85 christmas baking recipes

Orange cranberry bread with yellow cornmeal for a slightly gritty crumb, fresh cranberries simmered with orange zest and sugar, then folded into a tender quick bread.

Christmas stollen with raisins, almonds, walnuts, lemon and orange zest in a buttery yeast dough, frosted with powdered sugar glaze. Make two to three days ahead for best flavor.

A three-layer Christmas cream cake with coconut and walnuts in a buttermilk batter, frosted with cream cheese icing studded with chopped maraschino cherries. Southern holiday baking at its prettiest.

Pumpkin Spice Cookies with Raisin and Walnut recipe

Old-fashioned Christmas Rocks cookies bursting with candied fruit, dates, figs, pecans, raisins, and currants in a cocoa-spiced batter with a hint of coffee. Dense, chewy, and built to last.

Peanut butter bears: cinnamon-spiced peanut butter cut-out cookies shaped like teddy bears with detailed dough faces. A holiday baking project that's as fun as the cookies are good.

Nutcracker sweets, peanut butter sheet cookies layered with creamy peanut butter frosting and a chocolate drizzle, cut into squares. The Christmas cookie tin classic that combines bar cookie ease with three-component flavor.

Old fashioned fruit cake with blackberry jam, fig preserves, watermelon rind preserves, candied cherries, pecans, and cocoa. Baked low and slow in a cast iron skillet.

Pumpkin drop cookies with warm spice, chocolate chips, and toasted walnuts. Soft, cakey fall cookies for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and everything in between.

Very tasty fruitcake, all kinds of candied fruits in the cake, looks great, great flavor! Family and friends enjoyed it

Granny's boiled fruit cake: an old-fashioned eggless, butterless loaf made by simmering raisins with sugar and shortening, then folding into spiced flour. Plump, moist and Christmas-ready.

Pumpkin layer cake with cooked fresh pumpkin, warm cinnamon, and a tender, moist crumb. A two-layer Thanksgiving and Christmas cake that's lighter than spice cake but just as comforting.

Old-fashioned Pennsylvania Christmas drop cakes loaded with currants and lemon. Thin, buttery, crispy-edged holiday cookies made the way they were a hundred years ago. A vintage gem.

Old-fashioned Christmas fruit cake with boiled raisins, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. No eggs or butter needed, just cold water and shortening for a dense, spiced holiday cake.

Festive yeast coffee cake shaped like Christmas trees, studded with candied fruit and rolled oats. Pull apart the golden buttery balls for a stunning holiday brunch centerpiece.

Buttermilk pecan fruitcake made with dried pears and toasted pecans instead of the usual neon candied fruit. Buttermilk keeps the crumb tender, beaten egg whites give it lift. A gift-worthy Christmas loaf.