The Ultimate List of Christmas Baking Ideas
This is the ULTIMATE LIST of Christmas baking ideas for Christmas cookies, candy, bar desserts, cakes, and bread. All of my favorites, all in one place. There are tons of can’t-miss December recipes, such as crock pot peanut clusters, avalanche bark, eggnog bundt cake, nut roll, and the most popular recipe for the last two years – Danish butter cookies. No boring holiday cookie trays for you!
Have you started any holiday baking yet?
Thanksgiving is over and our house is decorated for Christmas, but I haven’t made any Christmas recipes yet. Usually, the very first one to come out of my kitchen is peppermint bark – I keep it in the refrigerator and love to steal nibbles throughout the month :)
I compiled this list for all of us (myself included!) so we can narrow down what to bake in the upcoming weeks. I’ve included TONS of Christmas cookies, candy, some bar desserts, festive cakes, and bread. So many options!
I would love, love, love to hear which Christmas sweets are nostalgic for you, what you MUST have, what you plan on making this year… please share in the comments below!
Christmas Cookies
Nothing says holidays quite like Christmas cookies! The centerpiece of Christmas cookie trays, there are so very many to choose from and so little time!
Growing up, my mom’s go-to cookies were mini cheesecake cookies, peanut butter blossoms, pecan tassies, peanut butter cookies, and, of course, decorated cut-out sugar cookies.
The Christmas cookie lineup on BEB:
- Almond Lace Cookies
- Anise Cookies
- Black and White Cookies
- Buckeye Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Biscotti
- Chocolate Chip Meringue Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Tea Cookies
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Chocolate-Dipped Shortbread Cookies
- Chocolate-Pistachio Biscotti
- Chocolate Sugar Cookies
- Classic Meringue Cookies
- Classic No Bake Cookies
- Classic Thumbprint Cookies
- Classic Whoopie Pies
- Coconut Macaroons
- Cranberry-White Chocolate Almond Biscotti
- Cucidati
- Danish Butter Cookies
- Dark Chocolate Chunk Eggnog Cookies
- Empire Cookies
- Filled Raisin Cookies
- Gingerbread Men Cookies
- Grandma’s Biscotti
- Homemade Cannoli
- Homemade Oreo Cookies
- Italian Sesame Seed Cookies (Giuggiulena)
- Lemon Crinkle Cookies
- Lofthouse Style Frosted Sugar Cookies
- Mini Cheesecake Cookies
- Nut Crescents
- Nutter Butter Snowmen
- Peanut Butter Blossoms
- Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
- Pecan Sandies
- Pecan Tassies
- Peppermint Whoopie Pies
- Pizzelle
- Rugelach
- Salted Chocolate Shortbread Cookies
- Snickerdoodle Biscotti
- Snickerdoodles
- Snowball Cookies
- Soft and Chewy Gingersnap Cookies
- Soft and Chewy Molasses Spice Cookies
- Soft Peanut Butter Cookies
- Sugar Cookies
- Ultimate Ginger Cookies
Christmas Candy
Does Christmas scream CANDY to you? Do you churn out batch after batch of fudge, toffee, and brittle?
I could take an entire batch of peanut butter buckeyes, hide until New Year’s, and be a very happy gal.
My favorite Christmas candy:
- Baklava
- Chocolate Bourbon Balls
- Chocolate-Covered Potato Chips
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge
- Cinnamon-Sugar Candied Pecans
- Crock Pot Peanut Clusters
- Date, Coconut & Walnut Balls
- Eggnog Fudge
- Homemade Marshmallows
- Homemade Peppermint Marshmallows
- Homemade Torrone
- Nutella-Pretzel Truffles
- Oreo Balls
- Peanut Butter Buckeyes
- Peanut Butter Fudge
- Peppermint Bark
- Homemade Peppermint Patties
- Peanut Brittle
- Pistachio & Cranberry White Chocolate Bark
- Reindeer Chow
- Saltine Toffee
- Snickerdoodle Fudge
Easy Bar Desserts
Bar desserts aren’t AS popular on holiday cookie trays, and I don’t know why! They’re usually super easy to bake and you can cut them into small squares to get a lot of bang for your baking buck.
I love ALL of these bars and think they’d all make wonderful additions to your Christmas baking list.
