Tasting Table Unearths The Best Dessert To Enjoy During The Holidays
Spending time with loved ones and enjoying good food is a great way to spend the holidays. According to History, feasts were often held to celebrate the midwinter solstice, which often included pork, beef, and fruits. This meal eventually evolved into Christmas dinner sometime in the Middle Ages, as monks and nuns made a festive meal. For this celebratory time, they were permitted to use seasonings and eat foods they would not have otherwise during the year.
Nowadays, the holidays are an excuse to take some much-needed time off from work at the end of the year and focus on spending time with loved ones. After a full holiday meal, many like to indulge in some desserts to finish the celebration on a sweet note. We asked 567 respondents to choose their favorite holiday dessert in an exclusive Tasting Table survey. Two dessert categories hogged the majority of the votes, and the last place spot shocked no one.
Last place upholds its reputation
According to our survey, pie is the most popular sweet treat to enjoy during the holidays, with 37.2% of the vote. Pumpkin, pecan, and apple pie are popular fall flavors, often enjoyed after Thanksgiving dinner. In second place, with 31.4%, comes cookies. For many families, baking gingerbread cookies is a yearly tradition, while those that celebrate Hanukkah make rugelach, a Polish pastry roll. Following cookies is fudge, with 15%. Fudge was invented in 1886 when a candy maker mixed up the ingredients for French caramels, according to Cocopotamus.
After fudge is brittle, or bark, with 7.8% of the vote. Whether you like your brittle peanut or peppermint flavored, this crunchy dessert can often be found mixed with other sweets on the dessert tray. Pudding took fifth place, claiming only 4.8% of the votes. Finally, as its reputation precedes it, fruitcake came in last place, with only 3.9%. The dessert is famously unpopular and has been for a while; according to Thrillist, Johnny Carson made a joke back in the 1960s about fruitcake being the worst Christmas gift.