33 Best Christmas Desserts

What’s the best part about the holidays? The delectable food and delicious desserts that come with it. The chilly weather, snowy landscapes (if you have snow), and fun decorations also make it feel like the holiday season.

Making desserts around the holidays is a nostalgic activity that brings back fun memories from childhood. Decorating the tree while munching on cookies or cake is a favorite pastime, especially once the temperatures drop.

There’s nothing better than heading to your grandma’s house and opening the door to yummy food smells. Desserts happen to be a personal favorite – so I’m always stuck making them for our get-togethers!

If you happen to be in the same boat, or should I say sleigh – then you’ll love the Christmas Desserts listed below.

Here is a list of the 33 yummiest desserts that scream Christmas! Now you won’t have to arrive at your holiday celebrations empty-handed.

1. Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies

Did someone say gooey butter cookies? These are an absolute favorite to have around the dinner table or to grab from the kitchen counter.

What makes these cookies a holiday dessert is the inclusion of sprinkles. It gives them that festive look that you’re craving.

Of course, you can always substitute these sprinkles with some food coloring and go all out. Try using green for half of the dough and red for the other half for a fun cookie offering.

2. Melted Snowmen Oreo Balls

Looking for new and unique Christmas dessert ideas? Give these melted snowmen oreo balls a try. They’re super cute and tasty. Plus, they’re fun to make with the whole family while watching holiday classics.

Surprisingly, the oreo balls are kept together using cream cheese. It’s a tasty binding agent in each melted snowman.

You can swap the cream cheese for some tasty frosting of your choice.

Make sure the frosting is thick and able to hold the oreo pieces together. You can place the oreo balls (without melted chocolate) in the fridge first to harden before continuing the steps.

3. Italian Christmas Cookie Cake

This is a recipe even the elves will love – consider leaving a piece out for Santa if there’s any left! This tasty cake is moist, decadent, and heavenly. It’s inspired by Italian Christmas cookies, which are made from ricotta and olive oil.

Ricotta cheese is the surprise ingredient in this recipe. It helps create the dense (and super moist!) cake in this recipe.

If you’re not a fan of ricotta or find it too odd to add to cake, you can use sour cream or mayonnaise as well. You’ll still end up with a moist and delicious cake.

4. Soft Gingerbread Cookies

Now you can make gingerbread cookies that are soft and chewy instead of the hard gingerbread cookies that are usually served during the holidays.

It’s the best of both worlds! Plus, they can still be decorated with cute frosting faces and buttons.

Of course, these cookies include flour, as most baked goods do. However, you can swap out standard flour for most other flours (including gluten-free) to better suit your needs.

These cookies may seem soft when they’re first taken out of the oven. Once they’re cool, they will be a perfect consistency.

5. Christmas Light Cupcakes

How cute are these cupcakes? They’re worthy of any party or get-together you take them to. The best part is they’re super easy, and there are only a few steps to follow for these yummy treats.

The surprise ingredient that makes these cupcakes so rich is the heavy cream added to the frosting.

It makes these chocolatey cupcakes that much tastier. If you don’t want such a decadent cupcake, you can use store-bought light whipped cream instead.

6. Reindeer Rice Krispies

These Rice Krispies are the best way to add some holiday spirit to your get-together. M&ms and candy melt are used to create the adorable reindeer faces on these Rice Krispie pops.

Surprisingly, these m&ms are a big part of what makes these irresistible treats so cute. You can use peanut butter m&ms for an extra hit of flavor.

Make sure your Rice Krispies are set before attempting to decorate them. If they’re too soft when you’re cutting them, they will end up misshapen.

7. White Chocolate Cranberry Fudge

White chocolate and cranberry flavors go together perfectly for the holidays. The combination always reminds me of Christmas – no matter which baked good they’re in.

These yummy fudge squares will take you 11 minutes to throw together, so they’re a quick goodie to make.

The piece de resistance? That would be the sugar crystals that cover the top of each fudge square.

You can substitute other sprinkles to make the fudge squares more festive. Use either nonpareils or colored sugar crystals to achieve this.

8. Oreo Balls For Christmas

Oreo balls are hands down some of the best Christmas desserts. They only require a few ingredients and are quick to make.

These oreo balls have a minty flavor to them, which makes them perfect for the holiday festivities.

