At Christmas time the focus is or should be on Christ and family togetherness. Since those two concepts are central to the gospel, it is natural that the yuletide celebration would have deep significance for Latter-day Saints.

      Mary Ellen Stewart Jamison wrote in Encyclopedia of Mormonism: "Most Latter-day Saints include some of the traditions, games, decorations, music, and food associated with the Christmas customs of their homelands in their family celebrations. Such items as Christmas trees, stockings, gifts, and greeting cards add to the beauty of the holiday and are not discouraged. But the recommended focus is religious. The Church encourages family closeness, concern for neighbors, thoughtfulness for fellow workers, renewal of friendships, and acts of Christlike love, giving, and celebration."("Christmas," Encyclopedia of Mormonism 1:271-272.)Food, of course, is pivotal in Christmas celebrations everywhere. Following the pattern of last summer's feature on favorite family reunion recipes (Church News, July 4, 1992), the Church News asked members in several countries to share their favorite traditional Christmas recipes. Here are their responses.

RECIPES

Hawaii: Christmas pineapple cream pie

WAIKIKI, HAWAII Elissa Mataele is Young Women president in the Waikiki Ward, Honolulu Hawaii Stake, and her husband, Kauassi, is first counselor in the bishopric.

      "She is a great cook," said Elder Frank C. Davis, a missionary serving with his wife in Honolulu, "and they regularly feed the full-time missionaries every Wednesday night or more often.

      "The recipe came from Maui and was adopted by the Mataele family a few years ago because Kauasi has a real love for pineapple in any form. He was brought up on it in Tonga. They have it with Christmas dinner and some other holidays, or whenever he can get her to make it."

      Pineapple cream filling:

      1 20-ounce can crushed pineapple

      1/3 cup firmly packed corn starch

      4 egg yolks

      1 tablespoon water

      1 cup sugar

      1/4 teaspoon salt

      2 cups whole milk

      2 tablespoons butter or margarine

      1 teaspoon vanilla

      Measure 1 cup pineapple and juice. Drain juice. Reserve remaining pineapple. Combine corn starch, egg yolks and water in small bowl. Combine sugar, salt, milk and drained pineapple in sauce pan. Cook and stir on medium heat until mixture almost comes to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Add egg yolk mixture slowly, stirring constantly, and stir until thickened. Add butter and vanilla. Remove from heat. Cover with waxed paper. Refrigerate 30 minutes, stirring once or twice.

      Crust ingredients:

      3/4 cup butter

      1 1/2 cups flour

      1/2 cup chopped nuts

      Mix ingredients and press evenly into 9-inch by 13-inch pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes until golden brown. Cool completely.

      Cream cheese filling:

      1 8-ounce package of cream cheese, softened

      1/2 cup confectioners sugar

      1/2 teaspoon vanilla

      1/3 cup finely chopped macadamia nuts

      1/3 cup reserved pineapple, drained

      Combine creamed cheese and confectioners sugar. Beat with fork until blended and smooth. Add vanilla, nuts and drained pineapple. Mix well. Spread cream cheese filling over bottom of cooled baked shell. Cover with pineapple cream filling.

      Topping:

      Spread with one cup whipped cream sweetened with 1/4 cup sifted confectioners sugar. Garnish with remaining drained, crushed pineapple and nuts. Serve or refrigerate until ready to serve. May substitute pecans or walnuts if macadamia nuts are unavailable.

Finland: Tuuvinki

ESPOO, FINLAND\ Christmas traditions in Finland vary depending on the family and the setting. In some rural villages, the custom over the years has been to cut pine boughs and pile them in a long green carpet from the top of a hill to the village center for the Christ Child.

      The sauna originated in Finland, and in some homes, Christmas festivities are preceded by a sauna bath, after which everyone dresses in clean clothes for a Christmas dinner.

