34 holiday dessert recipes

Holiday charlotte with ladyfinger-lined mold filled with silky chocolate mousse and crowned with fresh fruit glazed in apple jelly. A showstopper no-bake holiday dessert.

Viennese chocolate torte for Passover uses ground walnuts, cake meal, and potato starch in place of flour. A flourless-style torte split and filled with apricot-orange preserves and finished with a chocolate-orange glaze.

Barbadians make Black Cake for weddings, birthdays and at Christimas time. Indeed, no Christmas holiday is felt to be complete without black Cake. People from many of the islands make a similar cake. This Black Cake derived from the British Plum Pudding which is a must on their Christmas menu.

Homemade golden peach butter with cinnamon, cloves, and lemon zest. Slow-simmered from ripe peaches and water bath canned for pantry storage. A beautiful holiday gift or toast topper.

Hungarian tarts with a cream cheese pastry shell and five filling options: almond, pecan, walnut, coconut, and farmer's cheese. A traditional holiday baking project.

Steamed cranberry pudding with molasses and a warm vanilla butter sauce. A dense, tart-sweet holiday dessert with jewel-red cranberry halves throughout, steamed for 90 minutes in a mold.

Kutia, a traditional Polish Christmas pudding made with wheat berries, ground poppy seeds, honey, walnuts, almonds, figs, dates, and rum-soaked currants. A treasured holiday dessert.

Pumpkin pecan cheesecake with a graham cracker crust, spiced pumpkin filling, and a brown sugar pecan streusel topping. A fall dessert that combines two holiday favorites in one.

Plums in Port preserves whole plums in a cinnamon-orange syrup spiked with tawny port wine. A stunning canned fruit for cheese boards, desserts, and holiday gifts.

Showstopper cheesecake with a pecan shortbread crust, cranberry glaze layer, white chocolate orange filling, and candied orange slice topping. A stunning holiday dessert that requires overnight chilling.

Chocolate lovers beware, this dessert is sure to satisfy your tastebuds and keep you in the holiday spirit with a minty taste.

Brandy-spiked pumpkin cheesecake on a buttery pecan crust with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and mace. A rich, spiced holiday dessert worth the overnight chill.

Cranberry orange tart with a buttery almond shortbread crust and glistening marmalade-glazed cranberry filling. A stunning make-ahead holiday dessert that chills overnight.

Tofu pumpkin pie: vegan pumpkin pie made with silky firm tofu instead of eggs and dairy. Warming spices and crystallized ginger top for a dairy-free holiday dessert.

Cranberry cheesecake pie with a tart cranberry-pecan layer beneath a creamy cream cheese filling, finished with a vanilla sour cream topping. A holiday dessert in a pie shell.

German chocolate pies: two pies at once, gooey cocoa-pecan-coconut filling in flaky shells. One to eat now, one to freeze. A Southern dessert for holidays and church suppers.