This recipe uses almond bark to cover each ball. If you’re not interested in working with almond bark, you can instead use candy melts.

Whenever you’re melting chocolate in the microwave, make sure to check in every 30 seconds until fully melted.

9. Gingerbread Poke Cake

Do you love poke cake? If so, this is one of the tastiest holidays treats you can make. Poke cake always comes out as a winner at any get-together.

This recipe especially includes a tasty mix of spices to make it extra flavorful. The unexpected ingredient in this dessert is the caramel ice cream that tops the cake.

You can substitute any kind of ice cream on top of this cake – including vanilla. Even coconut milk ice cream will work well as a topping.

10. Christmas Cranberry Pound Cake

Something about frosted pound cake and frosted sweet loaves brings a little bit of holiday magic to the kitchen.

These cranberry pound cake slices are perfect for a sweet breakfast along with a pumpkin spiced latte.

The unexpected ingredient in this dessert is the mascarpone that’s added in. If you can’t find any mascarpone at your local grocery store, you can use low moisture ricotta instead.

You’ll be using whole cranberries for this recipe. Before using the cranberries, make sure they are rinsed and dried off well.

11. Puppy Chow

Puppy chow as a holiday treat? Although not usually created as a holiday-based dessert, it’s still a tasty one! Puppy chow is a great snack to keep on the counter when guests are visiting.

This sweet, crunchy mix is a great way to celebrate the holidays. If you’ve never made puppy chow before, you might be surprised to find peanut butter included in the recipe.

If you want to avoid peanut butter, you can use cocoa powder instead. This will add an extra chocolatey flavor to your mix.

12. Eggnog Pie

Eggnog and pie together? It sounds like a fantastic and unexpected combination – usually, you’re drinking eggnog, not eating it. This pie offers a delicious flavor and tastes exactly how you’d expect it to.

You can enjoy this pie for eggnog lovers knowing that you’ll have a new way to enjoy your favorite drink. The unexpected food item in this recipe is the cool whip added to the top of the pie.

If you want an even fancier pie – make your own whipped cream at home. It takes just a few minutes and adds an extra flair to the pie.

13. Sugar Cookie Christmas Fudge

You’ll want to keep this recipe in your repertoire of holiday desserts!

The creamy fudge melts in your mouth and provides the ultimate treat to make for your relatives! Even your pickiest eaters will love these festive fudge squares.

White chocolate chips are included for extra oomph in this recipe. If you want to spice up the fudge even more, you can add butterscotch chips instead. This will provide a whole different flavor to your fudge.

Make sure to let the fudge sit in your fridge for a few hours before cutting. This will ensure you have nice, even cuts.

14. Hot Chocolate Dip

Raise your hand if you love hot chocolate as much as I do? This hot chocolate dip combines everything you love about the drink – rich chocolate flavor and marshmallow inclusions.

It works perfectly with graham crackers. Make it more decadent by baking mini soft gingerbread cookies to cover in this delightful dip.

What’s the surprise ingredient? Hot chocolate mix. It’s what gives this dip its flavor and adds that light brown color.

If you don’t have any on hand, you can mix some cocoa powder and white granulated sugar. Pop this into your dip, and you’re ready to go.

15. Christmas Pinwheel Sugar Cookies

If you’ve ever had cookies at your grandma’s house around the holidays, you’ll surely recognize these pretty cookies.

Sugar cookie dough is swirled with red sugar cookie dough and rolled in colorful nonpareils.

Multi-colored cookies can seem intimidating – this recipe makes it quick and fun to make this holiday favorite. You’ll need red food gel for these cookies – this is what creates the red cookie dough.

If you want to mix it up, you can use other colors of food gel.

16. Saltine Cracker Toffee

Have you tried saltine toffee yet? It’s one of the easiest desserts and one of the yummiest. Plus, you’ll most likely have all of the ingredients needed right in your cupboard.

Part of what makes this tasty treat so good is the walnuts included as a topping. It adds a nice extra crunch to your toffee.

Swap out walnuts for your favorite nuts.

Want to make this recipe extra tasty? Add some white chocolate drizzle on top of the nut topping.

17. Buttery Pecan Snowball Cookies

During the holiday season, I always have a craving for anything that is butter pecan flavored.

