Nothing says the holidays like good company coming together to enjoy great food. Even after a second portion, everyone always has room for those classic Christmas desserts that come every year. Whether it’s grandmas pie or mom’s cookies, we all have those go-to holiday favorites that we love to eat. In this post, we’ve chosen 5 classic Christmas desserts everyone should try, and have provided recipes for each one!
1. THE HOLIDAY FRUIT CAKE
While fruit cake has been synonymous with Christmas in the United States for as long as you and your eldest relatives can probably remember, the earliest recipes actually come from ancient Roman times. Of course, the recipe has been altered over many hundreds of years, but the concept is still the same. Fruit cake is traditionally made with candied or dried fruit, nuts, and spices, and optionally soaked in spirits. Because they’re typically rich on their own, you don’t usually see them eaten with butter, cream, or frosting; however, that isn’t unheard of. Here’s a quick and easy fruit cake recipe from England that’s an internet favorite!
Ingredients
- 225g self-raising flour
- 110g butter
- 110g sugar
- 225g mixed fruit (include cherries if wished)
- 1 egg
- 5 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon mixed spice (optional)
Method
- Rub the butter into the flour until it looks like fine breadcrumbs, add sugar and dried fruit and mixed spice if using.
- Add egg and milk to make a soft dropping consistency.
- Put into lined 2 lb loaf tin or 6″ round cake tin. Sprinkle the demerara sugar over the top and pat down with the back of a spoon (this gives a nice crunchy top) and bake for approximately 1 to 1 1/4 hours in a preheated oven at 180 C / 160 C fan / Gas 4 until a skewer comes out clean.
Make Ahead
Mix the flour, sugar, and butter in my mixer with the blade attachment until I get the breadcrumb stage and then freeze, then just remove from the freezer add the rest of the ingredients, and bake. If you double, triple, etc. these first three ingredients to put in the freezer then you only need to weigh out 445g / 1lb then add the remaining ingredients to bake ONE cake and save the rest for another time.
2. CHRISTMAS SUGAR COOKIE
Nothing says the holidays like a cutout sugar cookie in the shape of a candy cane, Christmas tree, or star! I don’t know about you, but a sugar cookie with colorful icing always brings me back to my childhood. And the best part about making them is that there are no crazy ingredients or complex methods. However, as you know, you need to find that happy medium between too crunchy and too soft. Here’s a holiday sugar cookie you and the kids are sure to enjoy!
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter, softened to room temp
- 1 egg, slightly beaten
- 3 tablespoons whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (can substitute almond extract)
Icing:
- 1/3 cup Crisco (transfat-free) or a 1/3 cup of softened butter
- 1 pound of confectioners sugar
- About 1/4 cup of milk
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla
Cookie Decorations:
- Jimmies
- Sprinkles
- Sugar Pearls
- Decorating Pens
Method
- Make the cookie dough: In a large bowl, vigorously whisk together the dry ingredients—flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Use a mixer to mix in the softened butter, egg, whipping cream, and vanilla extract. Beat until well mixed. Chill the dough for several hours.
- Roll out the dough: Break off a piece of dough the size of an orange and pat it flat in your hand. Sprinkle lightly with a flour/sugar mixture (use a 2/1 ratio of flour to sugar: 4 Tbsp flour mixed with 2 Tbsp sugar). Using a rolling pin, roll dough on a floured board or between wax paper. Flour both sides of the dough while rolling so the dough will lift easily from the board when cut. Roll out to about a 1/4-inch thickness.
- Cut out the cookie shapes: Use cookie cutters to cut out the cookie shapes. If the rolled out dough gets too soft, chill it in the refrigerator for 5 to 10 minutes before continuing.
- Bake: Place the cookie shapes on Silpat-lined or an un-greased cookie sheet. Bake 5-8 minutes at 400°F. Remove the cookies from the oven as soon as you see them turning color at the base of the cookie. Let cool completely.
- Make the icing: Use a mixer to beat the icing ingredients—Crisco or butter, confectioners sugar, milk, vanilla extract—until smooth. If your icing is too thick to spread evenly, add tiny amounts of milk, and thoroughly remix until the icing is the consistency you prefer. Separate into different bowls, add food coloring to achieve various colors.
