435 holiday dessert recipes

Orange poppy seed cheesecake with a ginger graham cracker crust, sour cream filling, and real orange extract. A creamy, citrusy baked cheesecake for holidays.

Red and white peppermint pinwheel cookies with a buttery almond dough, rolled jelly-roll style and topped with crushed candy canes. A festive Christmas cookie classic.

Chocolate Halloween cupcakes with a hidden orange cream cheese center that oozes out when bitten. Spooky fun for the kids and a riff on the classic Black Bottom cupcake.

Baked fig and raisin pudding with crumbled waffle cookies, cocoa, walnuts, and warm spices, cooked in a water bath. A rich, old-fashioned holiday dessert served warm with hard sauce.

Lebkuchen (German honey cakes) blend honey, brown sugar, lemon, almonds, citron, and warm spices into a chewy spice cookie cut into fancy holiday shapes. Traditional Christmas cookie from Nuremberg.

Raisin orange polenta cookies fold Cointreau-soaked raisins, bright orange zest, and a scoop of cornmeal into a buttery Italian-style drop cookie. Golden, subtly crunchy, and citrus-bright.

Cranberry cheesecake with a vanilla wafer crust and a glossy strained cranberry topping. Tart-sweet jewel finish over creamy filling, perfect for holiday tables.

Thanksgiving apple butter pumpkin pie blends spiced apple butter with pumpkin puree, brown sugar, and warm spices for a deeper, more complex twist on the classic. The fall pie that surprises pumpkin pie traditionalists.

Layered pumpkin walnut pie hides a buttery brown-sugar walnut praline beneath a creamy, cream-cheese-rich pumpkin custard in a shortbread crust, crowned with baked pastry leaves. A Thanksgiving showpiece.

Country Club Salad: a creamy lemon Jell-O mold with fruit cocktail, cream cheese, mini marshmallows, sliced bananas, and clouds of whipped cream. The vintage holiday side that's secretly dessert.

Chocolate pumpkin layer cake with a warm brown-sugar frosting that sets to a fudgy crust. Cocoa and pumpkin pie spice make this two-layer cake rich, moist, and irresistible for fall baking.

Chocolate butter cookie dough adds melted unsweetened and semi-sweet chocolate to a master holiday butter cookie recipe. Roll, cut, and shape it into pinwheels, classic cut-outs, Linzer sandwiches, or sugar-coated crescents.

Spiced cranberry hazelnut bread with cinnamon, cloves, and orange juice baked into mini loaves. Wrapped in brandy-soaked cheesecloth, this holiday quick bread deepens in flavor for weeks.

Grandma's plum pudding: a traditional steamed Christmas pudding with raisins, currants, citrus peel, suet, and warm spices. Three hours of slow steaming for a dense, fragrant holiday dessert.

Cranberry sauce for holiday meringues: a glossy, ruby-red dessert sauce made from cranberry juice, sugar, lemon, and a touch of cornstarch. Perfect spooned over crisp meringues, ice cream, or pavlova.

Perfect for Halloween, chocolate cake decorated like black widow spiders.