It seems like the holiday season is here before we know it. We decided to put together 17 easy Christmas desserts and treats to help you plan ahead for the upcoming Christmas season. You can try these easy recipe ideas ahead of time to see which one is best for your upcoming holiday party.
One of our favorite family traditions in the kitchen is making our homemade pumpkin pie. We use Libby’s® original pumpkin pie recipe listed on the back of the can of pumpkin. In my opinion, it is the best pumpkin pie ever.
🥧 Easy Christmas Desserts and Treats for Christmas
Pumpkin Pie
Pumpkin pie is usually the #1 pie choice served during the holidays. We love our homemade pumpkin pie recipe. That’s because it not only tastes delicious, it’s also so easy to make. And when it’s topped off with a dollop of whipped cream, it’s divine.
Although pumpkin pie is considered the most popular pie during the holidays, you can make any of your favorite pies. A few examples are pecan pie, no bake Oreo cheesecake pie, mincemeat pie, apple and cranberry pie, chocolate pie, or white Christmas pie.
Easy Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie
If you want to jazz up that pumpkin pie recipe a bit, you must try our easy pumpkin cheesecake pie. We use a crushed graham cracker base, then it is filled with a mixture of 100% pumpkin and cream cheese.
After the pumpkin cheesecake pie is done baking in the oven, let it cool. Then top it with whipped cream and sprinkle with crushed graham crackers.
Lemon Meringue Pie
Do you love lemon meringue pie as much as I do? Our classic lemon meringue pie recipe starts with a 10-inch ready-made graham cracker pie crust that is filled with a sweet and tart lemon custard mixture.
It is then topped with meringue, which is whipped egg whites, sugar, and vanilla extract, and baked for 20 minutes until the meringue is slightly golden brown.
🥰 Our List of 17 Easy Christmas Desserts and Treats
1. Libby’s® Pumpkin Pie Recipe for 2 Pies
2. Easy Pumpkin Cheesecake
3. Lemon Meringue Pie with Condensed Milk
4. Fruit Salad with Cool Whip
5. Gingerbread Cake
6. Applesauce Spice Cake
7. Cinnamon Sugar Knots Recipe
8. Fantasy Fudge Recipe (Jet Puffed)
9. Dark Chocolate Fudge
10. 3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Fudge in Microwave
11. Christmas Cookies with M&Ms
12. Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies
13. Snickerdoodle Bars
14. Easy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
15. Grinch Dip Recipe (Christmas Dessert)
16. Orange Balls Recipe
17. Hot Chocolate with Cocoa Powder
🍑 What’s Your Family’s Favorite Holiday Recipe?
We all have our favorite Christmas recipes this time of year, and one of ours is our fruit salad recipe. This yummy side dish treat is a must on our Christmas dinner table! We make it with Cool Whip, plenty of fruit cocktail, and a few added extras.
For example, we add mandarin oranges, bananas, mini marshmallows, and pineapple tidbits. You can also add chopped apples or extra sliced peaches. You can use our homemade whipped cream recipe if you don’t want to use Cool Whip.
🤶 Some of Our Best Christmas Desserts
Gingerbread Cake
Indulge in the warm and cozy flavors of this homemade gingerbread cake. This classic dessert is perfect for the holiday season or any time of year! It’s an easy cake to make.
Our recipe includes ground ginger, dark brown sugar, molasses, and maple syrup. We top it off with our cream cheese buttercream frosting. You can also put a dusting of powdered sugar on top of the gingerbread cake instead of the frosting.
Applesauce Cake
Our classic applesauce spice cake is incredibly moist and rich with warm flavors. Enjoy it exactly as it is, or top it with our sweet icing for the perfect finish. I personally love the extra touch of sweetness the icing gives the cake. It has one and a half cups of applesauce in it, together with ground cinnamon, ground cloves, raisins, and chopped walnuts. It is so good.
Cinnamon Knots
Simple ingredients go into making these cinnamon sugar knots. The recipe uses butter, sugar, salt, eggs, flour, and baking powder to make the dough. After the knots are formed, they are deep-fried in oil, then sprinkled with a cinnamon sugar mixture and drizzled with icing. Your family will love these twisted little cinnamon knots for sure.
🍫 Easy Fudge Recipes
Fantasy Fudge
Everyone loves fudge during the holidays. Fantasy fudge is super quick and simple to make, and it tastes so good. This is the original recipe from the back of the Marshmallow creme jar. If you love nuts in your fudge, add about one cup of chopped walnuts to the mix.
Dark Chocolate Fudge
This dark chocolate fudge is the ultimate treat for any chocolate lover. It is quick and easy to make, and with only five ingredients, you can whip it up in no time.
The five ingredients are dark chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk, unsalted butter, table salt, and vanilla extract. You can also add one cup of your favorite chopped nuts if you prefer.
Peanut Butter Fudge
Microwave peanut butter fudge is for those who love peanut butter combined together with chocolate, and want fudge right now without all the work that goes into preparing it. Quick, easy, and so yummy.
