Southern Spoonful: Holiday Treats for Your Table

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The story below is from our November/December 2025 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you! 

Festive, flavorful, oh so delightful — these holiday recipes will dazzle every guest and family member throughout the season!

One of my favorite holiday memories is my mother’s chocolate fudge peppermint cake. She added a bit of peppermint extract to her seven-minute frosting and drizzled the frosting with melted semi-sweet chocolate chips. The result was like a Dairy Queen chocolate-dipped ice cream cone. The crispy chocolate candy shell melts in your mouth. The cake can be baked and frosted ahead of time.

Mom always whipped up the most marvelous treats during the holidays. She added her special touches to make holiday dishes extraordinary. I’ve added some festive and flavorful ingredients to my holiday recipes to make them extra special for you. Cheers to you and your family for a very happy holiday season!

Mini Crab Cakes

The addition of duck fat to my crab cakes makes them extra crispy.

Makes 16 mini crab cakes

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

  • 8 ounces jumbo lump crabmeat
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 small shallot
  • ¼ cup finely chopped celery
  • 1/3 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
  • 1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 cup Ritz cracker crumbs
  • 1 tablespoon milk
  • 1 tablespoon finely chopped Italian parsley
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • Pinch of ground cayenne pepper (or more if you like spicy)
  • 2 tablespoons duck fat*

Place crabmeat in a mixing bowl and pick through to make sure there are no pieces of shell in the crabmeat.

Place olive oil in a sauté pan and heat over low heat. Add shallots, celery and red bell pepper. Stir and heat until shallots are wilted (about 1 minute). Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Add mustard, egg, breadcrumbs, milk, Italian parsley, lemon zest and juice, Old Bay Seasoning, salt and cayenne pepper to the crab. Mix with a fork, breaking up any large pieces of crab. Add the shallots, celery and red bell pepper. Stir to combine.

Place duck fat in a small bowl, microwave the fat briefly just until it melts (it will melt very quickly). Using a pastry brush, brush the duck fat on the bottom and sides of mini muffin tin sections. Fill each mini muffin tin section with crabmeat mixture. Brush each mini crabmeat with duck fat.

Bake mini crabcakes for 15 minutes in a preheated 375 degree Fahrenheit oven. Serve warm with spicy remoulade sauce.

Spicy Remoulade Sauce

Makes 1 ½ cups

  • 1 cup mayonnaise
  • 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
  • 2 teaspoons whole grain mustard
  • 6 pimento stuffed green olives
  • 2 teaspoons ketchup
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
  • 1 teaspoon chopped fresh dill
  • 2 teaspoons Tony Chachere’s Cajun Seasoning
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 2 teaspoons non-pereil capers
  • 4 teaspoons sweet salad cubes
  • ¼ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
  • 3 green onions, white part only, sliced thin

Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Stir to combine. Cover and chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Ham Jam

My European version of southern bacon jam. Serve ham jam with pimento cheese on your favorite flatbread crackers. Perfect addition to a charcuterie and cheese board.

Makes 1½ cups

  • 3 ounces Serrano ham slices*
  • 3 ounces prosciutto slices*
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • ¼ cup chopped onion
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • ½ cup maple syrup
  • ½ cup light brown sugar
  • 4 tablespoons prosecco vinegar
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

For service: Pimento cheese and Firehook sea salt flatbread crackers (or your favorite flatbread crackers)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Lay serrano ham slices and prosciutto slices in a single layer on a rack on a baking sheet with sides. Bake ham and prosciutto for 10 minutes or until very crispy. Watch carefully so the ham does not burn. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Once the ham and prosciutto have cooled, chop into very small pieces with a very sharp knife or kitchen scissors and place pieces in a bowl.

Place butter in a frying pan. Melt the butter over medium heat. Add the garlic and onion. Cook garlic and onion for 1 to 2 minutes until the onion is cooked and translucent.

Add the maple syrup and brown sugar to the frying pan. Stir to combine. Add the prosecco vinegar and cayenne pepper. Stir in the serrano and prosciutto pieces. Cook for 3 minutes over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Place ham jam in a serving dish.

Serve ham jam with pimento cheese on flatbread crackers.

Whipped Ricotta with Hot Honey and Toasted Pistachios

Sweet, hot and nutty, my whipped ricotta can be served as an appetizer or dessert with champagne or sparkling wine.

Makes 2 cups

Chill 2 hours before serving.

  • 15 ounces whole milk ricotta
  • 1 tablespoon AR’s Hot Southern Honey (or your favorite hot honey)*
  • 1 tablespoon heavy cream
  • Zest of 1 large lemon
  • ¼ cup toasted chopped pistachios
  • 2 tablespoons AR’s Hot Southern Honey (or your favorite hot honey)
  • ¼ teaspoon flaked sea salt*
  • Dewey’s Triple Ginger thin cookies

Place ricotta, 1 tablespoon hot honey, heavy cream and lemon zest in a mixing bowl. Mix with a rubber spatula to combine all ingredients.

Pour the ricotta mixture into a flat serving bowl and smooth the top with the rubber spatula. Sprinkle pistachios evenly over the ricotta, drizzle with 2 tablespoons hot honey and sprinkle with flaked sea salt.

