Make and Bake: Pastry Pros and Bakers’ Cherished Holiday Treats
7 James Beard Award–recognized talents share their favorite edible holiday traditions and the memories behind the magic.
Poulette Bakeshop's pan de jamón. (Photo: Carolyn Nugent)
Wed, December 10, 2025
Despite spending all day rolling dough, baking treats, and crafting sweets, when the holidays come around, professional bakers and pastry chefs still can’t resist the allure of a little festive home baking. We asked seven 2025 James Beard Award nominees from the categories of Outstanding Bakery and Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker to share the holiday treats they most look forward to every year, and the sweet memories behind the traditions. From a nostalgic pecan pie to transportive Christmas breads to heirloom holiday cookies, these are their favorite holiday treats to make, eat, and share.
JinJu Patisserie's apple pound cakes.
James Beard Award winner Cat Cox's pecan pie. (Photo: Cat Cox)
A Better Holiday Fruit Cake
For Jin Caldwell of James Beard Award–winning bakery JinJu Patisserie in Portland, Oregon, the holiday baking season starts with apple pound cakes. After a day spent picking apples at local orchards, Caldwell looks forward to turning fresh, crisp apples into seasonal cakes to share with friends and family. “There's something special about perfectly baked apples in a buttery, tender cake with the aroma and flavor of fall spices,” she says. Caldwell pairs Evercrisp and Pink Pearl apples with a homemade holiday spice blend—cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, chili powder, cardamom, and pink peppercorn—which she gifts in small, stylish jars along with the cakes so recipients can use the spice mix in lattes, pancakes, and French toast throughout the holidays.
A Nostalgic Pecan Pie
Cat Cox, the 2025 James Beard Award winner® for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker of Country Bird Bakery in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has fond memories of shelling pecans with her grandparents. “They are so prolific in Oklahoma; someone always had a pecan tree in their yard,” she says. “I remember sitting on the floor with my brother as we took turns with the paper sack of pecans, separating the shells from the nuts.” For her, the holiday season is synonymous with her grandma’s pecan pie, which she describes as “gooey, crunchy, sweet, earthy, and buttery.” She honors her nana’s legacy by baking her recipe—local pecans are still a must, but Cox employs a few chef-inspired tweaks, like an all-butter crust instead of Crisco, and a combination of rich, earthy maple and sorghum syrups in place of Karo syrup.
Poulette Bakeshop's pan de jamón features ham, prosciutto, capers, green olives, and raisins.
A Sweet-Salty Christmas Bread
Making pan de jamón signals the official start to the holidays for Alen Ramos and Carolyn Nugent, both 2025 James Beard Award nominees for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker and co-owners of Poulette Bakeshop in Parker, Colorado. “In Venezuela, pan de jamón is the centerpiece of Christmas baking and a symbol of generosity and celebration,” Nugent says. An enriched dough is rolled up with sweet-salty layers of thinly sliced ham, salty prosciutto, capers, green olives, and raisins, then baked to a glossy mahogany finish. Every year, the couple and their son, Tomás, gather with their extended family on Christmas Eve to make pan de jamón, then enjoy warm slices along with a gift exchange and a Champagne toast. They always bake a few extra loaves to share with the Poulette team and a few special customers, too.
Memory Lane Latkes
Crispy, warm, airy, and oily-but-not-too-oily latkes are the holiday tradition that Oren Salomon, owner of Starship Bagel, a 2025 James Beard Award nominee® for Outstanding Bakery in Dallas and Lewisville, Texas, looks forward to most. “The holiday being about making oil last and being able to taste the spirit of the holiday as a way to celebrate it—it’s just so symbolic and tasty,” Salomon says. "I feel connected to a tradition over 2,000 years old, but at the same time, memories dating back to when I was 2 years old.” These days, Salomon’s tradition revolves around his techniques for making latkes, including using a box shredder to shred his own potatoes, soaking the starches out of the potatoes, and making them airy by adding baking soda.
Pastry chef April Franqueza's holiday spritz cookies. (Photo: April Franqueza)
Aleks Chmielewska of Super Secret Ice Cream celebrates with From Roy's panettone. (Photo courtesy of Aleks Chmielewska)
Perfect Panettone
Holidays are a hectic time, especially for dessert shops like Super Secret Ice Cream, a 2025 James Beard Award nominee® for Outstanding Bakery located in Bethlehem, New Hampshire. To bring her staff a dose of holiday cheer, chef/co-owner Aleks Chmielewska orders panettone from a bakery called From Roy. “Every bite of Roy Shvartzapel’s candied orange and raisin panettone takes me back to my childhood in Poland, and to my grandmother’s ciasto drożdżowe,” Chmielewska says. “The name translates simply to 'yeast cake,’ but to me, it was something special—somewhere between a brioche and a tender cake. She added raisins and orange zest, too. One whiff, and I’m a little girl again, in her kitchen in the Polish countryside.” Now, savoring a few bites of panettone with her team, while standing around in the kitchen between making batches of ice cream, has become an eagerly anticipated annual tradition.
Heirloom Holiday Cookies
April Franqueza, a 2025 James Beard Award nominee® for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker, of The Dining Room at High Hampton in Cashiers, North Carolina, loves carrying on her family’s Christmas cookie making tradition. “I can still picture the beautiful variety of cookies displayed on our kitchen counter each year,” she says, describing the assortment of spritzes, peanut butter blossoms, thumbprints, and Russian tea cakes. “And then the best part was putting together a variety for Santa on Christmas Eve!” Her favorite cookies to bake are her great grandmother’s spritz cookies, which Franqueza describes as “light, delicate, and buttery in flavor.” The shortbread-esque cookies are flavored with almond extract and pressed into shapes like Christmas trees, wreaths, and poinsettias for a festive finish.
Grandma's Flan
With its caramelized sweetness, creamy custard, deep amber caramel, and perfect jiggle, flan is the ultimate holiday treat for Crystal Kass, a 2025 James Beard Award nominee® for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker. “Flan reminds me of my grandmother, who made it every holiday when our [extended] family gathered together,” Kass says. “The smell of caramel cooking instantly takes me back to her kitchen—full of warmth, laughter, and anticipation for the meal ahead.” Since her grandmother’s passing, Kass’s aunt and mom have taken over flan-making duties for Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, making it according to her grandmother’s cherished recipe and baking in the same pan. “Every time I eat it, it feels like we’re keeping her memory alive in the sweetest way possible,” Kass says.
For these bakers and pastry chefs, honoring their cherished holiday traditions and family recipes and sharing them with friends and family is the sweetest way to celebrate the season.
