is the nice Christmas brunch– it's a bit of a hassle dressing up and getting up to go instead of lounging around the house in my jammies, but then there's all sorts of yummy stuff, at the same time, I can request or bring my own gluten-free creations/treats, not to mention that afterwards, we open presents! These fritters look like donuts to me– YUM, must try them, probably without raisins, though! I also remember a German treat we'd have when our friends would visit, which is stollen 🙂 YUM!

  200. Oh my! These are amazing! Seriously amazing!! I will so being doing these. But they will have to wait until Christmas morning since I already have an aebleskiver pan on my list for Santa. So I will have to wait until I find it under the tree! 😉

    Oh, and we have so many fun traditions. The entire month is just my favorite time of the year. I can only imagine how gorgeous your house must look right now. FOUR Christmas trees? Lady, you amaze me. Every. Single. Day.

    Love ya

    k

  201. Wow, this looks so delicious!!! What can I use instead of the aebleskiver pan? I'm sure somebody will answer after I read all the comments but just in case, there's my question! Traditional holiday.. hmm we are trying to develop new ones because of a divorce few years ago but the usual – put up the tree and stockings. I must must make christmas cut-outs. I'm still on the lookout for the perfect sugar cookie. I have a glutened BEST recipe of sugar cookie and I'm quite picky. I'm looking for excellent sugar cookie cut-out cookie recipes. Perhaps I have to start a new cookie tradition, I just saw a gf gingerbread cookie recipe that looks and 'sounds' good. I'm also trying this month to have my kids listen to an old holiday radio show via getrichslowly.org – 'Cinnamon Bear'. So I'm trying to find little ways to make xmas holiday 'ours' and not all about gifts.

  202. Oh my! I'm so thankful I stumbled upon this Home for the Holidays event (via Whole Life Nutrition website). My little family's allergy free life just keeps on getting better and better! I loved reading your post: Elvis, your grandfather, his pocket protector and eye glasses … so special. Thank you for sharing.

    Our kids are ages 3, 5 and 7, so our traditions are just taking shape. Loving it too. So far there's been an enthusiastic count down to the start of the advent calendar (I know, a count down to the count down), spending the day in the mountains with popcorn, hot cocoa, and sledding while we search for the perfect tree. It seems like it takes a good four or five days to decorate the tree and the house: more popcorn, hot cocoa and the Ottmar Liebert Christmas CD on repeat. It all feels so right 🙂

    Thank you again…and I'm eager to try the Better Batter GF flours! And to think, when I started all this allergy free cooking, I felt so restricted and now it feels so expansive! And delicious too 🙂

  203. Heidi these look so good. I may have to invest in the pan to make a special treat for the family on Christmas morning. I only wish I could eat sugar right now:( We have so many family traditions and I love them all. My children are now 15-23 y/olds however since they were little we started a tradition of allowing them to open one package on Christmas eve before they went to bed and all four of them would open their packages and find Christmas pajamas. Even the boys still look forward to the tradition however I don't know how much longer I'll be able to continue the tradition since they are growing up. All six of us go to the show "A Musical Christmas Carol" and have dinner together afterward. Spending time together over the holidays is so important to me.

  204. Great post to start!!!

    With just my fiance and I, holidays haven't been real big to-dos. So I look forward to the years that we go back to my mom's side of the family where we (all 40-50 of us) get together and squish into Grandma or Auntie's house and get to cooking, playing games, walking through town in the snow, sledding, and talking up a storm. My mom always looses her voice. 🙂

    (Grandma's kitchen is very small with just enough space to walk around the table between the sink, fridge and stove) – We joke that you know you are part of the family when you can walk into Grandma's kitchen, find 20 people hanging out and still find a place to sit. 🙂

    Holidays are great family fun!

  205. Wow, these look amazing! Cinnamon sugar donuts were a fav growing up so these are on my must try list! Thank you!

    I would say my favorite part of the holidays was getting to visit with my grandparents before they passed away. As far as traditions, driving around with my dad looking at lights was always the best. I would sing "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" on his cb radio and see if any random truckers were listening..lol On occasion, I'd get a "Thank you!" The other tradition I loved (and still love even at 28 yrs old) is opening the stockings my mom stuffs to the brim. You never know what random things you'll find in there. 🙂

  206. My favorite holiday tradition is on Christmas Eve. We attend our church candlelight service, then return home to have festive snacks – velveeta cheese dip and chips, sandwiches, and lots of sweets. We then decorate cookies to leave for Santa Claus.

