My husband's aunt, Megan Montiel, makes a big batch of tamales every Christmas to send home to family members. It's a tradition she learned from the Mexican-American family she married into when she met her husband Michael over 40 years ago and still maintains today.

Here is the basic recipe Montiel uses, though the measurements are never exact:

Tamales
4 1/2 cups corn flour
4 to 5 cups warm broth mixture, plus more as needed (see recipe below)
2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 1/2 tablespoons salt
shredded beef or other meat
olives, drained
tortilla husks

Making Dough
Place corn flour in a large bowl and add 4 cups of warm broth. Beat with a wooden spoon or with your hands until the dough is smooth. Use a little more broth if necessary, but the mixture should not be loose. Add vegetable oil.

Begin adding corn flour mixture a handful at a time. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as necessary. Alternatively, beat in tamale mixture using your bare hand as a whipping and folding tool. If the mixture becomes too stiff to beat, add up to 1 cup broth a little at a time. When done, the mixture should be light and delicate, the texture of butter cream frosting. Beat in salt.

Making Filling
Shredded beef is typically used, though any kind of meat, seasoned, works. We even made some tamales with leftover Thanksgiving turkey.

Stew cooked meat in beef broth or water, chile powder, garlic and salt. This liquid will also be used to make the dough.

Assembling the Tamales
On an open corn husk, spread the dough at the top of the husk. Place a spoonful of meat in the middle of the dough. Place two olives and the base of the dough and wrap the husk around the filling, folding the bottom up. Place tamales in a steamer and let them steam for 60-90 minutes.