Cover and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Serve with Dewey’s Triple Ginger thin cookies.

Waldorf Salad Nests

Makes: 4-6 salads

  • ½ cup Emerald glazed walnuts, chopped*
  • 1 large Granny Smith unpeeled apple, cored and cut in julienne strips
  • 1 large Gala unpeeled apple, cored and cut in julienne strips
  • 1 celery stalk, thinly sliced on the diagonal
  • 5 seedless green grapes, halved
  • 5 seedless red grapes, halved
  • ¼ cup dried sweetened cherries
  • Juice of ½ lemon
  • 1 tablespoon Prosecco balsamic vinegar*
  • ½ cup mayonnaise
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
  • Bibb lettuce leaves

Place 4 salad plates and 4 salad forks in freezer to chill for service. 

Place ricotta, 1 tablespoon hot honey, heavy cream and lemon zest in a mixing bowl.

In a large bowl, combine apples, celery, grapes and cherries. Toss gently with a spoon.

For dressing, whisk together mayonnaise, honey, lemon juice, Prosecco balsamic vinegar, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Cover and refrigerate until ready to make salads.

When ready to serve, toss apple mixture with dressing to coat. 

Place a bibb lettuce leaf on each chilled salad plate.

Make a “nest” of Waldorf salad on top of each lettuce leaf.

Chocolate Fudge Peppermint Cake with Seven-Minute Peppermint Frosting With Chocolate Drizzle

Makes enough frosting to frost a two-layer cake.

  • 5 large egg whites
  • ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 12/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
  • 1 ½ cups semisweet chocolate chips

Wipe down your mixer bowl and whisks before making frosting (important because any spec of fat that comes in contact with the egg whites may prevent them from whipping up fully). 

Place egg whites, cream of tartar and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk until combined.

Place a mixing bowl over a pot with 1 or 2 inches of simmering water and stir constantly with a whisk until the mixture is hot, no longer grainy and reads 160 degrees Fahrenheit on a candy thermometer (about 2 to 3 minutes).

Carefully (bowl will be hot to the touch) to your stand mixer bowl and whip on medium-high until the meringue is stiff (about 5 to 7 minutes).

Slowly stream in vanilla and peppermint extracts while the meringue is whipping. 

Cover bowl and place in refrigerator until ready to frost cake.

Super Moist Chocolate Fudge Cake

Makes 2 – 8 inch cake rounds

  • 1 13.25 ounce Betty Crocker Super Moist Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix
  • 1 cup water
  • ½ cup vegetable oil
  • 3 eggs

Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit for aluminum or glass pans or 325 degrees Fahrenheit for nonstick pans. Grease bottom and sides of 2 8-inch round cake pans.

Mix cake mix, water, oil and eggs in large bowl with mixer on medium speed. Divide the batter evenly between the two cake pans. 

Bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove cake from oven and cool completely before removing from pans.

To frost cake: Place a strip of waxed paper on each corner of a large cake plate (this will help to keep the cake plate clean while frosting the cake). Place one cake layer in the center of the cake plate. Frost the cake layer with 7 minute peppermint frosting. 

Top the first cake layer with the second cake layer. Frost the second cake layer and smooth the sides of the cake with more frosting. 

Carefully pull out the waxed paper pieces from underneath the cake. 

Place the semisweet chocolate chips in a double boiler. Melt the chocolate chips. 

Using a fork, drizzle the cake with the melted semisweet chocolate chips. (Once the cake is refrigerated, the chocolate will firm up like the chocolate dipped ice cream cone served at Dairy Queen).

White Cranberry Cosmopolitan

Makes 1 cocktail

Make cranberry sugar for rim of martini glass: Place ½ cup granulated sugar in food processor or blender. Pulse the sugar for about 30 seconds to make the sugar into super fine sugar (very fine crystals). Slice 8 fresh cranberries in half and add to sugar. Blend cranberries and sugar together so that the sugar has a little pink tint. Place the cranberry sugar on a plate. 

Pour a a tablespoon of fresh lime juice on a small plate. Dip and roll the rim of the martini glass in the lime juice. Then dip and roll the martini glass rim in the cranberry sugar.

Place the martini glass in freezer for 30 minutes to chill the glass.

  • 1½ ounces vodka
  • 1½ ounces white cranberry juice
  • ½ ounce Cointreau
  • ½ ounce simple syrup
  • ½ ounce fresh lime juice
  • 1 fresh rosemary sprig
  • 3 cranberries on cocktail pick, for garnish

In a cocktail shaker, combine vodka, white cranberry juice, Cointreau, simple syrup and lime juice. Fill shaker with ice, cover and vigorously shake until outside of shaker is very frosty, about 20 seconds.

Strain into chilled martini glass. Garnish with rosemary sprig and sugared cranberries. 

Notes:

Duck fat is available at Fresh Market.

Serrano ham and prosciutto are available in the deli section of most Kroger stores.

Hot honey is available in the deli section of local grocery stores or on-line. 

Flaked sea salt is available at Fresh Market. 

Emerald glazed walnuts are available at Food Lion.

Prosecco vinegar is available at Wine Gourmet or Fresh Market. 

Olivelle Meyer Lemon Balsamic Vinegar is available at Wine Gourmet. 

The story above is from our November/December 2025 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!