Every December the same thing happens in our kitchen. Somebody wants the cookies from the blue tin, somebody else wants the snack cakes from the gas station, and a third person asks if the turkey can please not be dry this year. So we put all of our Christmas recipes on one page, 31 of them, split up by what you’re making: cookies and treats, the big cakes and desserts, the Christmas dinner itself, breakfast on the morning, drinks, and a few homemade gifts you can start right now.
Christmas Day 2026 lands on a Friday, which is handy, because it gives you the whole weekend before it for baking and the Saturday after for leftovers. Thanksgiving is on November 26 this year, so there are about four weeks between the two big meals. Plenty of what’s on this page can be made ahead, and there’s a countdown further down that tells you what to start when.
Quick Picks: Which Christmas Recipes to Start With
| If you want… | Make this | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Something to bake with the kids | Candy Land Christmas trees | No oven, they decorate their own |
| Cookies for a gift tin | Danish butter cookies | Keep well and freeze well |
| The main event | Dry brine turkey | Juicy meat, crackly skin, no bucket |
| An easy Christmas morning | Pull apart monkey bread | Shape it the night before, bake it in the morning |
| A homemade gift | Spiced pear chutney | Pretty in a jar, great with cheese |
On this page: Christmas cookies and treats · Christmas cakes and desserts · Christmas dinner · Christmas morning · Christmas drinks · Christmas recipes for gifts · Make-ahead countdown · FAQ
Christmas Recipes for Cookies and Treats
These are the Christmas recipes we get asked about most in December. A couple of these are copycats of the boxed stuff everyone grew up with, and honestly the homemade versions taste better because they’re fresher, not because we’re clever.
Want a showpiece? Stack star cookies into a gingerbread Christmas tree. Baking to give away? Our Christmas cookie box guide covers how many cookies to make, how to pack them and the 2026 shipping dates.
1. Homemade Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cakes
Soft vanilla sponge, a marshmallow creme filling, a white coating and those green stripes with red sprinkles on top. They look exactly like the ones in the box, and the cake underneath is actually soft instead of a bit dry.
2. Candy Land Christmas Trees
Sugar cones turned upside down, piped with green buttercream and covered in gumdrops and sprinkles. No baking at all, which makes it the one to pull out when the kids are off school and bouncing off the walls.
3. Danish Butter Cookies (Like the Blue Tin)
Crisp and buttery, piped into rings and swirls like the ones in the famous blue tin. The recipe has two small tricks that keep the ridges sharp in the oven so they don’t melt into flat blobs.
4. Pecan Pie Cookies
All the good parts of pecan pie in a cookie you can hold. A soft shortbread base with a gooey caramel pecan middle, and no eggs in the filling, so it sets without any fuss.
5. Royal Icing for Christmas Cookies
Not a cookie by itself, but you’ll want it for any decorated sugar cookie or gingerbread man. It uses meringue powder, dries hard and smooth, and explains outline versus flood icing in plain words.
6. Gramercy Tavern Gingerbread
This is the dark, moist gingerbread cake from the famous New York restaurant, heavy on molasses and warm spice. The whole house smells like Christmas while it bakes.
7. M&M Mint Cookies
Soft chocolate cookies with mint M&Ms and chocolate chips. Use the red and green holiday bag and they’re Christmas cookies straight away, no decorating required.
8. Pecan Brittle
Old-fashioned candy that snaps clean. You’ll want a thermometer for this one, and once it’s broken into shards it goes into cellophane bags for teachers and neighbors.
Christmas Recipes for Cakes and Desserts
Of all the Christmas recipes on this page, the fruitcakes are the ones that get better with time, so if you want one for the big day, start them early. The rest you can make the week of.
9. CWA Christmas Cake
The classic rich fruitcake, packed with fruit, nuts and spice, from the Country Women’s Association tradition in Australia. Bake it a few weeks ahead and wrap it well, the flavor deepens as it sits.
10. Miniature Christmas Cakes
Same idea as a big Christmas cake, baked small. One each for the table, or wrapped up as gifts, and they bake a lot faster than a full-size cake.
