209 holiday dessert recipes

Buttery spiced fig thumbprint cookies, tender brown-sugar dough rolled in a crunchy flax-sugar coating and filled with jammy fig preserves. Warm cinnamon and nutmeg make them a standout on the holiday cookie tray.

Christmas candy cane brownies with a fudgy chocolate base, hidden caramel layer, chopped nuts, and crushed peppermint candy canes on top. A festive holiday brownie with three layers of flavor.

Cherry and almond Christmas cake: maraschino cherries, apricots, ginger, and almonds macerated in amaretto and brandy, baked into a lighter apple-puree batter, then soaked in more amaretto. A boozy, fruit-packed festive cake that keeps for a month.

Halloween mini pumpkin cupcakes are tender pumpkin spice bites topped with cream cheese frosting tinted orange, black, and white. Decorate with candy and sugar crystals for spooky kid-friendly party treats.

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.

Buttery shortbread cookies studded with spiced mincemeat and finished with sweet vanilla glaze. Festive holiday treats that taste like Christmas in every crumbly bite.

Lighter cranberry apple cookies made with egg whites and skim milk, loaded with fresh fruit, cinnamon, and orange zest. A guilt-free holiday cookie that yields 2 dozen.

These rich chocolate-toffee bars from Mary Lueke of Menasha were our top pick in the bar category.

The crisp, densely chocolaty cookies, with an unusually long baking time, were an annual favorite among the 20-plus recipes that Susan Couchman of Hartland remembers were made each year by her mother, Gloria Kuchler.

Mexican wedding cakes are always a holiday favorite but this recipe takes it up a notch or two, writes Mary Wilhelm of Sparta.

Chocolate and caramel give this thumbprint cookie from Kathy T. Preston of Milwaukee a different twist.

Experimentation led Mary Ann Zarczynski of Franklin to create this recipe, which she described as "very rich and delicious."

Very beautiful ice cream, definitly will make it again.

Twice-baked Italian almond cookies studded with bright maraschino cherries, spiked with kirsch and Grand Marnier. Perfect holiday gift.

Make some halloween cupcakes with your kids, so much fun!

These easy to make popcorn balls can be kept for a week, you can make them before Halloween comes, not only just kids love them!