This recipe makes it easy to satisfy that craving. These snowball cookies are a perfect consistency – they will melt right in your mouth!

Of course, you’d expect pecans to be in these tasty cookies. If you have a nut allergy, you can use dried fruit instead. It won’t taste the same, but you’ll still have a yummy cookie to eat.

It can be easy to overbake these cookies; make sure to take them out of the oven after 12 minutes or when they have a light brown exterior to avoid this.

18. Jingle Bell Bites

This dessert is so good it will make you want to sing! These mini cookies provide the perfect amount of sweetness and a festive exterior since they’re covered in nonpareils.

The unexpected ingredient is vanilla extract. It helps flavor the cookies and is added to most cookie recipes.

If you’ve been baking a lot and don’t want to use vanilla, you can easily swap it for almond extract or mix it up by adding the coffee extract. Yum!

19. Shortbread Cookies

Still, looking for a good shortbread cookie recipe to bring to impress the in-laws? Give this one a try! In less than an hour, you’ll have buttery shortbread cookies that you won’t want to share.

Oh, did I mention they’re dipped in chocolate?! You’ll be using semi-sweet chocolate for this tasty sweet. You can also use white chocolate instead or even alternate between the two.

Add some crushed peppermint candy before the chocolate hardens, and you have the perfect holiday treat.

20. Christmas Sugar Cookie Bars

Be honest-you love eating cookie dough while making your cookies.

These cookie bars will satisfy that urge without you having to eat raw eggs.

These sugar cookie bars are truly one of the yummiest Christmas baking ideas that have popped up.

How are they so tasty? Well, it’s the cream cheese frosting that coats each bar. If you’re trying to make this recipe a vegan version, you can switch the regular cream cheese for a vegan cream cheese alternative.

You’ll need a few other swaps like vegan butter as well. However, it can easily be turned into vegan sugar cookie bars.

21. Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love red velvet cake – it’s an absolute must for me any time of year. Here’s a recipe you can make that is much easier and quicker than making a whole cake. You still get the red velvet flavor you’re accustomed to in a more convenient form – a cookie.

You may, or may not, be surprised to find out there’s butter in these cookies. The recipe calls for unsalted butter.

Whenever you want to add an extra bit of richness to a recipe, you can substitute sweet cream butter for regular butter.

You’ll love how it turns out!

22. Chocolate Pecan Turtle Clusters

These turtle clusters will turn you into a dessert fiend! They also function as great Christmas gifts.

Once you make them, package them in some holiday-themed cellophane and give them to your friends and family.

This recipe does use corn syrup to help prevent the dessert from having a grainy feel. You can use brown rice syrup instead for a similar effect.

If you don’t have time to make the caramel from scratch, you can purchase some caramel squares from the store and melt them with heavy cream in a pan.

23. Maraschino Cherry Shortbread Cookie

If your favorite part of every dessert is the maraschino cherry on top, you’ll love this dessert.

These cookies are stuffed with maraschino cherry bits and chocolate chunks for the ultimate cherry chocolate combo.

You can expect each cookie to be filled with chocolate chips. If you want a more decadent cookie, you can leave the chocolate chips out and spread some chocolate hazelnut spread on top.

These are the type of cookies you’ll want to chill before slicing into. Otherwise, they will not bake right.

24. Christmas Crunch Cake

Christmas crunch cake is one of the yummiest Christmas dessert recipes you’ll ever come across. Imagine a combination of

Rice Krispies and cheesecake – that’s what you’ll find when you bite into this masterpiece.

To make this tasty treat crunchy, you’ll be using crunchy granola bars. You can swap these out for regular granola instead;

keep an eye out for pieces that are too large.

This cake is best served chilled. It allows the yummy filling to be set and makes it easier to cut into slices.

25. Grinch Heart Rice Krispies Treats

I’m sure you grew up with the movie and story “How The Grinch Stole Christmas.” These tasty desserts are a yummy way to celebrate the holidays while referencing this childhood favorite. Plus, it’s a great dessert to make with your kids.

Green food coloring makes these hearts extra adorable. Don’t have any food coloring or want a more natural method of making these treats green?

You can mix in some matcha powder instead. It will provide a yummy green tea flavor and leave the treats a lighter green color.

