Christmas dinner fruits, chocolate, raisins, and/or pine nuts, known as panettone, followed by "torrone" (enriched with cherries, chocolate, sweets and more), nougat and nuts. In Southern Italy instead of one cake they serve many kinds of marzipan, biscuits, zeppole, cannoli, candied fruits, and fresh fruits. In the last few decades, panettone has become popular as a Christmas sweet all over Italy. Pandoro is also a very popular cake at Christmas and New Year, accompanied by a good Champagne. One typical Dutch tradition is that of 'gourmet,' an evening-long event where small groups of people sit together around a gourmet-set and use their
Russian tea cake Russian tea cake Russian tea cake is a kind of pastry, often eaten around Christmas in the United States. It is a form of jumble, a pastry common in England during the Middle Ages. Similar varieties are known as Mexican wedding cakes (or cookies), Italian wedding cookies, butterballs, and occasionally snowball cookies for their powdery white spherical appearance when appearing around the winter holidays. Russian tea cakes have a relatively simple recipe, generally consisting entirely of flour, water, butter, and ground nuts, the nut variety depending upon the cookie type. After baking, they are rolled in powdered sugar while still