If we’re being honest, I plan my entire December around snacks.
Sure, I love the lights, the music, the cozy movie marathons – but let’s be real, Christmas is really just the world’s best excuse to eat cookies for breakfast and call it festive.
Every year my kitchen turns into a full-blown treat factory. Flour everywhere, chocolate on my sweater, and a constant debate over whether I should actually share any of this or just hide it for myself.
After years of very serious, very delicious research, I’ve finally narrowed it down. These are the 5 treats I absolutely cannot survive the holidays without – the ones I count down to, bake on repeat, and will absolutely fight you for the last one on the plate.
Ready to get hungry? Let’s dive in.
Why I Love These Christmas Treats
These Christmas treats run from no stove at all to real stovetop candy, with one oven pastry for the tray. With each one I say what kind of treat it is, who it is good for and the one trick that made it work for me, then give the full shopping list and the video.
Grandpa’s Pecan Christmas Candy
Grandpa’s Pecan Christmas Candy is the old-fashioned stovetop candy on this list, part fudge and part divinity. It is real candy making: you boil a sugar syrup to the soft ball stage, which means a drop of the hot syrup in cold water forms a soft ball. Then the syrup gets beaten fluffy with a hand mixer, the pecans go in, and it sets in a small buttered pan to cut into little squares. The catch is speed. Once it is beaten, it firms up fast, so have the pan ready before you start.
What sold me is that it is an almost 100-year-old family recipe that needs only five ingredients plus butter for the pan. If the water test makes you nervous, a candy thermometer takes out the guesswork. I line the pan with parchment with extra hanging over the sides so I can lift the slab out, and I spray the measuring cup first so the corn syrup slides right out. Chopped almonds, cherries or toasted coconut work in place of pecans if you want a different mix.
Ingredients
- 3 cups sugar
- 1 cup white Karo syrup (corn syrup)
- 1/4 cup water
- butter, for the pan
- 1 cup pecans, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
SavePeppermint Oreo Cheesecake Dessert
Peppermint Oreo Cheesecake Dessert is a no-bake layered dessert made in one 9 by 13 dish. Store-bought cheesecake filling, holiday Oreos and Oreo pudding with a little peppermint are stacked in layers and topped with Cool Whip and sprinkles. There is no oven and no mixer, just a bowl and a whisk, and one dish feeds a crowd.
I make it because it comes together in one dish from store-bought cheesecake filling and Oreos, so it is ready the same afternoon. The one thing to know is the fridge. Served right away it is loose and runny, so I give it about two hours before I cut it. Some cooks crush the Oreos and press them with a little melted butter into the bottom as a crust, and that helps it hold its shape. Regular or mint Oreos work fine, and you can leave out the peppermint. I took it to a work party and everyone loved it.
Ingredients
- 1 container ready-to-eat no-bake cheesecake filling
- holiday Oreos (about two rows, enough for one layer)
- 1 box Oreo cookies and cream instant pudding (4.2 oz)
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract (optional)
- 2 cups cold milk
- Cool Whip, for the top
- Christmas sprinkles (optional)
SavePeppermint Bark
Peppermint Bark is the two-layer chocolate with crushed candy canes on top that needs no stove and no thermometer. The chips melt in the microwave, the freezer sets each layer, and you break the hard slab into pieces. A sheet pan and parchment is the whole setup, and it is done in well under an hour.
Peppermint bark is the easiest candy to start with when you have never made candy: just melted chocolate and candy cane. I put the dark chocolate down first and the white on top so the red and white pieces show better. I grease the pan or spray a little oil before I lay the parchment so it does not slide while I spread, and an offset spatula makes spreading much easier. Count how many people you are giving to before you start. Bark makes a big batch, so it is the one I make for a crowd.
Ingredients
- 3 cups white chocolate chips
- 2 teaspoons coconut oil
- 2 teaspoons peppermint extract
- 3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- candy canes, crushed
SaveSamoa Truffles
Samoa Truffles taste like the Samoa cookie rolled into a candy. Toasted coconut and dulce de leche, a thick caramel from a can, give them that cookie flavor, and a coat of melted chocolate finishes them. Making them is mostly mixing, rolling and dipping, and the freezer does the setting. The only oven time is a few minutes to toast the coconut.
They bring that coconut caramel cookie flavor to the Christmas candy tray, and they fit neatly in gift boxes. One batch makes about 50, and the recipe says they keep up to two weeks in the fridge or about three months in the freezer. If rolling 50 balls sounds like a lot, the same mix pressed into a pan makes bars you can cut. I made them ahead and kept them cold until I packed them.
Ingredients
- 7 ounces sweetened flaked coconut, toasted
- 1 can dulce de leche (14 oz)
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 oz)
- 1 box Nilla Wafers (11 oz), crushed
- 16 oz chocolate, melted (dark, or a mix of milk and semi-sweet chips)
SaveRaspberry Puff Pastry Blossoms
Raspberry Puff Pastry Blossoms are the one pastry treat on this list, little flowers of store-bought puff pastry with jam in the middle. The pastry does the hard work: a few folds and cuts turn each square into petals that puff up golden in the oven. Plan a day ahead, because the pastry thaws in the fridge overnight.
I make them because they need only three ingredients and look like bakery work with very little skill. I took them to a Christmas party and was asked to bring them again for New Year’s. They are simple but classy on a tray. Any store-bought jam works, blueberry or apricot are just as good, and a spoon of sweetened cream cheese under the jam is a nice change. Let them cool a few minutes before anyone bites in. The jam gets very hot.
Ingredients
- puff pastry dough, thawed and cut into squares
- raspberry jam, about 1 teaspoon per square
- egg wash (1 beaten egg, thinned with 1 to 2 teaspoons water)
SaveChristmas Treats FAQ
Here is how I handle making Christmas treats ahead, giving them and mailing them.
How Far Ahead Can I Make Christmas Treats?
Truffles and bark are the ones I make first and keep cold. The pastry is best the day you bake it, so I leave it for last. Wrapped well, many treats freeze and thaw fine, so I pack them tight in the freezer and pull out what I need when it is time to fill a tray.
Which Christmas Treats Are Best For Gifts?
I give the quick, big-batch treats to everyone on the list and save the ones that take more work, like the pecan candy or the blossoms, for a few close friends. I label each box or bag with the date I made it and what is in it, so anyone with a food allergy knows at a glance. A short line on how to store it helps too.
Can I Mail Homemade Christmas Treats?
Treats that do not need the fridge are the better choice for mailing, and it helps to mail early in the week so the box does not sit somewhere over the weekend. Give anything soft or creamy in person. I always add a note with the date and what is in the box.
Do I Need A Candy Thermometer?
Only for stovetop candy like the pecan candy, where it takes the guesswork out of the soft ball stage, around 235 to 240 F. Bark, the cheesecake dessert and the truffles need none. If a batch of fudge-type candy sets wrong, you can sometimes melt it and try again, but it does not always come back.
What Is The Easiest Christmas Treat To Make?
Bark or the cheesecake dessert. Bark needs only a microwave and the freezer, and the cheesecake dessert is just layers in one dish, a whisk and time in the fridge. Both are good when you want a lot of treats without standing over a pot of hot sugar.
I start with bark for the big tins and the cheesecake dessert for the party table, then make one batch that feels special, usually the pecan candy or the blossoms. Pick the one that fits your time, and swap in the jam or nut you like best.
