The holidays are a time for tradition, family, and—let’s face it—food. Knowing that the best gatherings combine all three, we asked notable Dallasites to share their favorite family holiday recipes.

Upside-Down Pear Gingerbread Cake

Lela Rose — Fashion designer

Topping
2½ firm pears (preferably Bosc)
½ stick (¼ cup) unsalted butter
¾ cup packed light brown sugar

Cake
2½ cups all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup molasses (preferably mild)
1 cup boiling water
1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, softened
½ cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Directions for Topping
Peel and core pears; cut each into eight wedges. Melt butter in a cast-iron skillet over moderate heat until foam subsides. Reduce heat to low. Sprinkle brown sugar over bottom of skillet and cook, undisturbed, three minutes (not all sugar will be melted). Arrange pears over sugar and cook, undisturbed, two minutes. Remove from heat.

Directions for Cake
Preheat oven to 350°. Whisk flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt. In separate small bowl, whisk molasses and boiling water. Beat butter, brown sugar, and egg with an electric mixer at medium speed until creamy, about two minutes. Alternately mix in flour mixture and molasses until smooth. Pour batter over topping in cast-iron skillet, spreading evenly. Bake in middle of oven for 40 to 50 minutes. Cool cake in skillet on rack for five minutes. Run thin knife around edge of skillet, then invert large plate over skillet. Holding tightly together, invert cake onto plate. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

*Originally ran in Gourmet

Janssons Frestelse

Jessica Nowitzki — President of the Dirk Nowitzki Foundation

“I spent most of my childhood in Sweden. My Kenyan mother embraced the Swedish culture and would make the most amazing Christmas dinners for the family. Typical Swedish Christmas delicacies include ham, köttbullar (meatballs), a variety of herring dishes, liver pâté, boiled potatoes, salmon, lutefisk, rice pudding, and Janssons frestelse, which translates to Jansson’s temptation—essentially a twist on the traditional potato au gratin. It was always one of my favorite dishes.”

Serves 4

Ingredients
8 medium potatoes
2 onions
10 anchovy fillets with marinade
9 fluid ounces cream
Handful of breadcrumbs
1 ounce butter

Directions
Peel potatoes and cut into matchsticks. Place in cold water to extract the starch. Preheat oven to 430°. Peel onions and chop coarsely. Grease ovenproof dish. Remove potatoes from water, pat dry. Remove anchovy fillets from tin and drain. Reserve anchovy marinade. Halve large anchovies. Place half of potatoes in baking dish. Cover with onions, then a layer of anchovy fillets. Cover with remaining potatoes. Pour anchovy marinade and half the cream over mixture. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and dot with butter. Bake 50-60 minutes. After 30 minutes, pour in remaining cream.

Salmon Croquettes

Charlotte Jones Anderson — Executive Vice President/Chief Brand Officer, Dallas Cowboys

Ingredients
5 14.75-ounce cans Honey Boy Red Salmon
1 box instant mashed potatoes
4 eggs
Salt (to taste)
¾ box saltine crackers

Directions
Open cans of salmon and put in large bowl. Pick out bones and dark meat. Drain oil from salmon and keep for later use. Mash clean salmon with fork. Follow instructions on box of mashed potatoes to make, then add to salmon. Beat eggs, then add to salmon/mashed potato mixture and mix. Add salt to taste. Add oil from salmon until right consistency. Mix thoroughly. Crush crackers. Drop small amount of salmon mixture in crushed crackers, then roll salmon mixture with cracker crumbs between hands. Final size should be bite-size. Fry in oil until crisp.

Date Nut Roll

Charlotte Jones Anderson — Executive Vice President/Chief Brand Officer, Dallas Cowboys

Ingredients
½ pound marshmallows, chopped
¼ cup water
½ cup condensed milk
½ cup chopped nuts
½ cup pitted dates
2½ cup graham cracker crumbs

Directions
Pour water over marshmallows. Add other ingredients and blend. Form into loaf. Wrap with wax paper. Refrigerate or freeze.

Honey’s Famous Egg Casserole Recipe

Kameron Westcott — Owner of SparkleDog Premium Dog Food and star of Real Housewives of Dallas

“This is my grandmother’s recipe that is my ultimate favorite to make on Christmas morning.”

Ingredients
White bread (with crusts cut off)
1 pound pork sausage
Green peppers
Black olives
6 eggs
Grated cheddar cheese
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon mustard

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°. Grease 9-by-12-inch glass baking dish and layer bottom with bread. Brown sausage, green peppers. Drain. Sprinkle over bread. Add olives. Whisk eggs and pour on top. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake for one hour.

Corn Scallop

Ron Corning — Anchor, WFAA

Ingredients
1 can cream corn
Milk
1 egg
Butter
Saltine crackers
Frozen corn

Directions
Pour cream corn in bowl. Fill can almost to the top with milk. Whisk an egg into milk. Pour milk-egg mixture into bowl with cream corn and mix. Crush almost a full sleeve of saltines over the mixture. Stir. Stir in a half bag of frozen corn. Add salt and pepper to taste. Crush remaining crackers on top. Add small pads of butter all over. Bake at 350° for one hour.

Cardamom-Pistachio Cookies

Jane & Jeff Aldridge — Bloggers, Sea of Shoes and Thyme & Temp

Yields 18-36 cookies

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cardamom
½ teaspoon cinnamon
2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
1½ cups granulated sugar
¼ cup dark brown sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon orange zest
½ cup pistachios, rough chopped
½ cup dried cherries, chopped

Directions
In bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, salt, cardamom, and cinnamon until combined. Cream butter until pale, approximately two minutes. Add sugars to butter and mix for two minutes at medium speed. On low speed, add egg, vanilla, and orange zest and mix. Add the flour mix, then pistachios and cherries until all is evenly mixed, two to three minutes. Roll the dough into 2½-inch-thick log. Wrap in parchment. Place in freezer for one hour. Preheat oven to 350°. Once firm, slice log into ¼-inch-thick rounds. Bake for 18 minutes.