85 christmas baking recipes

This very rich cake from the West Indies is ideal for those who prefer not to ice their Christmas cakes.

Traditional British whole wheat Christmas cake with rum-soaked dried fruit, walnuts, almonds, stout and citrus zest. Aged dark fruit cake for the holiday season.

Vegan Christmas cake packed with candied pineapple, cherries, citrus peel, raisins, and currants, bound without eggs or dairy. A long-baking holiday fruitcake for slicing into thin festive servings.

These moist and delicious cookies are the perfect treats for dessert or midnight snacks.

Christmas persimmon cake with ripe Hachiya pulp, raisins, dates, nuts, and warm holiday spices. A spiced loaf cake that bakes long and slow for a moist, fruitcake-style holiday gift.

Traditional Christmas fruitcake with brandy-soaked candied citrus peel, citron, currants, and raisins, deeply spiced and aged in a tin with periodic brandy basting before the holidays.

Treat the kids this Christmas with these scrumptious snacks that will bring out the holiday spirit in your baking!

Fluffy pumpkin pie with whipped egg whites folded into a rum-spiked custard, baked in a three-temperature method for a tall, mousse-light filling. Two pies for the holiday table.

Pumpkin pie squares with a crumbly oat-and-brown-sugar shortbread crust and a fully spiced pumpkin custard. Bakes in one pan, cuts into 16 squares, and travels better than a round pie.

Christmas spice cookies: rolled-and-cut holiday cookies with ginger, cloves, nutmeg, allspice, and molasses. Soft or crunchy depending on bake time. Makes four dozen.

Drunken apple-pumpkin pie blends pumpkin and applesauce in one custard, finished with a dramatic flame of warmed rum poured tableside. Topped with pecan halves and warm baking spices. A holiday showstopper for Thanksgiving and Christmas tables.

Crescent cookies are buttery shortbread crescents rolled in cinnamon powdered sugar while warm. A six-ingredient holiday classic also called Mexican wedding cookies or kifli.

Grandma Cottington's pumpkin pie is a heritage Thanksgiving classic: flaky butter-and-lard double crust, custardy pumpkin filling with cream, molasses, cinnamon, and allspice. Yields 2 pies.

Quick bread made with canned pumpkin, dates and walnuts. Perfect for breakfast anytime during the fall season.

Nancy Reagan's pumpkin pecan pie marries two Thanksgiving favorites in one shell. A pumpkin custard sweetened with dark corn syrup hides under a layer of toasty pecans. Holiday pie that ends every debate over which to bake.

Rich pecan pie with homemade butter crust and dark corn syrup filling studded with chopped pecans and topped with perfect halves. This from-scratch version rewards the extra effort with flaky pastry and deeply caramelized flavor.