  207. listening to the Carpenters' christmas cd!

  208. Reflecting today, my favorite memory has to be when we decided to open each gift one at a time and get to see the reaction of the recipient and hear his or her comments. Before, we had just all dived in to the pile of gifts, and a whirlwind later the living room was a disaster, and no one knew who had received what or got to hear the recipient's thankfulness. Now that we all live so far apart and still make the effort to be together on Christmas, and the "children" are having children of their own, this tradition allows our family relationships to grow. A few years back I learned that my nephew had asked for a pair of shoes from a company that would then send a pair of shoes to a needy person. I would never have seen this side of him or known his sweet heart and would have missed a precious moment if we'd just all dived in and collected our goodies and gone home.

  209. My favorite Christmas was just me and my husband sitting on the floor in front of the tree at night reminiscing all our fun times.

  210. Natalie Wahl says

    We always decorate the Christmas tree after Thanksgiving. It is a fantastic activity, and since we have December birthdays, we also try to keep the decorations minimal so my tree is my Christmas baby. 🙂

  211. my fav tradition is making delicios foods with my family – now that I was recently diag. and have to be Gfree this is the WORST part because we do not really have a good grasp on the concept and everyone views my food as bland/plain/gross… this would help make wonderful new memories/trad. 🙂

  212. When our girls were growing up, I enjoyed sewing during the holiday season. Over the years I made thirteen nativity costumes, a beautiful skirt, trees skirts for miniature trees, and a Santa complete with tool belt and "Santa's Workshop" sign.

  213. Yummy! These sound a lot like the New Years Cookies that we made growing up! It continues to be a tradition for us and I was wondering what I would do come New Year's Day. Now I have my answer. Thanks!

  214. I love cupcakes!

  215. Brenna Hirst says

    My favorite holiday tradition is getting the whole family together to decorate the Christmas tree. We listen to Charlie Brown Christmas music as we decorate, laugh, and joke. Then when it's all done, we turn off all the lights in the house except those on the Christmas tree and sit in the peaceful melodies of Bing Crosby's christmas cd. p.s. My family also enjoys a whole package of oreo cookies in the process. Of course I can't partake in that part of the tradition anymore, but maybe I can do them one better with these bad boys (the fritters :p )!!

  216. Hi, I wrote yesterday, but think I did it wrong. Anyway! Our family always has the best marinated shrimp for the holiday gathering. This year my cousin is making it.

  217. My favorite holiday tradition was helping my mother bake and frost holiday cookies! She made the BEST cookies, especially the neapolitans, and when I went vegan she managed to adapt them all to my new diet. This is my first year without her as she passed of cancer this past September, so in her honor I'll be taking over her cookbooks and seeing what holiday favorites I can revive as gluten-free, and I'll enjoy the memories <3

  218. My fav Christmas tradition is a cookie-baking marathon with my Mom. We've done this for years with many good memories.

  219. My favorite tradition is counting down Advent with my kids, anticipating the arrival of the birth of the Messiah. And I love the baking, but have been dreading it this year because it is our first GF. I'm so happy to have found this Home for the Holidays GF baking.

    Can't wait to make your GF fritters. They look fabulous!

  220. My mouth is watering, these look awesome!

    My favourite holiday tradition is going to my grandmothers' house and seeing all the family that visits from out of town each year… my grandma also used to make jello every year, and told us if "you don't eat your vegetables, you don't get any jello!" She stopped making it because she thought we all grew out of it, until I started complaining about no jello (just for fun)…but she took me seriously and she makes me some every year now. At least it doesn't have wheat in it… I think. Hehe 🙂

  221. Your post brings back memories of large family holidays and German traditions that still lingered through many generations. Thanks!

  222. Those sound so good, I may have to go looking for the pan! My favorite tradition is opening one present on Christmas Eve. We started it to keep our girls from peeking. It is always something to wear on Christmas morning. Sometimes PJ's, a robe or slippers, depending on what is needed most.

