Taco dip, gingerbread state’s favorite holiday foods

What do you call a Wisconsin party without taco dip? A failure.

The party staple is the most popular “holiday” recipe searched for by Wisconsin web users on General Mills’ sites, which include

BettyCrocker.com and Pillsbury .com.

General Mills looked at the search data across its websites from the holiday season and compiled a list of the most popular and unique holiday food traditions in each state.

Peanut butter cookies were the most popular food in the most states: New Jersey, New York, Virginia and Washington, D.C. Midwest neighbor Minnesota is fond of Christmas cookies in general, while our neighbors to the south like hot chocolate.

Pass the gingerbread

Apparently, Wisconsinites like to pair that taco dip with gingerbread.

The spicy treat was the mostsearched holiday cookie in Wisconsin this holiday season, according to Google Trends. In fact, it was the most-searched holiday cookie in every state except South Dakota, which searched for sugar cookies more.

Green bean casserole was the most-searched holiday recipe across the country, with holiday mule drink, turkey brine, mashed potatoes and candied yams and marshmallows rounding out the top five.

I’ll be home for Christmas (maybe)

Flying isn’t exactly a fun experience these days, and even less this time of year when airports are crowded with people trying to get home (or away) for the holidays.

According to SmartAsset, it’s even worse if you’re flying out of Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, which the website ranked the eighth-worst airport to fly out of over the holidays.

The rankings were based on data for domestic flights during December from 2012 to 2015. The website looked at the percentage of flights with delays, the length of those delays and the percentage of flights that were canceled.

Weather no doubt played a factor in Milwaukee’s ranking, along with other snowy spots like Newark (No. 2), Chicago (No. 4), Cincinnati (No. 7) and New York (No. 9). San Francisco topped the list as the worst airport to travel through during the holidays.

ABOUT THIS FEATURE How do we rate? There is no shortage of lists, rankings and charts to tell us. Adding Us Up is a recurring look at where Milwaukee and Wisconsin rank on the latest lists, from the semi-serious to the silly. If you spot a ranking that rates, share it with us at greensheet@jrn.com.