10 Delicious Desserts To Bake For Christmas
One of the best parts of the holiday season is getting to bake all sorts of delicious desserts. It’s enjoyable to bake desserts and indulge in them, and this process is made even better when you’re baking with someone you love! If you’re looking for some new recipe ideas for this Christmas, check out this list for ten amazing desserts.
1. Cranberry Christmas Cake
There’s nothing quite like cranberries at Christmastime. This delicious cake combines the tartness of cranberries and the sweetness of a cake to bring you something rich, unique, and perfect for the holiday season. Interestingly enough, the creator of this recipe mentions that the texture of this cake is quite similar to coffee cake — flaky, buttery, and light. In order to make this Christmas recipe, you’ll need eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla, and cranberries. That’s all! It only takes about twenty minutes to prepare and forty-five minutes to bake, making this a relatively quick recipe, especially in terms of preparation.
Get the recipe here.
2. Cherry Cheese Cupcakes
I don’t know about you, but my childhood Christmas memories are littered with cherry cheese cupcakes. It seems like everyone was making these light treats, but in recent years, they haven’t been quite as prevalent. If you’re looking to bring some nostalgia to your Christmas dessert table, these cupcakes are definitely the way to go. For this recipe, you’ll need cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, eggs, sour cream, cherry pie filling, and the optional mint leaves. Altogether, this recipe takes less than an hour to prepare and bake!
Get the recipe here.
3. Rainbow Christmas Wreath Cake
A super festive and colorful cake to bake this Christmas comes from Betty Crocker. This delicious cake is super easy to make. You’ll need a box of white cake mix, water, oil, eggs, red and green food coloring, white frosting, and any other decorations you’d like, such as sprinkles! After making your multicolored Bundt cake as directed, you’ll then use your various colors of frosting to sprinkle over top of the cake, making it look even more festive.
Get the recipe here.
4. Chocolate Peppermint Scones
Scones are a highly underrated dessert. Oftentimes, you’ll only find scones in places like coffee shops or bakeries — it doesn’t seem like many people are baking them at home anymore. Regardless, scones are super easy to make. To make these flavorful chocolate peppermint scones, you’ll need all of your standard baking ingredients as well as cocoa powder, sour cream, chopped peppermint bark, white chocolate chips, and crushed candy canes. This is one of the only recipes on this list where the prep time is significantly longer than the baking time, so definitely make sure you have some free time before trying out this recipe!
Get the recipe here.
5. Christmas Cookie Pizza
You can never go wrong with a cookie pizza. Never. To make this indulgent treat perfect for your next festive gathering, all you need to do is modify the way you decorate it! To make the cookie pizza itself, you’ll need a sugar cookie mix, cocoa, butter, and an egg. Once your giant cookie is finished baking, you can add a layer of whipped cream to the top. You can also melt chocolate chips in the microwave and drizzle them on top of everything! Of course, you can always add sprinkles, too.
Get the recipe here.
6. Tiramisu Cheesecake Bites
Another off-beat dessert option to try out this year is tiramisu cheesecake bites. Tiramisu can be enjoyed during any time of the year, and it definitely isn’t a bad idea to add it to your Christmas dessert line-up. The texture of tiramisu is relatively similar to cheesecake as it is, so transforming this classic dessert into mini cheesecake bites isn’t such a challenge. To make these bites even more delicious, the creator of this recipe recommends placing a piece of gourmet chocolate on top of each bite.
Get the recipe here.
7. Candy Cane Dessert Squares
Obviously, no Christmas dessert menu is complete without a candy cane option. Dessert squares are always a fantastic and easy option for the holidays, and this recipe is no exception. These squares consist of a crust, ganache, and filling. For the crust, you’ll need chocolate wafer cookies, butter, and sugar; for the ganache, you’ll need chocolate chips and heavy whipping cream; and for the filling, you’ll need powdered sugar, cream cheese, peppermint extract, more heavy whipping cream, and crushed peppermint candies. That may seem like a lot of ingredients, but this recipe isn’t that difficult to make. This is also a good dessert option if you don’t have access to an oven; after preparing everything, these dessert squares only need to be chilled, not baked!
Get the recipe here.
8. Christmas Lights Cookies
If you’re looking for a recipe that requires a bit of an artistic touch, these Christmas lights cookies will be one of the most delicious desserts for you to make. This recipe involves a sugar cookie base; the creator provides a step by step guide for making your sugar cookies from scratch, but it’s always an option to use store-bought dough. To make the frosting, you’ll need powdered sugar, lemon juice, and an egg white. You might also consider using black icing for the strings of your lights. Once your cookies are frosted how you like them, you can then add mini M&M’s to represent the Christmas lights themselves.
Get the recipe here.
9. Chocolate Mint Macarons
I’m convinced that macarons are the greatest dessert to ever exist. Seriously. Although macarons aren’t easy or simple to make, the payoff is definitely worth it. If you have the patience and attention to detail that macarons require, then you’ll be able to handle this recipe like a champ. To make these macarons even more festive, the creator of this recipe infuses the macaron itself with mint flavoring; once the macarons are prepared, you can then dip half of the macaron into a unique chocolate mixture.
Get the recipe here.
10. Vegan Chocolate Christmas Cake
A lot of the recipes listed prior are made with dairy ingredients. If you’re vegan or dairy-free, then this vegan chocolate cake should be perfect for you. This gorgeous cake is made with flour, sugar, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking powder and soda, sea salt, coconut milk, Earth Balance “butter”, flax meal, vanilla, orange oil, and boiled water. For the frosting, you’ll need more Earth Balance, vegan powdered sugar, more orange oil, and the optional chocolate bitters. Although that seems like a lot of ingredients, the prep time for this cake is only fifteen minutes!
Get the recipe here.