Bars for Christmas cookie trays! …
- Avalanche Bark
- Decker Cake
- Eggnog Cheesecake Bars
- Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars
- Lemon Bars
- Millionaire’s Shortbread
- Oatmeal Carmelita Bars
- Peanut Butter Cup Bars
- Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
- Scotcheroos
- Seven Layer Bars
- Snickerdoodle Blondies
- Zia Lena’s Date Bar Cookies
Christmas Cakes and Desserts
What is your go-to for Christmas dessert? Or Christmas Eve dessert? Truth be told, we are usually too full from both meals for a large dessert, so we typically graze on cookie trays. But if you’re looking for a fantastic holiday dessert, any of these cakes would make a fantastic choice!
Behold, Christmas celebration cakes:
- Buche de Noel with Espresso Mascarpone Filling
- Classic Gingerbread
- Cranberry-Eggnog Cheesecake
- Eggnog Bundt Cake with Rum Icing
- Gingerbread Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
- Gingerbread Pound Cake
- Homemade Rum Cake
- Old-Fashioned Bread Pudding
- Sticky Toffee Pudding
- Tiramisu
Christmas Bread
And finally, festive Christmas bread! Just a few, but I couldn’t have a Christmas baking list without them. Babka is the ULTIMATE in sweet breads and I could eat a ridiculous amount of it. I’ve also included both Italian and Greek traditional Christmas bread, as well as nut roll, which is maybe technically a bread since it uses yeast? Or pastry? However you classify it, it’s not Christmas without it!
For my bread-baking buddies:
- Chocolate Babka
- Christopsomos (Greek Christmas Bread)
- Date Nut Spice Bread
- Nut Roll
- Panettone (Italian Christmas Bread)
WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE CHRISTMAS RECIPES?
I would LOVE to hear about your family traditions, favorite recipes, and what you absolutely, positively cannot live without in December. Share in the comments section below!
My husband’s family is part Icelandic. A Christmas tradition in Iceland is a spiced prune cake called Vinetarta. Its a spiced prune jam sandwiched between a thin almond cake. Each cake is about 5-6 layers. Then its sliced thin after it’s set. I now make it with my kids.
A Canadian tradition is Nanaimo Bars at Christmas, its a chocolate, walnut, coconut base, topped with a custard layer the a thin layer of chocolate on top.
I want to say that I appreciate your recipes although I can’t eat them as they appear! I have Celiac disease and I substitute certain ingredients to make it gluten free and they are still delicious! My favorite for this time of year is your homemade Baileys recipe… but after seeing this post I can’t wait to try cakes and cookies! God bless you and your family, I hope Dominic is doing well. I am also a 14 year cancer survivor so GO DOMINIC YOU GOT THIS!!!!
Oh, my goodness! This is exactly what I needed and all in one place. What a delightful surprise to find your recipe for (Polish) Nut Roll with the best clear directions and helpful hints. I have been using my husband’s aunt’s recipe which is definitely old school and lots of guessing on measurements. 😉 most of my tries have resulted in beautiful rolls slowly erupting in the oven! 😩
So thank you. Can’t wait to try again. I appreciate 5he effort it took to put this post together and will be saving this for future baking ideas. I always enjoy your helpful tips.
Wishing you and your sweet family a wonderful Christmas holiday.
What a wonderful list of things to bake for Christmas!
I have to narrow the list down as I am alone now, but I will be baking a few of them to share with neighbors. Wishing you a your family a Blessed Christmas. Very happy that Dominic is doing well. Merry Christmas!
What a list! It would take a year to make & bake every yummy recipe! Favorites at our house are cut-outs (of course!), spritz, chocolate chip tea cakes, pecan pie bars, and snowballs. I usually try to make at least a dozen varieties and choosing is the hardest! Wishing you a joyful Christmas season – so grateful to hear that Dominic is making good progress.
Thank you for all the recipes.
I gained 10 pounds just reading through the list. At our house Christmas was when my aunt would make pizzelles and anise cookies. A real treat!
FYI – Meringue Cookies were always a holiday favorite at our house during the holidays. My mom would make plain white with chocolate chips….and then she would also do a batch with a little green food coloring with mint chocolate chips!!! They were delicious!!! Try it!!!
