12 traditional Pennsylvania Christmas dishes & drinks
This being Pennsylvania, you might not be surprised that nearly half of these traditional Christmas dishes are cookies.
Christmas is strongly connected to tradition, from the ritual of decorating the tree to the annual baking of holiday cookies. Pennsylvania is a big state with many cultural influences, so there are countless foods and drinks that are traditionally enjoyed during the holiday season. Whether you’re making boilo in the Anthracite Coal Region or snacking on farkleberry cookies in Pittsburgh, every part of the commonwealth has its own Christmas flavor. We’ve rounded up 12 of the most popular—and unique—dishes and drinks you may spot around the holiday table this year.
Boilo
Boilo is a warm, mulled alcoholic drink served in Pennsylvania’s Anthracite Coal Region. Inspired by a traditional Lithuanian beverage, boilo is made of fruits (usually oranges and lemons), sweetener (honey or brown sugar), mulling spices (like cinnamon and caraway seeds), and whiskey (often Four Queens). It’s easy to make yourself, with or without alcohol, and many families swear by their own variations.
The seafood at the Feast of the Seven Fishes
The Feast of the Seven Fishes is a Christmas Eve tradition in many Italian American communities, especially in Philadelphia and surrounding areas. On the night before Christmas, families have a seven-course feast made entirely of seafood—a nod to the Italian practice of La Vigilia, when observers abstain from land animal meat on the eve of a holiday. Communities put their own spins on the meal with specific seafood dishes varying by family.
Potato filling
Sort of like a cross between the side dish champs of stuffing and mashed potatoes, potato filling is a Pennsylvania Dutch side that often graces holiday tables in Southeastern Pennsylvania, especially in Berks, Lebanon, Lehigh, and Schuylkill Counties. Like many of the region’s traditions, potato filling was brought to the area by resourceful German immigrants who transformed simple ingredients into something special. Today, the starchy side, made of potatoes, bread, onions, and celery, is a beloved part of many Pennsylvanians’ Christmas dinners.
Shoofly pie
While shoofly pie is available year-round across Pennsylvania Dutch Country, the pie was historically a winter treat. After all, traditional shoofly pie—made with molasses and other shelf-stable ingredients—does not contain eggs, making it an ideal pie for the colder season, when chickens lay fewer eggs. While the pie was originally a breakfast food—perfect with hot coffee on a cold day—it’s now become a staple pie that you might see on the Christmas dessert table.
Mint ginger ale
In Pittsburgh, Tom Tucker Mint Ginger Ale was a long-standing seasonal tradition, with the minty carbonated beverage only sold around the holidays. Though the product was discontinued after the 2019 season, Pittsburgh-area company Natrona Bottling, which makes Red Ribbon sodas (aka pop), acquired the recipe and began making its own version. Like the Tom Tucker version, Red Ribbon’s mint ginger ale doesn’t actually contain any ginger, just mint.
At the same time, some people think Red Ribbon’s Mint Ginger Ale tastes even better than the classic Tom Tucker version, because Red Ribbon sodas use real sugar. You can enjoy the classic drink straight from the bottle or as a festive mixer in holiday punch.
Moravian sugar cake
The first permanent Moravian settlement in the United States was in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania—now known as “Christmas City,” in part because it was given its name on Christmas Eve. Each holiday season, Bethlehem bakeries brim with homemade Moravian sugar cake, which is a yeasted, buttery coffee cake traditionally made with a potato-enriched dough. Before baking, the dough is dimpled and filled with brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter, creating a rich, caramelized treat that tastes best on Christmas morning.
Pierogi at Wigilia
Many Polish American families—especially in Northeastern Pennsylvania, where Polish immigrants settled widely—celebrate Wigilia, the traditional Polish Christmas Eve feast. The meatless supper often includes dishes like mushroom soup, sauerkraut, and pierogi, along with cherished customs such as waiting to begin until the first star appears in the sky and sharing oplatek, a special Christmas wafer symbolizing health and good wishes.
Pierogi are a centerpiece of the meal for many Northeastern Pennsylvania families, who spend much of Christmas Eve crafting a copious number of beloved dumplings, filling them with potato, sauerkraut, cheese, cabbage, and other fillings. In fact, for many households, it’s the biggest pierogi-making day of the year, with several generations gathering in the kitchen to roll, pinch, and boil or fry the dumplings.
Pennsylvania’s cookie culture
Pennsylvanians statewide agree: It’s not Christmas without cookies. You can participate in cookie exchanges and find cookie tables at holiday events—not just Pittsburgh weddings—across the Commonwealth. Here is just a sampling of the traditional cookies you’re likely to find on Pennsylvania holiday tables.
Sand tart cookies
Sand tarts are simple, ultra-thin cookies popular in Pennsylvania Dutch communities. The sugar dough is rolled very thin, cut into festive shapes, and often topped with a decorative nut. In order to achieve a paper-thin cookie, recipes skip leaveners like baking powder. The result is a buttery, crisp cookie that crumbles easily—almost as if into sand.
Pizzelle
Pizzelles are traditional Italian cookies that look like fancy waffles and are flavored with anise (which tastes like licorice). As Pennsylvania has a strong Italian heritage, the cookies are often found at holiday parties and on Christmas cookie spreads across the state. Though the intricate patterns look complicated, pizzelles are easy to make as long as you have a pizzelle iron.
Thumbprint cookies
Thumbprint cookies aren’t exclusive to Pennsylvania, but they’re key to holiday celebrations across much of the state. In Pittsburgh, thumbprint cookies are typically soft, cake-like creations with frosting and sprinkles (aka jimmies) in the center “thumbprint” dip.
The cookies are also popular in other parts of Pennsylvania, like in Pennsylvania Dutch Country, where you’re more likely to find thumbprints with traditional jam-filled centers.
Farkleberry tart-inspired cookies
Farkleberry tart is a Pittsburgh tradition that stems from a citywide inside joke. They’re not actually made with farkleberries—though farkleberries are a real berry—but instead with cranberries. The tarts (and farkleberry muffins, coffee cake, and other treats) were sold annually, beginning in the 1970s, as a holiday fundraiser for the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, after KDKA Radio host Jack Bogut joked about farkleberry tarts to inspire donations.
While original tarts are no longer sold, the city’s Oakmont Bakery keeps the tradition alive with farkleberry cookies each holiday season. Made with cranberries—which stand in for farkleberries—the cookies are flavored with orange, dotted with white chocolate chips, and rolled in powdered sugar.
For another twist on the farkleberry tradition, Burghers Brewing Co. makes a farkleberry tart beer and donates proceeds to the children’s hospital.
Kolacky
Kolacky—also spelled kolaczki or kolache—are Eastern European cookies and common holiday treats throughout Pennsylvania, courtesy of the Eastern European immigrants who made the Commonwealth their home. The cookies are made with a soft, cream cheese dough folded with fruit preserves such as apricot or strawberry. They’re a staple at Czech and Polish holiday celebrations across Pennsylvania.
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