The Flavors and Scents of the Holidays
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Ask anyone what the holidays smell like and you get an answer in about two seconds. Gingerbread. Pine. A pot of cider on the back burner. The holidays are the one time of year when how your house smells matters as much as what you put on the table, and both are easier than people think. Here are five favorites for filling the house and the dessert tray.
Table of Contents
- Start With How the House Smells
- Two Dips for the Cookie Tray
- Old Fashioned Gingerbread Everyone Can Eat
- A Slow Cooker Full of Mulled Cider
- Putting the Spread Together
- Frequently Asked Questions
Key Takeaways
| Point | Details |
|---|---|
| Scent sets the mood | Stove Top Scents come in Christmas, Gingerbread, Vanilla Spice and Apple Pie, and they are reusable. |
| Two dips for dessert | Sugar Cookie comes with sprinkles and Hot Cocoa comes with marshmallows. |
| A cookie for every guest | GingerKids Cookie Mix is gluten free and vegan, so one batch covers most of the room. |
| Cider by the gallon | One Mulled Cider Spice pouch flavors up to two gallons, a gallon at a time. |
| Plan ahead | The dips can be mixed the day before, which clears your counter on the day guests come. |
Start With How the House Smells
There is a reason the smell of a kitchen in December sticks with people for decades. According to the National Institutes of Health, odors can influence memory, mood and emotion because scent signals travel to several parts of the brain at once.
That is the idea behind our Stove Top Scents. You simmer one in a pot of water and the steam does the rest. The Christmas scent is pine, spice and vanilla, about as close to a tree in the living room as you can get in a saucepan. There is also Gingerbread, Vanilla Spice, and an Apple Pie that works right through the new year. They are reusable, so one pouch carries you through the season.
Pro tip: Start the scent about thirty minutes before people arrive and keep an eye on the water level. These are made for scent and not for eating, so keep that pot separate from the food.
Two Dips for the Cookie Tray
A cookie tray is good. A cookie tray with something to dip the cookies in is what people talk about on the drive home.
Our Sugar Cookie Dip Mix tastes like the cookie itself, and we include the sprinkles right in the mix. Set it out with holiday cookies, fresh fruit or graham crackers, and shake a few more sprinkles over the top so it looks like you fussed. The Hot Cocoa Dip Mix is the other half of that pair. We took the warm chocolate drink everybody grew up on, turned it into a cool and creamy dip, and left the marshmallows in. It is good with fruit, cookies or pretzels, and it doubles as a cake topping.
| Sweet Mix | What's Inside | Best Dippers | Also Great As |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sugar Cookie Dip | Sprinkles included | Holiday cookies, fruit, graham crackers | A frosting stand in for cutouts |
| Hot Cocoa Dip | Marshmallows included | Fruit, cookies, pretzels | Topping for vanilla or chocolate cake |
Pro tip: Mix both dips the night before and keep them covered in the fridge. They firm up, the flavor settles, and you get your counter space back.
Old Fashioned Gingerbread Everyone Can Eat
We brought back our GingerKids Cookie Mix for the holiday season, and it is the easiest thing on this list to hand off to the kids. Dunk the cookies in coffee, frost them with whatever icing you like, or stir raisins or chocolate chips into the batter before they go in the oven.
The part worth knowing if you host a crowd: this mix is gluten free, vegan and made with no MSG. That covers a lot of guests without a separate batch and a separate pan.
Pro tip: Set out small bowls of icing, sprinkles and chips and let the kids decorate their own. You get twenty minutes of quiet and they get a job at the party.
A Slow Cooker Full of Mulled Cider
Nothing holds a room together like a slow cooker of spiced cider in the corner. Our Mulled Cider Spice flavors up to two gallons and comes in a reusable pouch, so you can do one gallon now and another later in the evening. Pour the cider in the slow cooker, drop the pouch in, and let it go. There is no added sugar in the spice, so the cider tastes like cider and not like candy. Take the lid off for a few minutes and it perfumes the room too.
Pro tip: Keep the slow cooker on low or warm. A hard simmer cooks off the aroma in the first hour, and the aroma is half of why it is sitting there.
Putting the Spread Together
If you are hosting, here is the order that works. By the time the first car pulls in, the house has done the greeting for you.
| When | What |
|---|---|
| Night before | Mix the Sugar Cookie and Hot Cocoa dips and chill |
| Morning | Bake the GingerKids cookies |
| One hour out | Start the mulled cider in the slow cooker |
| Thirty minutes out | Simmer a Stove Top Scent on the back burner |
Pro tip: Pick one scent and stick with it for the night. Gingerbread on the stove and apple pie in the slow cooker fight each other, and the room ends up smelling like neither one.
Stock Up for the Season
The scents are only around through January 31, and the holiday mixes run while supplies last. Browse our Holiday Favorites, sweet dip mixes and drink mixes, or use our store locator to find us near you. They make easy gifts too.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do Stove Top Scents work?
You simmer them in a pot of water on the stove and the steam carries the scent through the house. They are reusable and last for ages. They are made for scent only, not for eating.
When are the holiday Stove Top Scents available?
Our Stove Top Scents are available September 1 through January 31, or while supplies last. Scents include Christmas, Gingerbread, Vanilla Spice and Apple Pie.
How much cider does one Mulled Cider Spice pouch make?
Up to two gallons. The pouch is reusable, so you can flavor a gallon at a time and refill the slow cooker later in the evening.
Do you have a holiday cookie mix for guests with dietary restrictions?
Our GingerKids Cookie Mix is gluten free, vegan and made with no MSG, so it covers several guests at once. Keep in mind that whatever you dunk the cookies in needs checking too.
Which dips go on a holiday cookie tray?
Sugar Cookie Dip Mix and Hot Cocoa Dip Mix are both made for a dessert table. Sugar Cookie includes sprinkles, and Hot Cocoa includes marshmallows.
Do these mixes contain allergens?
Some do. Hot Cocoa Dip Mix contains milk and wheat, and Sugar Cookie Dip Mix contains milk, soy and wheat. Check the product page or the package label before serving guests with allergies.