Greetings to you Michelle! I hope you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I so happy to hear that Dominic is doing so well now!! That is truly a Christmas gift for us all, that little guy has had us all praying overtime. He looks great in your pictures. :)
Our tradition is to go out to eat on Christmas Eve and go to Church. My grandchildren open one gift early that they pick out and then me and my daughter open our gifts to each other on Christmas Eve because it is less chaotic with all the cooking and celebrating with family on Christmas day. But I always get her something special and put under the tree for Christmas day as a special surprise for her.
We always eat the same thing Christmas day as a tradition, turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, biscuits,…the only thing we change up is our vegetable, not sure what we will have yet this year, I am going to look for one of your yummy recipes on your website for that. :)
I always have Christmas day at my house since my daughter cooks for everyone at her house on Thanksgiving.
Our favorite desserts are her homemade fudge, we make a Coca-Cola cake, apple pie and Christmas sugar cookies. This year I did cheat and buy the walnut ring that Williams and Sonoma sells to add to our list of deserts. Other than that, everything is homemade and always is. A tradition in my family.
I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas season and a very Merry Christmas!!!!
Thank you for sharing your recipes! We’re so excited to try them out, and so are our guests! We’ll let you know how they go.
https://www.carlosbakery.com/
So many choices! Thank you for sharing your recipes.🙏🏻
This year I completed my baking early as I ship cookies to family on the West coast and did not want a delay. I made 16 different cookies and 4 different fudge recipes. I also made for the first time Buckeye’s, OMG they are so good and have gotten rave reviews from the family. My all time favorite cookie is Springerle. There are so many of mom’s recipes, I am always reminded about my childhood and how wonderful my childhood was.
Love you recipes!!!
2 cookies that ALWAYS have to be made are what I call “Mommy’s Cookies” which I grew up eating- basically the Christmas version of a snickerdoodle-type with the red & green sugars, & a cookie I found in a magazine almost 20 years ago that incorporates Andes in a rich chocolate cookie.
Beyond that I like to rotate & change things up; this year I may try your eggnog fudge, but definitely the peanut clusters! Thank you for all the inspiration & wonderful recipes. You teach me a lot about less-known foods. Have a fabulous holiday season. Thanks so much!
A great list!!
Thank you! Happy Baking! :)
I thought I would cut back this year since I won’t be with family, but there are so many cookies/bars that I always make at Christmas so I will probably just bake a ton and “force” them on my coworkers. Current line up is:
– BEB chocolate dipped coconut macaroons
– BEB peppermint bark
– pecan bars
– sour cream cookies
– haystacks
– sugar cookies
– chocolate truffle cookies
I’m also baking some goodies to hand out to people waiting at a food distribution this weekend, and am thinking about:
– BEB snickersoodle bars
– BEB sugar cookie bars
– BEB baked brownies
I LOVE bars for big baking jobs and these always get rave reviews.
Hi Michelle,
Have been looking for a way to use up 11 egg whites I found in the freezer! Do you have a recipe for meringue cookies?
There are 2 listed :-)
Thank you for the amazing list. It’s a culinary work of art😊
Question for you Michelle….
With your Italian heritage, do you have a recipe for the Italian chocolate cookies? My MIL’s family is Sicilian & my FIL’s are from Abbruzi. If that means anything. They are a spice drop/ball cookie with a light dab of chocolate frosting, not a coating.
I have tried repeatedly to make my mother-in-law’s recipe. She’s been gone 16 years…. They just are not the same.
Thank you so much…😊
Hi Janice, These don’t sound like a cookie that I’m familiar with, which seems impossible! I’ll ask my mom and in-laws if they’ve had something like it and report back if I can find something! :)
Thanks, Michelle
Scaling back a bit this year to only the “it’s not Christmas without these”.
Hershey’s chocolate peanut butter fudge
Hershey’s chocolate black walnut fudge
Chocolate Toffee
Snowballs
Danish Butter Cookies
Gingerbread Cookies
White Trash
Classic Chex Mix.
Wowee! If this is your scaling back mode I’d love to see what’s in your “non” scaling back offerings lol. Rock on for blessing your family with the cooking love😊
Can you recommend an easy recipe for peppermint bark cake? I’d like to make one using the dark chocolate version for Christmas. Thanks.
