Rosanna Pansino talks to Guilty Eats about getting festive this holiday season

Are you looking for holiday inspiration? Do you want to get festive with the help of a fellow foodie? You’re in luck because Rosanna Pansino took the time to chat with us about how she is getting into the holiday spirit.

In our interview with the Baketopia star, we learned more about what she is doing this year to celebrate (building a giant gingerbread house), what some of her holiday traditions are, and she even shared her recipe for gingerbread cookies (for eating, not building).

And while the holidays are nearly upon us, one of the best tips we got from Pansino was all about keeping it simple. But of course, we didn’t just talk tips, so here is our chat with Rosanna Pansino.

Interview with Rosanna Pansino from Baketopia and Nerdy Nummies

Let’s start with the tip for first people who may be baking for the first time this holiday season.

According to Pansino,

"Keep it simple. It’s okay to keep it simple. My tip would be that an easy way to make something holiday themed, like if you have a favorite sugar cookie recipe, to make it holiday themed. You could decorate by sprinkling little candies on top or sprinkles that are red and green or whatever your favorite holiday colors are. So you can really take something you love and that’s simple and elevate it with a little simple color decoration. And that’s what we do. We’ll take our favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe and then when the cookies come out of the oven, we’ll put little red and green M&Ms on the top so that they work for the holiday, but it’s still a classic simple recipe that we’ve made 100 times and we know that we love. And it’s just a little bit more festive. It is kind of like throwing lights on the tree. You take a staple that you really love and just put some ornaments on it. You can never go wrong with that."

Considering Rosanna Pansino seems to love the holidays, we wanted to know if there is one recipe that she thinks more people should try for the holidays. Especially as we get closer to Christmas Day!

And her suggestion was,

"because we have a really strong connection to our Italian family, every year for Christmas dinner, my family makes homemade pasta. I know that’s not a very traditional Christmas dinner but in our family that’s the tradition. So I would encourage people to try an Italian dish and maybe make a focaccia bread. I like focaccia bread because you bake it in a cake pan, like around an eight inch or six inch cake pan.You make your dough. You set it in there and you put it in the fridge overnight. And you can add cute little decorations on the top of it and pop it in the oven the next day to bake. But I think during the pandemic a lot of people have been getting into more bread baking. I’ve been noticing that comfort foods are really gaining a lot of popularity and staying popular. Like I would say the most popular recipes I find on Tik Tok right now for the holidays are bread and spirited drinks. I’m a big fan of them. I’m a big supporter of that but there’s a tab called #breadtok, like bread Tik Tok. People are just making tons of bread and I love it. So I would encourage people to make a homemade bread and I like the focaccia bread because while you want to chill it for a day like eight hours in the fridge, you bake it in like a little cake pan. So it kind of reminds me of baking a cake."

And of course, it wouldn’t be Christmas without the traditions. So we had to ask what is one holiday treat from her childhood has to be at the holidays or else it’s just not the holidays.

According to Pansino,

"That would be the Italian pizzelle. And this is because my mom makes them every year. And so it doesn’t feel like the holidays if I don’t have a pizzelle. My grandma used to make them and then my mom makes them now and so it’s just not the holidays without the pizzelles and because of the waffle imprint, they kind of look like snowflakes."

If you really want to get festive with Rosanna Pansino, check out her adventures in making a giant gingerbread house. It took her 24 hours! And we are obsessed.

Plus, follow her on Instagram and Twitter for even more tips, tricks, and foodie inspiration. Basically, if you need some inspiration in the kitchen, Pansino is who we are turning to.

Are you following Rosanna Pansino on social media and YouTube? What did you think of her epic Gingerbread house? Let us know in the comments.