30+ Best Holiday Dessert Recipes from Around the World

Looking for easy and delicious treats to make this holiday season? Look no further! Here are 30+ of the best sweets from around the world.

I’m not one to welcome Christmas decorations, music or much of anything else before Halloween but I DO start planning the delicious holiday sweet treats I want to make well before I buy any Halloween candy. I love Christmas baking season!

To kick things off, I asked food bloggers to share their favorite Christmas dessert recipes – cakes, pies, pastries, breads, cookies and candies – from around the world. Everything looks SO good – I want to make each and every recipe.

There are easy Christmas desserts, traditional Christmas desserts, and a few unusual sweet treats for those of you who want to try something new. Ok, let’s stop talking about and get right to these amazing Christmas desserts!

Bûche de Noël Cake (French Yule Log Cake)

Bûche de Noël Cake (French Yule Log Cake) | International Desserts Blog

This delicious and festive dessert is popular in France and resembles a log in the woods. It’s similar to a Swiss roll and is typically made with sponge cake and chocolate buttercream. You can add all sorts of Christmas decorations like tree branches, fresh fruit, and mushrooms made of meringue. Not only is it so tasty, it looks much harder to make than it really is.

Moist Maple Sweet Potato Walnut Butter Cake

Moist Maple Sweet Potato Walnut Butter Cake | The Delicious Crescent

This dense cake made with rich sweet potato, walnut butter, brown sugar and is topped with a delicious drizzle of maple syrup.

Honey Cake Slices – Slovkian Petite Fours

Honey Cake Slices – Slovkian Petite Fours | Happy Foods Tube

Delicate, thin layers of baked honey flavored pastry originating from Slovakia. It’s filled with jam and pudding filling and coated with chocolate, giving it a rich and creamy texture.

Cranberry Lush Cake

Cranberry Lush Cake | Small Town Woman

This sweet cake features a graham cracker crust, sweetened cream cheese, whipped cream and candied cranberries.

Maamoul Cookies (Date Filled Cookies)

Maamoul Cookies (date filled cookies) | The Delicious Crescent

These delightful cookies are typical from the Middle East. They can be filled with a variety of different dried fruit like dates, figs, or nuts. Different countries have their own unique variation.

Cardamom Chickpea Cookies with Pistachios

Cardamom Chickpea Cookies with Pistachios | The Delicious Crescent

This original recipe offers a gluten-free option for cookies flavored with cardamom, rose water, and topped with pistachios.

Easy Peppermint Bark

Easy Peppermint Bark | The Typical Mom

This popular Christmas dessert is perfect for a last minute no-bake recipe that you can easily make with your family on Christmas Day. All you need is white chocolate and milk chocolate and peppermint candy canes. 

Honey Gingerbread Cookies

Honey Gingerbread Cookies | The Monday Box

Chewy cookies with a rich honey flavor warmed with cinnamon and ginger. These festive treats can be decorated using icing sugar, chocolate, sprinkles or using fun molds.

Rugelach

Rugelach | The Monday Box

A traditional Jewish dessert made of pastry rolled in a crescent shape and filled with ingredients like raisins, nuts, fruits, poppy seeds, chocolate and more.

Dutch Almond Bars

Dutch Almond Bars | Ann’s Entitled Life

Simple and buttery almond-flavored bars with a chewy texture, enjoyed in the Netherlands during the Christmas time.

Hungarian Christmas Cookies

Hungarian Christmas Cookies | Ann’s Entitled Life

A traditional Christmas recipe from Hungary made with assorted fruit and nut fillings (such as apricot, dates, cherry, almond, and walnuts) and then rolled in powdered sugar

Classic Buckeye

Classic Buckeye | Joyfully Thriving

One of the most classic holiday desserts from the Midwest in the United States made with a peanut butter center dipped in dark chocolate.