  223. They look spectacular, Heidi. Caught my eye over on Pinterest and lo and behold they led me back here to you. Have a very happy holiday season!

  224. Stacey Clark says

    Thanks for the recipe! It looks delicious. I love that it is German considering many celiac's have German heritage. Nice touch 🙂

  225. I made these using a muffin pan and they turned out wonderful! To make them vegan I substituted part Ener-G egg replacer and part ground flax. They are even better tasting than they appear in the pics, if that is possible! Thank you so much!

  226. Thank you so much for having a recipe with regular all-purpose gluten free flour! My family is on a tight budget and it's frustrating sometimes to see recipes that call for like 4 kinds of flour. I don't have the dollars to go buy all these different flours not to mention the space to store it (we live in a small apartment.) I use gf all purpose flour simply because it seems to work out just as good as regular flour and it's easy to use.

    • Trista,

      While I do have all the gluten free flours (I am a gluten free blogger afterall) – I MUCH prefer using a gluten free flour blend, it's just easier and like you said – storage can certainly be an issue!

      Hope you enjoy the fritters. 😀

      Heidi

  227. This year will be a bit different. My husband's family is coming from Sweden to meet their 7 mth old grandson for the first time. It will be a lot of new firsts for us with our son and my husband's parents around to show us how to do a Swedish Christmas right! (:

  228. They look jummy, and remarkably like the dutch 'Oliebollen' I grew up with. We eat them for New Year's Eve. The main difference is they are deep fried, there is no mould. Maybe the recipe would work in a deep fat fryer? I bought some gluten free ones once and my son rightly remarked they tasted like rabbit food. They went straight in the bin. I have had a plan to do my own but last few years we have been away at New Year's…

  229. So excited to have found your blog! I know the give-away is closed, but I just wanted to say thank you for sharing with the GF world!

  230. My favorite holiday tradition is getting together with my family on Christmas day night and reading the real story of Christmas. It's always been nice to just step away from all the food and presents for a little while to just focus on what Christmas is really about. I'm also loving making new traditions with my 2 and 3 1/2 year olds!

Trackbacks

  1. […] 11/30–Heidi Kelly at Adventures of a Gluten-Free Mom … Gluten-Free Fritters recipe and giveaway of one copy each of Healthier Without Wheat, Perfect One-Dish Dinners, and […]

  2. […] It’s Day 3 of our holiday event and today Heidi (Adventures of a Gluten-Free Mom) is sharing Fritters (which also have three other names depending upon where they’re made). On Facebook, Heidi described her Fritters on “the tastiest gluten-free sweet treat that she’s made in 6 years.” You only have to take one look at her photo to know that she speaks the truth. And if you follow Heidi’s blog, you know that’s saying a lot. She wows us all with her recipes—sweet and/or savory—but this recipe and post truly speak to our Home for the Holidays … Gluten-Free Style theme. It’s a “must read” for sure. You can read about it all here. […]

  3. […] p.s. There’s still time to enter yesterday’s giveaway and get an amazing looking Fritters recipe over at Heidi’s here. […]

  4. […] Dairy-Free Toffee DAY 3 Heidi Kelly at Adventures of a Gluten-Free Mom … Gluten-Free Fritters DAY 4 Ali Segersten at The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen DAY 5 Sunny Busby at And Love it, […]

  5. […] free easily Tuesday, 11/29–Diane Eblin at The Whole Gang Wednesday, 11/30–Heidi Kelly at Adventures of a Gluten-Free Mom Thursday, 12/1–Ali Segersten at The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen Friday, 12/2–Sunny Busby at […]

  6. […] free easily Tuesday, 11/29–Diane Eblin at The Whole Gang Wednesday, 11/30–Heidi Kelly at Adventures of a Gluten-Free Mom Thursday, 12/1–Ali Segersten at The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen Friday, 12/2–Sunny Busby […]

  7. […] Click here for Heidi’s Fritters recipe over at The Adventures of a Gluten-Free Mom. […]

  8. […] Gluten-Free Fritters (aka Förtchen, Futtjens, Ferdons, or simply Donut Holes) (this was Heidi’s brilliant entry into […]