🍪 Tasty Christmas Cookies and Bars
Everyone loves homemade cookies. Our Christmas cookies with red and green colored M&Ms will look so festive on your dessert holiday table. Before baking, we add the chocolate chips and M&M Christmas candies to the cookie dough, then we place a few on top when you scoop them out on the cookie sheet. The red and green colors of M&Ms are a perfect treat during Christmas time, and Santa will love them too.
🌟 More Christmas Cookies
Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies
Whether you choose to bake classic gingerbread cookies, peanut butter cookies, festive sugar cookies, or our crowd-pleasing pumpkin snickerdoodle cookies, your guests are sure to be impressed. Plus, the pumpkin snickerdoodles will fill your whole house with a wonderful, cozy autumn aroma while baking in the oven, and they will look absolutely beautiful on your holiday table.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Our homemade chocolate chip cookies consist of the basics, such as all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, eggs, unsalted butter, semi-sweet chocolate chips, light brown sugar, salt, baking soda, and vanilla extract. There are lots of chocolate chips in every bite. Your party guests will love these chocolate chip cookies.
Easy Snickerdoodle Bars
These snickerdoodle bars are packed with a rich cinnamon-sugar aroma and flavor. They look and smell so good, and the taste is amazing. Plus, they are super easy to make. They are soft and chewy inside, with a little bit of crunch on the outside.
🛒 Recipe Variations for Christmas Desserts and Treats
- You can omit the chocolate chips in the pumpkin chocolate chip muffin recipe if you prefer.
- We have a homemade whipped cream recipe you can use instead of cool whip for the fruit salad recipe.
- Use a cookie cutter to create holiday shapes for any of our cookie recipes.
- Add your favorite nuts to the chocolate chip cookie recipe. Usually about a cup of chopped nuts will be sufficient.
🎄 Cutest Christmas No-Bake Dessert Recipes
Grinch Dip
Whatever holiday desserts you choose to make, you must try our Grinch dip recipe. It is so cute, and yummy too! Grinch dip is super easy to make with softened cream cheese (room temperature), powdered sugar, vanilla extract, homemade whipped cream, green food coloring, and red heart sprinkles on top.
This recipe is an eye-catching, show-stopping dessert for sure! Your guests will wonder what it is, but once they taste it, they won’t be able to resist another bite! It’s a rich sweet treat. You only need to dip a couple cookies in it to satisfy your sweet tooth. Vanilla wafers, sugar cookies, shortbread cookies, or graham crackers are a few of the many choices of cookies to choose from for this Grinch dip.
Orange Balls
If you love orange juice, these tasty little no-bake orange balls, made with five ingredients, are incredibly delicious. Thaw a container of frozen orange juice concentrate, then thoroughly combine it with a mixture of crushed vanilla wafers, powdered sugar, and finely chopped pecans. After that, roll the mixture into individual balls, then roll the balls into sweetened coconut flakes.
🙋 FAQs
Most desserts can be stored in airtight containers and left on the countertop at room temperature. Desserts such as cookies, muffins, and fudge are good examples to leave on the countertop. Put a slice of bread in the container with the cookies to keep the cookies soft. Try to eat desserts within a week. After about a week, you will start to notice the quality and texture begin to change.
Pumpkin pie, and also any desserts with whipped cream in them, should be stored in the refrigerator. Examples with whipped cream in the recipe are our fruit salad recipe, our Grinch dip recipe, and our pumpkin cheesecake recipe.
Yes, you can freeze most leftover desserts. Cookies, pumpkin pie, muffins, and even fudge can be put into the freezer in an airtight, freezer-safe container. When ready to enjoy a sweet treat, just set the dessert on the countertop until it is thawed enough to eat.
📌 Final Thoughts for Easy Christmas Desserts and Treats
What’s the best part of Christmas time for you? It’s fun to create a gingerbread house with the kids, or opening presents and enjoying holiday classics. And how about candy canes hanging on the tree, or impressive desserts everyone brings to the Christmas party?
Also, it’s fun to drive around the neighborhood and admire everyone’s Christmas trees and decorations. The festive flavors, the smell of warm spices throughout the home, and the taste of all the sweet treats are things everyone enjoys. Especially the holiday spirit and twinkle in everyone’s eyes.
Christmas time is special. Add a little extra magic to Christmas morning by making the kids a cup of hot chocolate topped with mini marshmallows. It’s a special treat they’re sure to love!
📋 More Christmas Dessert Ideas You Will Love
- Banana Bread with cream cheese added to the mix. It is so good!
- Layered Pistachio Pudding Dessert Recipe – Who doesn’t love pudding? This pistachio pudding dessert is a delicious classic.
A wife, a mother to a son and a daughter, and a grandmother to three granddaughters. Flo loves sharing recipes passed down from her own mother, her mother-in-law, and her grandmother as well as new recipes created with her daughter, Tamara Ray.
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