11. Boiled Fruit Cake (CWA)
The fruit gets simmered first, so the cake stays moist without weeks of soaking. Good if it’s already mid-December and you’ve only just remembered.
12. Peppermint Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake (Nothing Bundt Cakes Copycat)
A copy of the holiday flavor from the bakery chain: chocolate bundt with chips and peppermint pieces, and the thick cream cheese frosting petals on top.
13. Goode Co Pecan Pie
The Texas pecan pie people ship across the country every holiday, made at home. Flaky crust, a gooey middle and a thick layer of toasted pecans.
14. Old-Fashioned Bread and Butter Pudding
Crisp sugary corners on top and soft vanilla custard underneath. After Christmas, swap the bread for leftover panettone or stollen and it’s a whole new dessert.
15. Ninja Creami Eggnog Ice Cream
If you got a Ninja Creami last Christmas and it’s been sitting in the cupboard, this is its moment. Creamy, spiced, tastes like eggnog, and it’s lovely on a slice of warm pie.
Christmas Recipes for Dinner: Turkey, Sides and Gravy
Whether you do turkey at Christmas or saved it for Thanksgiving, these all work for a big holiday table. The dry brine turkey needs about two days in the fridge, so put a note in your calendar. Turkey is done when the thickest part of the thigh hits 165°F, which is the safe minimum on the FoodSafety.gov temperature chart.
16. Dry Brine Turkey
Kosher salt, a little baking powder and herbs rubbed on a couple of days ahead. No bucket, no sloshing brine around the kitchen, and the skin comes out crackly. There’s a salt chart by turkey size so you don’t have to guess.
17. Rotisserie Turkey Breast
For a smaller Christmas, two to six people, a whole bird is a lot. A turkey breast on the rotisserie stays juicy and frees up the oven for everything else.
18. Turkey Gravy
Rich, lump-free and thick enough to sit in the well of your mashed potatoes. It works with drippings or without, so you can make it a day ahead.
19. Mrs. Cubbison’s Stuffing
The classic: butter, onion and celery, warm broth, baked in a dish until the top goes golden. Also covers the safe way to do it if you’d rather stuff the bird.
20. Cranberry Sauce With Frozen Cranberries
Fresh cranberries vanish from stores after Thanksgiving. Grab a bag of frozen ones, they go straight into the pot without thawing and the sauce is ready in about 15 minutes.
21. Durkee’s Green Bean Casserole
The original way: creamy mushroom sauce, a splash of soy and crispy fried onions on top. Put it together the night before and bake it while the turkey rests.
22. Sweet Potato Casserole With Pecan Topping
Roasted sweet potatoes under a crunchy brown sugar pecan topping, with a little less sugar than most. There’s a marshmallow version too, because someone at the table will ask.
23. Texas Roadhouse Rolls
Soft, slightly sweet square yeast rolls and the whipped cinnamon honey butter that goes with them. A pan of these disappears before the turkey’s even carved.
Christmas Morning
On Christmas morning nobody wants to cook, they want to open presents. So the best Christmas recipes for the morning are the ones you get ready the night before.
24. Pull Apart Monkey Bread
Soft dough balls rolled in cinnamon sugar and baked in a brown sugar caramel. Shape it on Christmas Eve, leave it in the fridge, and bake it while everyone’s still in pajamas.
Christmas Drinks
Not all Christmas recipes need an oven. These two get poured, not baked.
25. Starbucks Christmas Drinks 2026 + Copycat Tiramisu Velvet Latte
Every drink on this year’s Starbucks holiday menu, plus a homemade copy of the new Tiramisu Velvet Latte with mascarpone cold foam. Hot or iced, about ten minutes.
26. French 75
Gin, fresh lemon and a little syrup, topped with cold bubbly. It’s the drink for Christmas parties and New Year’s Eve, and there’s a pitcher chart so you’re not shaking them one at a time all night.
Christmas Recipes That Make Great Homemade Gifts
Homemade gifts are popular again, and a lot of Christmas recipes double as presents. The only catch with these is time: the liqueurs need weeks to steep and the chutneys need a little while to mellow, so start them in November if you can.