26. Peppermint Cheesecake

Bring on the peppermint-flavored desserts! I adore anything with mint or peppermint flavoring in it, so this recipe is an immediate yes. Did I mention there’s an oreo crust with this recipe?

To make the peppermint flavor in the cheesecake, you’ll need to use the unexpected ingredient – peppermint extract. If you want to add some extra texture, you can swap the section with chunks of peppermint candy.

You’ll need to ensure the peppermint candy pieces are pretty small for those who make this swap, so they incorporate well.

27. Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

It’s difficult to find anyone that dislikes chocolate chip cookies – especially chewy ones.

This recipe takes cookies to the next level by dipping them in chocolate and covering them in sprinkles. These cookies are a great way to spread joy after dinner.

Of course, you’ll need semi-sweet chocolate chips for dipping these yummy cookies in. If you’re afraid the cookies will be too sweet, you can use dark chocolate instead.

The secret to making these tasty cookies uniform is to use an ice cream scooper instead of a spoon. Now you’ll have perfectly shaped cookies every time.

28. Candy Cane Brownies

Did you know that peppermint frosting (yes, it’s a thing!) is the perfect way to complement brownies? It makes sense; chocolate and peppermint have been a combo for a long time.

If you still need convincing, this recipe will more than prove the delicious flavors work well together.

Cocoa powder is included in this dish. Although not very surprising, it is necessary to create the chocolate flavor.

You can substitute cocoa powder for red cocoa powder. This naturally red ingredient will give an even more Christmas-y appearance to these tasty brownies.

29. Christmas Lasagna

Have you ever heard of Christmas lasagna? It’s as bright, bold, and yummy as you’d imagine it to be.

This dessert layers cheesecake, pudding, and red velvet crust to create a beautiful holiday-themed dessert.

Part of what makes this dessert so bright and festive is the white chocolate pudding mixed with green food dye. You can swap this for pistachio pudding for a more brilliant green color and a new twist on the taste.

The M&Ms on top of the lasagna can be left off if needed. These are more for decoration and color than taste.

30. Christmas Cheesecake Cookies

You read that recipe title correctly – cheesecake and cookies combine to make this one epic dessert.

The red and green swirls make these cookies fun for the holidays. Plus, the cookies will take you about 30 minutes to make these easy Christmas desserts to feed your family.

Peppermint is included for an unexpected burst of flavor. If peppermint isn’t your thing, think about replacing it with ginger extract. You’ll still have a holiday flavor when you bite into your cookie.

These cookies can be kept in the fridge for a week or in the freezer for a few weeks to preserve them.

31. Reindeer Chow

Not sure what reindeer chow is? It’s similar to puppy chow but with some added goodies in it. In this recipe, you’ll find peanuts, M&Ms, and pretzels creating a sweet and salty mix.

Instead of using only Chex cereal – this chow calls for cheerios for a new texture. Feel free to experiment with some of your favorite cereals, like Cookie Crisp, for a unique take on the mixture.

Don’t try to break up the chunks until after you refrigerate the mixture for 30 minutes. This will make it much less messy.

32. Candy Cane Brownie Trifle

While most people think of trifles as a summer dessert, this version provides a delectable holiday-themed dessert.

Showing up with this trifle in hand is a sure way to impress your friends (and make their mouths water!).

The surprise ingredient(s) is the whipping cream and the powdered sugar, which turns into the whipped cream topping.

Swap these ingredients with a cool whip for those who want to make the dessert a little bit lighter. Before topping the trifle, mix some peppermint extract into the cool whip.

33. Sugar Cookie Bites

Looking for a way to serve mini versions of cookies?

These tasty sugar cookie bites are the perfect snack size for bringing to events or even offering guests. They taste just like your favorite frosted sugar cookies – just in bite-sized pieces.

Sweet cream salted butter is what makes these cookie bites stand out. Of course, you can use regular salted butter as well if that’s what you have on hand. The flavor will vary slightly, though they will still be a scrumptious treat.

Now that you’ve read through the list of 33 Christmas dessert options, you’ll have plenty of recipes to make all season long.

If you decide to make a few before Thanksgiving, I won’t tell! It’s hard to make it through the list without pulling out your baking ingredients and pans – we get it! Go ahead and get baking.