Read about our favorite ways to celebrate the holidays in ways that bring joy and happiness.
Christmas Is Letter Writing Time Of all the many, many reasons to love Christmas, here’s one that’s often overlooked: it’s the time of year for writing letters. We love to send real letters—written on proper stationery and sent through the post—and we love to receive them, too! But in these busy days it’s hard to… more
Who doesn’t love cinnamon buns? Here we turn the rich, gooey goodness into wreaths, fragrant Christmas morning treats perfect before or after opening the stockings. The rich butter layered with maple cinnamon sugar and pecans yields enough to make two wreaths – one for your own family and the other to give to the neighbors.… more
Mildred’s Maple-Glazed Ham with Maple Mustard The Orton family would often serve ham for holiday dinners when everyone gathered, because no one cooked a ham like Mildred. She would start with a fresh ham, straight from a local farm, but we suggest you start with a gone-in smoked ham, more easily found in the supermarket.… more
When a native Vermonter friend popped one of these little morsels in his mouth, he said, “I’m tasting my childhood.” If you have ever bought maple sugar candy as a souvenir from The Vermont Country Store, you will recognize the same sweet creamy flavor when you taste these family “heirloom” maple bonbons. We did manage… more
Assembling the materials is the best part of making a gingerbread house, and a trip to The Vermont Country Store’s candy counter makes it easy. Soon after Thanksgiving, you’ll find us in the kitchen surrounded by candy — piles of red licorice whips, chocolate nonpareils, cinnamon Red Hats, gumdrops, and peppermint drops, ready to decorate… more
Every year, there’s a different newfangled way to cook turkey, from brining it in salted water overnight to dropping it into a deep fryer. We grew up with this recipe for traditional Thanksgiving turkey with a New England stuffing and prefer its simplicity and the way it infuses the house with a delicious aroma as… more
Take a drive down a Vermont country road, and you won’t get far before you come across a hand-painted sign saying “Eggs for Sale.” A lot of farmers sell fresh eggs as you’d expect, but you also see signs in front of cottages or village homes. These days, it seems everyone in Vermont keeps a… more
The plum pudding is the quintessential Christmas dessert. It’s rich, dense, intensely fruity, yet subtle and complex. And of course, it has a kick of rum or brandy. Some people say they don’t like plum pudding; they have never had a really good one. There is nothing like it. Plum puddings aren’t simple, though. They… more
Like any family, we have a host of Christmas traditions we observe year after year, and we cherish them all. But our favorite holiday traditions, and holiday memories, seem to be about our traditional Christmas foods. When we were kids, our grandmother used to make special dinner rolls just for Christmas. They took all day… more
We’ve been selling fine Vermont cheeses at the Vermont Country Store for a long, long time. In fact, one of the most important jobs we had growing up was working behind the cheese counter. We had to learn how to cut a wedge weighing exactly one pound from the big 38-pound cheese wheel, just by… more
