Christmas and the surrounding holiday season is the time of year when families come together and celebrate. And Christmas especially is a time for family members to show their appreciation for one another by giving gifts and creating delicious meals.
With an impending holiday feast probably already planned, or perhaps even more than one, the preparation for what to make has to start early. But never fear! The list of fabulous desserts can go on and on. These are just a few of the best.
Of course, Christmas is a time for family, but it’s also a time for decadent baked goods, candies, and other yummy treats! Certainly almost anyone can remember the joy of enjoying their favorite holiday desserts. Here are just a few more to think about making this year!
- Gingerbread Cake
Gingerbread is a staple of the Christmas treat repertoire. With gingerbread cookies (read on!), gingerbread houses, and now gingerbread cake, this holiday favorite has a special place in the hearts of many!
This particular gingerbread cake recipe is moist, full of rich, vibrant flavor, and can be made in advance without any hassle. Elegantly simple with divinely multi-layered tastes, gingerbread cake topped with a cream cheese frosting or whipped cream is sure to be a huge hit!
- Sticky Toffee Pudding
This traditional English dessert will certainly go off well with the guests at your holiday feast. Caramel flavors and moist cake combine to make a devilishly decadent dessert with few rivals on the roster of the best Christmas desserts.
With a sponge cake base and a creamy, sugary, caramel-y syrup generously poured over the top, sticky toffee pudding is an absolute masterpiece. This king among syrup-soaked cakes will be gone in just seconds after you reveal it to your guests!
- Classic Sugar Cookies
Who doesn’t remember stealing one of their grandma’s warm sugar cookies from off the baking sheet on Christmas Day? No list of the best Christmas desserts would be complete without a mention of this classic and timeless Christmas treat.
Topped with tasty frosting in many colors, and with the cookies made into many shapes from snowmen to Christmas trees, it’s impossible not to be excited about sugar cookies! For extra fun, invite your guests to help decorate the cookies before sitting down to gobble them up.
- Christmas Yule Log
The Christmas Yule Log cake is a divine and beautiful cake that deserves a place at any Christmas dessert table. This cake makes quite the impression, and it’s delicious for both the eyes and the tastebuds!
Chocolate cake rolled with a tasty cream cheese filling is undeniably luxurious. For the ambitious baker, the Christmas Yule Log is an excellent challenge that will regardless produce a wonderful tasting final result that family and friends will love.
- Baked Alaska
Nothing says “Christmas” more than a fluffy meringue-covered ice cream cake like the Baked Alaska. Mysterious and full of light flavor, Baked Alaska is chillingly beautiful while also being intensely delicious. This dessert will certainly make a great table centerpiece for the holidays.
This recipe is another good choice for the baker who likes recipes that are a balance of challenge and simplicity. An intermediate level recipe, surely most experienced bakers will be able to make Baked Alaska relatively easily.
- Traditional English Trifle
Trifle is a holiday classic from England that has made its way into the heart of people not only in the United Kingdom, but across the entire Western world. A traditional trifle recipe produces an attractive and flavorful result that will look just as good as it tastes.
This is a “boozy” dessert that features a layer of pound cake soaked in sweet sherry. A non-alcoholic version can be made too, of course. Fruity and with creamy custard and whipped cream, traditional English trifle is decadent with a semblance of being healthy… perfect!
- Traditional Chocolate Fudge (with variations)
No list of Christmas desserts would be well-done without a mention of chocolate fudge. The truly beautiful thing about chocolate fudge is that it can easily be made with a great deal of variety, including chocolate-mint, chocolate-raspberry, or even chocolate caramel flavors!
The very best fudge is sweet with a hint of bitterness, creamy with a melt-in-the-mouth texture, and full of rich, chocolatey flavor. No matter what variation of chocolate fudge you’re making, it’s sure to be a huge hit among your guests! Chocolate lovers especially will be grateful.
- Gingerbread Cookies/Gingerbread Men
It’s a matter of personal preference whether you make the gingerbread dough into simple cutouts or into little men, but the flavor of gingerbread cookies will definitely evoke a pleasantly nostalgic feeling in your heart and in the hearts of friends and family.
Gingerbread cookies are packed with rich spice, particularly ginger, of course! Some people simply don’t have a taste for the gingerbread flavor, but those who enjoy it hold gingerbread near and dear as if the flavor were an old, close friend.
- Traditional Homemade Toffee
Toffee is technically more of a candy than a dessert, but it can definitely serve as a dessert on Christmas! And, it’s a favorite Christmas treat among the masses. Toffee is a tasty and indulgent treat that looks good and tastes even better.
Homemade toffee is buttery, sweet, and slightly nutty. In fact, toffee pairs best with a smattering of nuts included in the recipe! Other yummy toppings include chocolate, some fruits, and simple caramel. Though toffee takes a bit of concentration to make, it’s well worth the effort!
- Classic Pecan Pie
Pecan pie is another favorite from the realm of delicious Christmas desserts. While pecan pie can technically be served year round, it somehow tastes best when served during the holiday season, topped with a generous helping of whipped cream.
Indulgently sweet and bursting with caramel flavor and nutty vibrance, the classic pecan pie is hard not to love. Its earthy colors make it perfect for the holidays and the flavors bring warmth into the bodies and hearts of all.