- Decorate: Spread the icing onto the cookies with a butter knife or a pastry brush, use cake decorating piping equipment to add decorative accents.
3. HOLIDAY RED VELVET CUPCAKE
This classic dessert might actually be an American original! Although it’s difficult to say because England does have something called a fairy cake, which varies in size compared to its American counterpart and isn’t typically topped with frosting. But can you really call it a cupcake without the frosting? This is a hotly debated question. For this holiday season, we’re going with the red velvet cupcake for obvious reasons. It has Christmas colors and it’s delicious! These red velvet cupcakes have cream cheese frosting and are sprinkled with pecans.
Ingredients
-
- 2 cups of sugar
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1 cup buttermilk room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 oz red food coloring
- 1/2 cup hot water
- 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
Frosting:
- 1 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 4 tablespoons butter softened at room temperature (do not melt)
- 2 cups powdered sugar
Method
- Preheat oven to 325 F
- In a large bowl mix sugar and oil until well combined.
- Beat in eggs until mixture is uniform in color.
- Add in buttermilk, vanilla extract, and food coloring.
- Mix until well combined.
- Mix in hot water and distilled vinegar.
- Add flour.
- Mix baking soda, baking powder, salt and add to bowl.
- Add in cocoa powder.
- Mix to combine all ingredients.
- Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.
- Pour 1/4 cup of batter into each liner.
- Bake to 18-20 minutes or until tops is spongey to the touch. (do not overcook)
- Remove from oven and let cupcakes sit in the pan for 5 minutes.
- Place cupcakes on a cooling rack to finish cooling.
- Make the frosting by creaming together cream cheese and butter. Slowly add in powdered sugar and beat until creamy.
3. CHRISTMAS FUDGE BROWNIES
Like all the great inventions in history, brownies were one of those mishaps that happened by accident. The baker didn’t have baking powder and ended up with an unleavened fudgy treat. Lucky us, right? We chose the brownie for our list of holiday desserts because obviously, we need some chocolate in our lives. Secondly, December 8th is National Brownie Day! So we have to celebrate. For this recipe, we chose an easy one bowl fudgy cocoa brownie — because why not!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup melted butter or 1 stick
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
- 1 cup sugar see note
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/4 tsp salt leave out if using salted butter
Method
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8×8 square pan or line with foil and set aside.
- In a medium bowl combine melted butter and cocoa and sugar stir until fully dissolved.
- Add eggs one at a time then vanilla and stir until well combined.
- Stir in flour and salt until the flour is fully combined. Be careful not to overmix mix.
- (optional) fold in 1 cup of nuts, raisins, chocolate chips, or anything you desire.
- Spread in pan and bake for approximately 20-22 minutes or until the center is slightly set. Be careful not to over-bake!
- Cool completely then cut into 9 large squares or 16 small squares
3. HOLIDAY APPLE PIE
I don’t know about you, but when I think of apple pie, I can’t help but think of post-Christmas dinner with the family — and maybe a dollop or two of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream! Did you know that the first apple pie recipe was printed over 630 years ago in England in 138? Although the first apple pies didn’t have any sugar because it was so expensive back then, so the product has changed a little bit.
Since it’s introduction to American cuisine, there’s almost nothing more American than apple pie. Even back in WWII, soldiers were often quoted they were fighting “for mom and apple pie.” For these reasons, we had to include the iconic American dessert in our Christmas and holidays list. We know not everyone can whip up a crust from scratch, so we’ve included an apple pie recipe that everyone can make from home!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 6 to 7 cups thinly sliced peeled tart apples
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- Pastry for double-crust pie
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 large egg white
- Additional sugar
Method
- In a small bowl, combine the sugars, flour, and spices; set aside. In a large bowl, toss apples with lemon juice. Add sugar mixture; toss to coat.
- Line a 9-in. pie plate with bottom crust; trim even with edge. Fill with apple mixture; dot with butter. Roll remaining crust to fit the top of pie; place over filling. Trim, seal, and flute edges. Cut slits in crust.
- Beat egg white until foamy; brush over crust. Sprinkle with sugar. Cover edges loosely with foil.
- Bake at 375° for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly, 20-25 minutes longer. Cool on a wire rack.