27. Spiced Pear Chutney
Pears, ginger and sultanas cooked down into something that belongs next to a wedge of cheddar. The post covers which pears to use and how to fix chutney that’s too runny.
28. Spiced Apple Chutney
Made the British way with Bramley apples, ginger and sultanas. It’s the jar that ends up on the cold meat platter on Boxing Day.
29. Damson Gin
Three ingredients: damsons, sugar and gin. A small bottle with a handwritten label is a pretty great present for the grown-ups.
30. Sloe Vodka
Like sloe gin, but with vodka, so the fruit flavor comes through cleaner. The freezer trick in the recipe saves you pricking every single sloe.
31. Spiced Nuts
Maple, cinnamon and a pinch of cayenne, roasted on one pan with no oil. Fill a jar for a gift and keep a bowl out for guests.
Christmas Recipes Countdown: What to Make When
This is how we’d spread it out so December 24 isn’t a disaster. Dates are for Christmas 2026 (Friday, December 25).
| When | What to make |
|---|---|
| Now to late November | Damson gin and sloe vodka (they need weeks), pear and apple chutney, CWA Christmas cake |
| Early December | Danish butter cookie and pecan pie cookie dough for the freezer, boiled fruit cake, mini Christmas cakes |
| Weekend of Dec 12–13 | Pecan brittle, spiced nuts, M&M mint cookies, pack up the gift jars |
| Weekend of Dec 19–20 | Bake the frozen cookie dough, Little Debbie tree cakes, Candy Land trees with the kids, decorate with royal icing. Move a frozen turkey to the fridge about now, it needs roughly a day for every 4 to 5 pounds |
| Wednesday, Dec 23 | Dry brine the turkey, make cranberry sauce and turkey gravy |
| Christmas Eve, Dec 24 | Assemble green bean and sweet potato casseroles, shape the monkey bread, bake the pecan pie |
| Christmas Day | Bake the monkey bread, roast the turkey, bake the casseroles and rolls, pour the French 75s |
A quick note on cookie dough. It’s tempting to eat a spoonful while you bake, but raw flour and raw eggs can carry bacteria, so the FDA says to bake it first. Kids decorating with frosting and candy are fine.
Storing Christmas cookies. Crisp cookies like Danish butter cookies go in a tin, and soft ones like pecan pie cookies go in an airtight container, never together in the same box, or the crisp ones go soft by morning. Fruitcake keeps for weeks wrapped tight. If you want to know where this cake came from, Wikipedia has a good history of Christmas cake.
Doing Thanksgiving too? Our pumpkin recipes page has the pies and bars, and there are glazes and holiday lattes on the honey recipes page.
Christmas Recipes FAQ
What are the easiest Christmas recipes to make with kids?
The Candy Land Christmas trees, because there’s no oven involved, and M&M mint cookies, where the most they have to do is stir and scoop. Decorating sugar cookies with royal icing keeps them busy for a good hour.
Which Christmas recipes can I make ahead?
Fruitcake, chutney and homemade liqueurs can be made weeks ahead. Cookie dough freezes for a month or more. Cranberry sauce, gravy and the dry brine turkey prep happen two days before, and the casseroles and monkey bread can be assembled on Christmas Eve.
How long does it take to thaw a frozen turkey for Christmas?
In the fridge, allow about 24 hours for every 4 to 5 pounds. A 16-pound turkey needs three to four days, so move it from the freezer to the fridge around December 20 or 21.
Which Christmas recipes make good homemade gifts?
Spiced nuts, pecan brittle, a tin of Danish butter cookies, a jar of pear or apple chutney, mini Christmas cakes, or a bottle of damson gin or sloe vodka for the adults.
What are the most popular Christmas recipes?
Cookies come first every year, especially butter cookies and anything you can decorate, followed by turkey with stuffing and gravy, fruitcake, and copycat treats like Little Debbie Christmas tree cakes. All of those Christmas recipes are on this page.
What day is Christmas 2026?
Friday, December 25, 2026. Christmas Eve is Thursday, December 24.