Please could you get Americans into Mince pies. Nothing says Christmas like a tray fresh from the oven of homemade mince pies. Cookies don’t get such a big look in uk, younger mums with children make them. Here it’s mince pies, iced fruit cake, chocolate Yule logs and trifles, and of course Christmas pudding lol xx
Peanut Butter Corn Flake Candy! You MUST try them – SO GOOD!
Ingredients
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 cups corn flakes
Instructions
In a large saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup, and peanut butter. Cook over medium high heat until center starts to boil, make sure to stir constantly so the sugar doesn’t burn.
As soon as the sugar mixture comes to a boil, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract and corn flakes, mix until corn flakes are evenly coated in sugar mixture.
Use an ice cream scoop to drop cookies onto parchment or wax paper as quickly as possible before mixture starts to cool and harden.
Let cool on wax paper for 20 to 30 minutes before enjoying.
Ok think we need to try these too. Thanks for posting this recipe😊
Bonnie, She has these but as bars: Goody Goody Bars.
I always look for a different cookie, we love spiced hot chocolate cookies
These are pretty & taste amazing
Yes, there is cayenne pepper & black pepper, it is a delicious Cookie
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/cinnamon-spiced-hot-chocolate-cookies-recipe-1957767
They are a must have for cookie trays
Additional staples on our cookie tray are, lady locks, salted chocolate chips, orange cookies & chocolate cherry chunk.
I can’t wait to try a new cookie (for me) from your list
Oh thank you Michelle this list is so helpful! I can quickly peruse through your list and find my favorite cookie recipes. Can’t wait to start baking for my next holiday party =)
I so want to make a cookie tray with several homemade items. I hope I can get there. My wish list would be something chocolatey, something shortbready..something with jam and maybe something with peanut butter. You have given us such a grand list I think I can find a little of each kind. I could make one batch a week until Christmas and just put them in my Moms freezer. Maybe we need to add your mini cheesecake cookies too😊 thank you for the amazing list. What a project!
My must-haves are your Maple Walnut Fudge which I make multiple batches of and gift to people and Nanaimo Bars. I see you only have a recipe here for Peanut Butter Nanaimo Bars which for me would be an abomination😂. I love peanut butter on toast (crunchy please) and in Thai Creamy Peanut Chicken but nowhere else. Plain original Nanaimo Bars are fabulous although I have played with the filling by adding different types of liqueur on occasion. I love shortbread too, still looking for a definitive recipe.
I make about 20 different Christmas cookies every year and the majority are family recipes with the exception of a
a few new ones added in each year. My favorite out of all of them is the Browned Butter Spritz cookies. I use my grandmother’s old cookie press to make them and feel nostalgic every time I make them.
I do gingerbread house parties. Kids (and adults) love them. I use a mold to bake the houses.
When you said a lot, you truly meant it. 4 dozen “cookies”, a pair of pie plate sized shareable ones cooling and I still have 1/2 of my crock pot full of this mixture. 😁
I love this time of year! Family, food, and baking. I made most of the cookie recipes for my family and they flipped. Doesn’t baking get everyone in the holiday spirit? My house is always kept warm by the oven this time of year. I loved this baking Ecookbook http://bit.ly/2EbQ0kK easy recipes. Merry Christmas Everyone!
Great list! I like to try at least one new dessert for Christmas each year, and my mom always makes a bunch of cookies and desserts as well. I’ve made toffee and fudge in the past, but usually focus on cookies. Lemon thyme shortbread, gingersnaps (grandma’s recipe, the soft kind), peanut butter blossoms, chocolate crinkle cookies and snickerdoodles are my go tos. Either my mom or I always have to make spritz as well, often together.
Every year I plan on making new recipes, but my family wins out on their request a of our oldies but goodies. My Nonna’s biscotti, amaretti, pecan pie bars, snickerdoodles, coconut macaroons, chocolate wrinkles and on Christmas morning homemade Monkey bread.
In memory of my mother in law I make her spritz cookies every Christmas for my husband and his family. We call them “Mimi cookies” in her honor. They’re a traditional spritz cookie that is dipped in chocolate and topped with red and green sprinkles…..it isn’t Christmas if we don’t have them!
I haven’t started baking yet but plan on doing it in about 2 weeks. I plan to make chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal craisin cookies, sugar cookies, Scandanavuan almond bars, some fudge and some truffles. My sister will make a Buche de Noel for Christmas Day brunch/dinner.
