(StatePoint) For many families, the best thing about the holidays isn’t the lavish gifts, it’s the traditions they have made together. And while old customs won’t fade, families across the country are spicing up their holiday celebrations with new traditions this year.

Here are four ideas for new food traditions you can start this holiday season:

• Serve food from other cultures:  Try adding a cultural dish to your holiday feast. Danish roast goose, Hungarian chicken paprikash, Jewish latkes, Irish oyster stew, or Grecian leg of lamb are all traditional meals that could invigorate your holiday spread. For dessert, try Italian sweet cakes or Australian Pavlova, a meringue-like treat.

• New take on an old favorite:   Lots of families have traditional holiday favorites that they break out once a year. For many, that dessert is the moist, sweet cake panettone. Bauducco Panettone is a ready to eat specialty cake loaded with a variety of raisins, candied fruits and chocolate chips. Extremely versatile, panettone can add a new twist to classic recipes. Some unique recipes include using panettone to make croutons for fresh arugula and roasted fruit salad or substituting Bauducco Panettone in a bread pudding with amaretto sauce.

“Even for breakfast, its light texture and subtle sweetness make the cake perfect to pair with coffee or hot chocolate,” said Stefano Mozzi, General Manager at Bauducco Foods Inc. “It can even be used to make French toast and waffles.”

For some delicious recipe ideas, visit www.bauducco.com/product/panettone.

You can find Bauducco Panettone on store shelves this holiday season at Wal-Mart, CVS, Walgreens and grocery stores, drug stores and mass market retailers nationwide.

• Plan a cookie exchange: Have everyone in your family bake one type of cookie and bring them to the festivities – one dozen cookies each for larger groups and two dozen for smaller ones. You’ll have a variety of delicious cookies for dessert, while only having to bake one type yourself. This is an easy and surefire way to please your family’s sweet tooth!

• Cook with the kids: The days leading up to the holidays are a great time to bond with your kids. One of the best ways to do that is to get them involved in the cooking process. Have your children pick a few recipes they can help you with. Make extra for friends, neighbors and the less fortunate and deliver them with your kids to spread some good cheer. 

Try something new in the kitchen this holiday season. Sometimes the traditions you start on your own are the best of all.