216 holiday candy recipes

Chocolate peppermint pinwheel cookies swirl cocoa-rich chocolate dough with crushed peppermint candy dough into a spiral slice-and-bake Christmas cookie. A holiday tin classic with bracing mint and deep chocolate.

Praline pumpkin pie with a candied brown sugar pecan layer baked into the bottom of a flaky homemade crust, plus a bourbon-spiked spiced pumpkin custard. Holiday pie at its richest.

Yuletide chocolate chip cookies loaded with candied cherries, currants, pecans, and almonds. A festive holiday cookie with brandy flavoring and warm pumpkin pie spice that ages beautifully in the cookie tin.

Candied spicy pecans coated in cinnamon sugar and egg white, slow-baked at low heat for one hour until crisp and caramelized. An addictive sweet-spiced nut snack or holiday gift.

Victorian jewels mini fruitcakes: brandy-soaked candied fruit, raisins, and walnuts baked into tender two-bite cakes. A glossy jelly glaze gives each one its jewel-box shine. Holiday gifting star.

Holiday cheddar date cake bakes a tube of brown sugar batter loaded with shredded sharp cheddar, dates, pecans, candied cherries, and golden raisins. A surprising savory-sweet fruitcake that keeps for 6 weeks.

Chocolate peppermint candies start with a cream cheese and peppermint mint base, chilled firm, then filled with a pool of melted chocolate. A no-bake, York-style mint patty for the holidays.

Classic Swedish spritz cookies made with a cookie press from a rich butter dough. Decorate with candied fruits or colored sugar for a festive holiday cookie tin that yields 3-4 dozen.

Orange butter cakes are petite tartlet-tin cakes perfumed with Grand Marnier and candied orange peel, then dipped in orange liqueur glaze. Elegant 36-cake batch for gifts or a holiday tray.

Old-fashioned mince meat with calf tongue, suet, dried fruit, candied citrus, brandy and whiskey. The traditional pie filling, aged in a crock for at least 7 weeks for deep holiday flavor.

Pingulati are Italian honey balls: tiny bites of fried dough tossed in warm honey and cinnamon, then heaped together and showered with candy confetti. A festive, sticky-sweet holiday treat like struffoli.

Lemon cream and nut cookies, buttery shortbread ovals spread with homemade lemon curd and crowned with toasted almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, prunes, rum-soaked raisins, and candied orange. A jewel-box holiday cookie.

Santa Claus cookies decorate flat sugar cookies with red sugar caps, miniature marshmallow tassels, currant eyes, cinnamon candy noses, and coconut beards. A festive holiday craft cookie kids can help build from baked rounds.

Vegan fruit cake packed with dried fruit, candied peel, orange rind, and almonds, leavened with a soy milk and vinegar reaction instead of eggs. A dense, dairy-free holiday cake baked low and slow.

Victorian jewels, glistening mini fruitcakes: brandy-soaked candied fruit and raisins in a spiced walnut batter, baked as bite-size muffins and glazed with melted jelly so they shine. A jewel-like holiday gift.

Chocolate almond confections, a no-bake holiday rum ball cousin made with crushed vanilla wafers, melted chocolate, toasted almonds, and a splash of orange Curacao. The kind of homemade candy that keeps for weeks.