      In the household of Aino Karumo of Espoo Ward, Helsinki Finland Stake, a favorite yuletide dish is Tuuvinki, or potato casserole. She delights Christmas revelers as she draws it steaming from a brick oven. Here is the recipe:

      2 pounds potatoes

      1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

      2 cups milk

      1 teaspoon salt

      2 tablespoons dark syrup/molasses

      1 teaspoon nutmeg

      1 ounce melted butter

      Boil the potatoes with their jackets on till they are done. Peel the potatoes and puree them. Mix in the flour. Cover the bowl with a lid and let it stand in a warm place for three to four hours - or in a cooler place over night. Add the other ingredients. Pour the mixture into a casserole oven-dish. Don't fill to the brim, since the casserole will gain in volume as it cooks. Bake the casserole at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for two to three hours. Excellent with oven-baked ham.

Guatemala:\ Ponche de frutas

GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMALA\ "On the 24th of December at midnight, after the fireworks, the family gathers together for a family prayer before dinner," wrote Cynthia de Abadillo, a secretary in the Central America Area office of the Church, in describing a typical Christmas celebration in Guatemala.

      Cindy Morales, Marilu Folgar and Violeta Castillo, Relief Society sisters in the Guatemala City Guatemala Utatlan Stake, prepared such a Christmas dinner, including French bread, grapes, pineapple, melon, ponche (fruit punch) and both meat and dessert tamales cooked in banana leaves, served on a table decorated with a white bear in a Christmas basket and bordered with a string of manchineel berries. Here is the punch recipe:

      1 pineapple

      1 pound of apples

      4 ounces of plums

      4 ounces of raisins

      Sugar to taste

      2 sticks of cinnamon

      Grated coconut as desired

      5 peppercorns

      5 cloves

      Wash and clean the pineapple, then peel it. Cut the apples unpeeled in square pieces (take out the center). Cook the pineapple skin in 3 liters of water with the chopped pineapple and other ingredients to taste. After cooking, remove the pineapple skin. Sweeten for the right flavor. Serve hot or cold.

Germany:\ German Christmas Stollen

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH\ Inge Ludwig emigrated from Germany years ago and still observes some of the Christmas traditions from that land.

      "Stollen is one of the favorite Christmas treats in our family," said Sister Ludwig of the Sugar House Ward, Salt Lake Sugar House Stake. "Usually we prepare them, unlike other Christmas baking, a few weeks in advance. It is my belief that the flavor becomes enhanced over a period of time.

      "Over the years, as the children have left home, I have prepared one Christmas stollen for each family and sent it to them, reminding them of our Christmas tradition."

(Makes three loaves)

      8 cups flour

      6 teaspoons baking powder

      1/3 teaspoon nutmeg

      2 teaspoons salt

      4 eggs

      2 cups sugar

      3 teaspoons vanilla

      2 teaspoons almond extract

      2 teaspoons lemon extract

      2 tablespoons lemon juice

      Grated rind from two lemons

      1 pound butter

      2 tablespoons vegetable shortening

      1 1/2 pounds cottage cheese (well drained)

      1/2 pound citron (chopped small)

      1 pound almonds (chopped small)

      1 pound raisins

      Sift flour, salt, baking powder and nutmeg together. Add eggs, sugar, all flavor extracts, then the fats, and knead well! Add cottage cheese, almonds and citron. Knead well! If mixture is sticky, add some more flour. Add raisins last and work carefully under.

      Form into three loaves and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. When loaves are light brown, turn heat down to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake one hour to one hour and 15 minutes.

      While loaves are warm, brush with soft butter and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

England: Christmas pudding

LEEDS, ENGLAND\ In the same context, the words Christmas, England and pudding evoke delightfully homey images of hearth-side gatherings in the Victorian age, such as the Bob Cratchit family celebration described in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

      Patricia Brooke of the Leeds 2nd Ward, Leeds England Stake, provides a delectable recipe for traditional Christmas pudding. She explained that while mixing the ingredients, "each member of the family should have a stir and a wish - but don't tell anyone what you wish or it won't come true!"