- Old Fashioned Carrot Cake
While carrot cake may not at first appear to be one of the most decadent desserts on this list of Christmas classics, its surprisingly rich and sweet. Carrot cake brings a unique balance between the world of health food and the world of tasty treats, a beautiful synergy.
Carrot cake has a vibrant orange color and is topped with a rich cream cheese frosting. Decoration options include something as complex as small icing carrot designs or as simple as chopped nuts. Carrot cake is an absolute must that even the youngest family members will love!
- Chocolate Snowball Cookies
Delightfully sugary and absolutely perfect for the holiday season, chocolate snowball cookies are a great addition to any Christmas dessert spread! This Christmas dessert is beautiful and delicate at the same time, and true to their name, these cookies really do look like snowballs!
A rich, chocolate-y center is nicely complimented with light powdered sugar on the outside of each cookie. One of best things about these cookies is that they’re elegantly simple, but they’re sure to impress your guests!
- Caramel Covered Bread Pudding
Bread pudding is a shockingly simple and delicious dessert that is just perfect for a fabulous end to a Christmas feast. The caramel sauce that covered the bread-y base warms the heart and stomach, ideal to warm everyone up on a cold Christmas.
Spices like cinnamon and nutmeg recall decadent memories of eggnog and other delightful Christmas desserts like snickerdoodles and pecan pie. The ease with with this bread pudding recipe comes together will put it high on the list of hurried bakers who want to please a crowd.
- Classic American Apple Pie
Apple pie is a year-round classic dessert in the United States of America, and other cultures are sure to adore the flaky crust and sweet, fruity filling that this pie has to offer. It’s straightforward and easy, but still bursting with flavor and a favorite of many!
This classic American dessert is perfect for Christmas because of its spicy flavor and simple nature. This dessert can be made with fresh apples or with canned apples, making it either incredibly fast to make or a dessert that can be made with steady love and care.
- Traditional Peanut Brittle
Peanut brittle is certainly a favorite Christmas dessert and holiday snack for peanut and nut lovers everywhere. Crunchy, toffee-like, salty yet sweet, peanut brittle is a pretty little dessert item to wrap up with a bow and give to all your loved ones at Christmas!
The flavor of peanut brittle is, of course, nutty, but it’s also bursting with caramel flavor similar to the flavor of toffee. This is more of a candy recipe than a dessert recipe, so it requires some finesse, but it’s well-worth the time and effort to achieve the final, decadent result.
- Cinnamon Spice Brownies
This clever twist on the classic chocolate brownie makes this chocolate treat well and ready for the holiday season. Christmas is all about delicious scents and flavorful spices, and these cinnamon spice brownies definitely fit the profile!
Cinnamon and chocolate were a match made in heaven. This delightful combination is perfect for the creative, non-traditional cook who wants to make a lasting impression on Christmas dinner guests. Your friends and family will be asking for the recipe!
- 5 Ingredient Peppermint Bark
No list of the best Christmas desserts would be complete without at least one peppermint treat included. This particular peppermint bark recipe is super simple and super tasty, and it will more than fulfill the need for a minty, sweet, and decadent dessert.
A combination of milk chocolate, white chocolate, and peppermint pieces and peppermint extract creates a rich, creamy, peppermint-y dessert that any peppermint lover will adore. And, it will also easily satisfy the cravings of chocolate lovers, too!
- Traditional Jam Filled Thumbprint Cookies
Thumbprint cookies are a pretty and traditional Christmas dessert. Lots of people remember fond memories of nibbling at a yummy thumbprint cookie at the end of a holiday feast or while opening presents with friends and family.
Although there are a lot of different kinds of thumbprint cookies, the jam filled ones are the most traditional. This recipe is simple and straightforward, and you can use any jam you like! If your guests like different kinds of jam, make a sampler plate with different cookie flavors.
- Spice Cake Bars with Caramel Icing
Spice cake is a classic holiday dessert filled to the brim with Christmas cheer. Simple and elegant flavors and appearance make these bars an ideal option for busy cooks who need to prepare a dessert for a large group of guests.
The caramel icing really completes the spice cake, making it decadent and delightfully indulgent. Caramel really is a flavor of Christmas, as are the spices included in the spice cake, so this is a super holiday dessert to make.
- Pecan Turtle Bars
Turtle bars a delicious and easy to make Christmas dessert that all your holiday guests are sure to adore. Chocolate and nuts are in the limelight with this dessert recipe, and almost everyone can agree that this combination is absolutely fantastic!
Best of all, this recipe requires only 6 ingredients and takes only about 1 hour to make, start to finish. It requires little effort, and the final result is rich and tasty while also being pretty. Turtle bars are a Christmas classic that well deserve a taste.
Conclusion
With so many delicious Christmas desserts to choose from, it can be difficult to narrow in on one or two specific recipes to make for one big holiday dinner. But, the good thing is that the holiday season doesn’t last only one day!
There’s plenty of time to make these tasty Christmas desserts in the lead up to Christmas. Try them all! Your family, friends, and colleagues will be sure to thank you for providing them with yummy treats filled with holiday cheer.