Butter Cookies with Hazelnuts

Butter Cookies with Hazelnuts | Happy Foods Tube

A simple but delicious family recipe for buttery cookies flavored with hazelnuts that can be made in various shapes and given as a gift during the Christmas season.

Linzer Cookies with Raspberry Jam

Linzer Cookies with Raspberry Jam | Happy Foods Tube

Delicate sandwich cookies filled with raspberry jam that originated from Linz, Austria. You can substitute raspberry jam with any other jam of your choice!

Polish Gingerbread Cookies

Polish Gingerbread Cookies | Liv For Cake

A Polish twist on the classic gingerbread cookies. Instead using molasses, as most traditional recipes for gingerbread cookies do, this version uses honey.

Portugese Custard Tarts

Portugese Custard Tarts | The Cookware Geek

Flaky tarts made with puff pastry and filled with a creamy custard. These tarts are popular during the holiday season in Portugal as well as some Latin American countries.

Fruit Pavlova Wreath

Fruit Pavlova Wreath | International Desserts Blog

A light dessert popular in Australia made with a meringue base, topped with whipped cream and an assortment of fresh fruits, resembling a festive wreath. Looks impressive but is actually very easy to make.

Swedish Ischokolad (Ice Chocolate)

Swedish Ischokolad (Ice Chocolate) | The Culinary Jumble

Ischoklad is one of Sweden’s typical Christmas desserts. It’s a chocolate praline made with coconut oil that melts in your mouth.

Mini Mince Pies

Mini Mince Pies | International Desserts Blog

Bite-sized pies with a flaky crust filled with a mixture of raisins, currants, apples, lemon zest, and orange peel, pecans, and spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. These are a staple of Christmas dinner in the United Kingdom. You won’t be able to eat just one!

Saffron and White Chocolate Christmas Tree Bread

Saffron and White Chocolate Christmas Tree Bread | The Culinary Jumble

An intricate pull-apart braided bread infused with saffron and white chocolate.

Cranberry Orange Bread

Cranberry Orange Bread | Melanie Cooks

A zesty and tangy bread with an intense cranberry and orange flavor. The unique flavors make for a refreshing treat that’s a bit different from other festive Christmas desserts.

German Stollen Bread

German Stollen | International Desserts Blog

A traditional German bread made with sliced almonds, rum-soaked raisins, currants, and dried cranberries. It’s a staple of Christmas markets in many different German cities. 

Traditional Cherry Balls

Traditional Cherry Balls | Bacon is Magic

Maraschino cherries covered in coconut flakes, graham cracker crumbs, and then rolled into balls. 

Eggnog Flan

Eggnog Flan | Living Sweet Moments

This creamy custard dessert infused with the flavors of classic eggnog is a take on a popular Christmas dessert in South America.

Sea Salt Cashew Brittle

Sea Salt Cashew Brittle | The Starving Chef

A crunchy treat featuring cashews coated in a sweet and salty brittle that makes for a perfect snack or gift for the holiday season.

Holiday Biscotti 

Holiday Biscotti | Taste and See

Twice-baked, oblong-shaped, crunchy Italian cookies made with dried cranberries, almonds, and lemon zest and layered with white chocolate and sprinkles.

Chocolat Torrone

Chocolate Torrone | An Italian in My Kitchen

Another delicious typical Italian dessert. This creamy chocolate nougat is filled with hazelnuts and Nutella.

Christmas Ice Cream Pudding

Christmas Ice Cream Pudding | The Crafty Mummy

A chilled dessert made with layers of vanilla ice cream, mixed dried fruit, and chocolate, offering a refreshing twist to the traditional Christmas pudding. It’s perfect for countries like New Zealand and Australia where Christmas takes place during the summer.

German Gebrannte Mandeln (Cinnamon Sugar Almonds)

German Gebrannte Mandeln (Cinnamon Sugar Almonds) | International Desserts Blog

Roasted almonds coated in a sweet cinnamon glaze that will immediately bring the holiday spirit of Christmas markets in Germany to your kitchen.

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