My Favorite Christmas Recipes

Like I mentioned in my Friday Favorites post last week, every Christmas I do a bunch of baking for my family. Today I thought I’d share some of the tasty things I make.

I typically don’t make everything every year. I pick a few or take requests for things that family member are craving, and then make them. I’ll go through all the recipes, check the kitchen, and then do one grocery shopping trip for all the ingredients that I’ll need. I find I’m more likely to bake if I know that I already have all the ingredients that I need. I start in late November or early December most years so that I can make one or two recipes per week and them put them in the freezer. Spreading out the baking over a few weeks makes it a lot less intimidating.

Chex Mix

This is usually the only salty and savory thing that I make. It’s kind of nice to have something that’s not sweet over the holidays – because sugar is absolutely everywhere. You can find the recipe here. I switch up the recipe a bit (I don’t use bagel chips and I use Crispix cereal instead of Chex because I’ve had a hard time finding Chex here in Canada).

Gingerbread Cookies

A classic Christmas recipe, I use this recipe from Martha Stewart. These cookies have a ton of spices and molasses in them, so they’re super flavorful. These are probably my dad’s favorite recipe that I made at Christmas. While the recipe says to use a large snowflake cookie cutter, I use a smaller gingerbread man cookie cutter and adjust the baking time accordingly. Because these cookies are darker, be sure to keep an eye on the first batch to make sure that you don’t burn them.

Sugar Cookies

Once again, I use another Martha Stewart recipe for these sugar cookies. You need to use cookie cutters for these ones too, so make sure you have some on hand before you start. These are really tasty, classic sugar cookies. These ones are perfect for decorating.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cereal Bars

I looked high and low on google to try to find this recipe, but I couldn’t find it. Then again it was published 10 years ago in a magazine, so it was a long shot that it would still be online to begin with. It’s hard to go wrong with anything that combines peanut butter and chocolate, so you can imagine how good these taste. I usually cut them in pretty small pieces though because they are quite sweet.

Rum Balls

My mom got this from a friend when I was a kid and I remember helping to make them growing up. While I don’t think she put much rum in them back then, the rum content has definitely increased as my brother and I have become adults. They’re quite messy to make, but they’re so worth it.

Shortbread Cookies

Probably my favorite Christmas time treat are shortbread cookies. Part of why I think I like them so much is that I only ever make them for the holidays. This is another recipe from Martha Stewart (you can find it here). I’ve tried a couple different recipes over the years, but this one is definitely my favorite. Others I’ve tried either taste too buttery or too sweet. This one also has the perfect consistency – not too crumbly but still melts in your mouth.

What’s one treat that you make at Christmas?