455 christmas baking recipes

Italian panettone bread baked in the bread machine: a Christmas yeast bread with raisins, currants, candied citron, honey, and a hint of star anise. The Milanese holiday classic made easy.

Classic Karo pecan pie made with light corn syrup, sugar, and a heaping cup and a half of toasted pecan halves. The original Thanksgiving and Christmas pie recipe, stir it all in one bowl and bake.

Classic Christmas cut-out cookies that hold their shape, with cornstarch in the dough for a tender bite and crisp edges. Roll, cut into festive shapes, bake golden, and decorate with icing.

Mom's pecan pie is the classic Southern holiday dessert with brown sugar, light corn syrup, butter, vanilla, and a generous cup of pecans in a pre-baked flaky pie shell. A Thanksgiving and Christmas tradition.

This recipe comes from Italy by way of Argentina. Maxwell Mowry of Charleston got this recipe when he lived in Buenos Aires in the early l970s. Since there are more people of Italian ancestry in Argentina than of Spanish ancestry, it is not surprising to find panettone there, where it is called in Spanish pan dulce, meaning 'sweet bread.' At Christmas in Argentina, pan dulce is eaten accompanied by sparkling apple cider. Houseware shops in Argentina sell special tall cylindrical springform pans to bake the pan dulce, but an empty, greased 1-pound coffee can may be used.

Classic gingerbread people cookies with molasses, brown sugar, and warm spices. Makes 30 crisp-tender cookies, perfect for decorating with kids for Christmas baking.

Holiday hermit cookies with raisins, candied fruit, walnuts, and oats spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg. A chewy, old-fashioned drop cookie perfect for Christmas baking.

Mincemeat sandwiches with sweetened cooked mincemeat, cream cheese, and ground nuts piled between slices of bread. Retro holiday tea sandwich that uses up leftover mincemeat from Christmas baking.

Holiday mincemeat with chopped beef, suet, apples, sour cherries, dried fruit, and broken nuts simmered slowly with brandy and warming spices. A massive 48-serving batch for Christmas baking and gift-giving.

Twisted bread dough shaped like candy canes, lightly sweet with brown sugar and chopped nuts, then drizzled with powdered sugar icing. A charming Christmas baking project the whole family can help shape.

Grandma's mincemeat cookies are a Christmas tradition: spiced dried-fruit filling folded into a tender shortening dough, dropped by the spoonful and baked golden in about 12 minutes.

Humdingers are no-bake date balls cooked stovetop with eggs, butter, and sugar, then folded with crispy rice cereal and rolled in coconut. A vintage Southern Christmas treat.

Sugar and spice molasses cookies for Christmas. Soft, chewy, rolled in cinnamon sugar before baking. Cinnamon, cloves, and ginger for warm holiday flavor.

No-bake Rudolph's Antlers Christmas cookies made with chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, chow mein noodles, and maraschino cherries. A fun holiday treat kids love to shape.

Placek swiateczny is a Polish Christmas bread loaded with walnuts, raisins, orange peel, and a splash of vodka. Bake it days ahead for the best flavor.

Classic sausage cheese balls: raw breakfast sausage, sharp cheddar, and Bisquick mixed and baked until browned. The church-cookbook party snack that vanishes off every Christmas platter.