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‘Tis the season to be baking! Check out our collection of classic Christmas dessert recipes—from mince pies to stollen and sticky toffee pudding, as well as our easy chocolate yule cake and fun Christmas cookies. Oh, and old-fashioned gingerbread! Without further ado, here are our best Christmas baking ideas.
Christmas Dessert Recipes
Christmas Cakes and Puddings
Best Fruitcake Ever Forget those horrible commercial fruitcakes. This is an easy, moist, delicious cake using dried fruits instead of the standard candied and glacéed fruits. Not only are dried fruits more readily available at your local market, but they also have a deeper and more natural flavor (not as sweet).
Bûche de Noël (Chocolate Yule Log) Try this straightforward, lighter version of the traditional chocolate Yule log! It’s a show-stopping dessert and fun to make (did we mention delicious?!).
Sticky Toffee Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce A scrumptious treat for all ages, this sticky toffee pudding is a sure-fire hit at any Christmas feast. Note: It is normally baked in a pan, but you can also make individual ramekins.
Christmas Breads
Classic Christmas Stollen A lovely version of an old favorite. It tastes best served warm. Decorate with whole candied cherries, and use other candied fruit pieces to make leaves and stems.
Old-Fashioned Gingerbread This authentic, hundred-year-old recipe is wonderful, served warm with a scoop of French vanilla ice cream or sprinkled with confectioners’ sugar.
Christmas Pies and Tarts
Mince Pies If you don’t like mince pie, you haven’t actually had the authentic thing! Learn more about “real” mince pie and find a recipe!
Mini Cranberry-Apple Pies These cranberry apple pies are sweet yet tart. What a great combination in one pie! Single-serving pies work really well at a holiday gathering or dinner party; they’re easy to make and attractive, and guests love them.
Cranberry Dream Pie This icy-cold Cranberry Dream Pie will surely be a hit at any table. Made ahead of time and waiting in the freezer, it’s like having an ace up your sleeve.
Christmas Cookies and Bars
Really Old-Fashioned Gingerbread People This recipe for “Really Old-Fashioned Gingerbread People” makes a large batch because anything this good deserves to be made in bulk. A few well-placed bits of candy or nuts for eyes and a nose will give your creations delightful personalities.
Pistachio-Cranberry Icebox Cookies Just like grandma used to make! With their red-and-green color scheme, these sweets are perfect for the holidays.
Candy Cane Dessert Squares This crowd-sized recipe can be served frozen or refrigerated, making it ideal for a holiday buffet.
Snowball Cookies Bring the snow indoors with these classic snowball cookies!
Christmas Candy
Never-Fail Christmas Fudge Even if you’ve never made candy before in your life, give this easy fudge recipe a try. True to its name (thanks to the presence of marshmallows), it won’t seize, crumble, or make you tear your hair out. It’s a tasty treat perfect for Christmastime!
Peanut Brittle Simple, yet delicious, this peanut brittle is a tasty classic. For variety, mix in a cup of almonds with the peanuts!
Catherine Boeckmann loves nature, stargazing, and gardening so it’s not surprising that she and The Old Farmer’s Almanac found each other. She leads digital content for the Almanac website, and is also a certified master gardener in the state of Indiana. Read More from Catherine Boeckmann
My mom had a recipe for persimmon pudding which used persimmon puree and was served with freshly made lemon sauce. She never wrote a recipe down to my knowledge and I'm wondering if anyone has a recipe for persimmon pudding? Thank you!
This I made last summer, lost the recipe cannot fine one anywhere, this was made in a 12 by17 sheet pan with Dr Pepper it also had bitter sweet chocolate in it, would love to make again
Gingerbread boys... anxious to give the recipe a try. I also need to find a good just plain gingerbread recipe the kind that is very dark, with nice sharp ginger and moist. Claudia
Claudia, Here's a recipe on Almanac.com that is dark and spicy, with ginger.
Hope this helps: http://www.almanac.com/recipe/gingerbread-2
If you do a search for "gingerbread," you'll see a lot of other nice options, too.
Today I am using some of these dessert recipes for Thanksgiving. Thank you to the wonderful people that submit their family recipes for someone like me. Have a Happy Thanksgiving.