25 Delectable Holiday Desserts You’ll Love Making (and Eating)
These festive favorites and elegant show-stoppers create holiday cheer with every bite.
Sunset Staff
The holidays are a time for unashamed decadence and that calls for a selection of rich desserts that capture the flavors and joy of the season. And with all the sweet flavors that are associated with this time of year, it’s no wonder that there are plenty of dessert recipes to choose from.
The plants and trees may be bare, but there are still plenty of fruit dishes to enjoy. From a homey cranberry-orange bread to an impressively flavorful clementine sorbetto to simple yet delicious caramelized pears, these desserts explode with the flavors of nature even in the depths of winter.
Other desserts focus on the spices and nuts of the season. Cardamom brown sugar palmiers and florentine bars are great for an office get-together, while a coffee toffee crunch spice cake can serve as the perfect centerpiece for an elegant Christmas dinner. Or, for pure decadence, try a caramel-cloaked chocolate hazelnut torte.
And of course, there are plenty of peppermint desserts, including a candy cane cake, a white chocolate peppermint cheesecake, and peppermint bon bons.
These desserts are all full of holiday flavor and are great treats for you, your family, your friends, and everyone in between.
Favorite Holiday Treats
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Dark Chocolate Peppermint Brownies
If you can manage to wait, chief baking officer Arnold Eric Wong of Raison d’Être bakery in South San Francisco recommends serving his moist brownies a day after baking because they develop an even fudgier texture and mintier flavor.
This party-size, extravagantly dense and creamy cheesecake comes from chef Peter Birk at Boka restaurant in Seattle. He infuses cream with fresh mint; we used extract for simplicity.
The appeal: Silky caramel, ripe bananas, creamy vanilla custard, all oozing from a stack of crunchy meringue layers: You want only certain people to see you get this messy.
Baker’s tip: Dacquoise―a cake made of crisp meringue layers―works best if you pair it with soft, fluffy, or creamy fillings. This dessert is all about contrasts in texture.
The appeal: Dessert version of cocktail snacks; cute and tasty.
Baker’s tip: When you dip the ice cream balls in chocolate, make sure you coat some of the skewer too―this keeps the ice cream from sliding off as it melts.
This bread is a versatile, easy-to-make crowd-pleaser, delicately laced with Grand Marnier and studded with tart dried cranberries and orange zest. It’s good for breakfast or as a gift.
This dark, moist cake is a favorite of guests at the Vista Verde Ranch in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, where it’s cut into rounds and set on a pool of custard sauce.