      "I make my pudding at least a month before using - if stored in an airtight container," she noted. "The pudding will keep for much longer than this, and improves with keeping."

      (Makes a 2-pound pudding)

      4 ounces self-rising flour

      Pinch of salt

      3 ounces shredded suet

      4 ounces raisins

      6 ounces sultanas

      4 ounces currants

      4 ounces brown sugar

      1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg

      Grated rind of half a lemon

      2 eggs

      2 tablespoons milk

      Small, grated carrot

      Small, grated apple

      Mix all ingredients together thoroughly. Place the mixture in a greased 2-pint glass pudding basin and cover with a layer of greased, grease-proof paper, then a layer of kitchen foil, and secure well with a string or a cord.

      Steam for eight hours, then leave in basin to cool. When pudding is cold, remove it from basin and cover in grease-proof paper for storage.

      To warm through before serving, steam pudding again for around an hour. Serve with sweet white sauce. (Make as custard, but use corn flour instead of custard powder.)

Italy: Pandoro, Panettone

REGGIO CALABRIA, ITALY\ A tradition in the family of Giaconda Sacca is to prepare a Christmas breakfast of panettone and pandoro, desserts that characterize Italian Christmases.

      "Panettone, similar to fruitcake, is the dessert that is most traditional at Christmas," said Sister Sacca who is music chairman in Calabria Italy District of the Italy Catania Mission and a Relief Society, Sunday School andO seminary teacher in the Reggio Calabria Branch.

      "Legend has it that the recipe came from a poor baker from Milan who, wanting to make a gift for his fiancee, thought of making a pastry of flour, butter, egg, sugar and raisins.

      "Pandoro, a fluted cake for those who would rather do without the candied fruits, is lightly dusted with powdered sugar.

      3/4 cups (150 grams) potato flakes

      3/4 cups (150 grams) flour

      3/4 cups (150 grams) sugar

      3/4 cups (150 grams) butter, softened

      4 eggs

      juice of 1/2 lemon

      1 teaspoon (10 grams) baking powder

      Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit (170 degrees Celsius). Mix together the potato flakes, flour, sugar, eggs, lemon juice and butter, beating until smooth. Add the baking powder and blend well with other ingredients.

      Generously grease and flour a cake pan, preferably a mold the shape of a star with high sides (a bundt pan may work). Pour the mixture into the mold, place in the oven and bake for 40 minutes (30 minutes if using a bundt pan). Turn off the oven and leave the pandoro inside for another 5 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan, leaving it to cool. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

      PANETTONE

      3 1/4 cups (700 grams) flour

      1 cup (250 grams) sugar

      1 cup (250 grams) butter

      3 tablespoons (40 grams) yeast

      6 egg yolks, beaten

      Pinch of salt

      1 scant cup of raisins, plumped, dried and floured

      3 tablespoons (40 grams) candied orange peel, cut into small pieces

      2 1/2 tablespoons (30 grams) candied lime cut into small pieces

      1 grated lemon peel

      Lukewarm water

      Flour for sprinkling

      Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit (220 degrees Celsius). Crumble the yeast over 1/2 cup (100 grams) flour, and mix with the lukewarm water, making a bread-like mixture. Cut a cross [XT in the mixture and let it rise, covering it with a cloth. After about 15 minutes, put half of the remaining flour in a mixing bowl, combining it with the mixture using lukewarm water to make another ball. Knead it well. Leave the ball to rise a second time until it has doubled in size. Put in a larger bowl and add the rest of the flour, 3/4 cups (200 grams) of the butter (melted), the egg yolks, sugar, lemon peel and salt. Mix together, using a little lukewarm water as needed. Work the mixture for 10 minutes, then add the candied fruit and the raisins. Once all is added, the bread-like mixture should be soft and shiny.

      Use a round cake pan with high sides, and cover the sides with a sheet of well-greased paper (or waxed paper). Place mixture in the pan and cut a cross [X] on the top. Top with flakes of remaining butter and place in the oven for 50 to 60 minutes.