Hi Michelle, Fantastic list! I always do a centerpiece dessert and change it up every year. This year I am making a brownie bottomed cheesecake with a pecan praline caramel sauce. My hubs is half Italian, so no Christmas would be complete without traditional Italian knots. I’ve been making them for close to 30 years now and we simply adore them. I usually stick to a few of our favorite cookie, candy, etc….recipes every year but swap out a few regulars for a few new ones. There’s just too much good stuff out there to choose from. I could literally be in the kitchen baking for a week if I let myself. I always make gingerbread men or cut-outs; some type of shortbread (this year it is cranberry/orange); peanut butter buckeyes (this year it is in the form of a new recipe for buckeye fudge…..a lot less time consuming) and banana bread. When our kids were little and we exchanged platters with other parents, neighbors, brought to work, etc….my all-time record was 4 kinds of fudge, 8 different cookies, 2 bar desserts and 2 different breads in 2 sizes. I cannot believe I used to be able to pull all that off! But with us newly retired, both our kids married in the last 2 years and no grandchildren yet (yes, that is me sniffling and sighing) I don’t make too much. We simply don’t need all that in the house. But if we are blessed some day with grandbabies………all bets are off! Happy menu planning and baking in the coming weeks and enjoy every single moment with those 3 precious children. It all goes so quickly. Vicki
There are so many that I have to rotate them each year. The treats I MUST make are, Fudge (the real deal cooked kind…so delicious). I make two versions, chocolate with black walnuts and chocolate with peanut butter. My grandma and mom both made this fudge and I’ve been making for 20 plus years. It’s the recipe on the Hershey’s can.
The other is mini gingerbreads. It’s a tradition in our family to bake and decorate these and it’s so much fun.
The ones on rotation are: my grandma’s Date Nut Balls (dates, rice cereal, sugar, butter), Snowballs (husband’s favorite), my grandmother-in-law’s Sugar Cookies (I could eat a dozen in a sitting), Peanut Butter Blossoms, Snickerdoodles, Spritz, and Kourabiedes. I’m not sure which will win out this year.
Each year I like to try something new and I think this year will be a copycat of the Danish Butter cookie, like the ones in the blue tin. So soft buttery and delicious. I’m probably going to try a slice and bake style too. 😉
Happy baking everyone!
Hi, here in England mince pies are a must. I make dozens of them x
I would love to see a list of recipes for those that are Vegan, Gluten-free, etc!
Michelle, you should probably try a vegan or gluten free website, or even google search those types of recipes. Every website doesn’t need to make sure they have something for everyone. My website is just the things that I like and I make.
I almost forgot to add Christmas Marbles-my youngest child’s favorite!
I make somewhere between 15-20 Christmas favorites (and some new ones thrown in too) each year, but some of the favorites and “must-bakes” are molasses, spritz, snickerdoodles, toffee, butter mints and coconut macaroons. Many are family recipes handed down to me from great grandparents, grandparents and my mom. Happy baking to you! You are my favorite food blogger and have followed you for years! Thank you and Happy Holidays!
I have a comment and a question…. My traditional Christmas cookie is Kolache, passed down generations. They are yummy little nut horns. I’ve seen variations of kolache but these are all walnut filling – like mini nut rolls. My great, great grandmother called them kolache so I’m going with it! Dee-licious!
My question is: Do you have a good recipe for Italian Ricotta Cookies? I looked on your website and didn’t find one. I did find one on the internet that I’m going to go with. I see there are variations with either using lemon or almond extract and I would love to know which one you prefer. Thanks!
Hi Lori! My great aunt makes kolaches, she usually puts an apricot or cream cheese filling. I’ll have to see if my grandma has the recipe! And no, I don’t have an Italian ricotta cookie recipe (shame!).
Hi Lori, my Italian Ricotta Cookies are requested every year. The recipe i use from website Cookies & Cups.
I make them for Easter & Christmas, just change out the sprinkles. Give them a try, I hope you like them as much as we do. .
Google “Italian Ricotta Cookie” and there are lots of responses. Lidia Bastianich has a recipe.
Your list is impeccable, the only cookie that I would add is the chocolate covered cherry cookie. It’s a must have on our Christmas tray. ❄️🎄❄️
would love that recipe Beth!