These were the memorable ones from the year I went nuts and made like 100 different desserts for two separate friends for their Christmas parties.

Key lime Mousse Cups: https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/key-lime-mousse-cups/ (Bake the phyllo cups so they're crispy)

Chocolate Candy Cane Peppermint Whoopie Pies (Technically a cookie, but....)

Meringue Fruit Baskets:
https://www.valyastasteofhome.com/meringue-fruit-baskets/

Caramelized Banana Pudding: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/caramelized-banana-pudding/ (Double the amount of custard)

Apple Cardmom Cake with Caramel Pecan Butter Frosting: https://www.aheadofthyme.com/apple-cardamom-cake-with-caramel-pecans-and-butter-frosting/

Under consideration for this year:

Maple Pralines: https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/maple-pralines/

Basque Burnt Cheesecake:
https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/basque-burnt-cheesecake

Cranberry Pâte de Fruit: https://www.countryliving.com/food-drinks/a34374131/cranberry-pate-de-fruit-recipe/

Peppermint icebox pie:
https://www.countryliving.com/food-drinks/recipes/a40488/peppermint-icebox-pie-recipe/

Christmas Cake:
https://preppykitchen.com/christmas-cake/

Sticky toffee pudding:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/marys_sticky_toffee_41970

Our Christmas family tradition was steak for dinner and cheesecake for dessert.

Was it on DCUM recently that a gingerbread trifle was discussed? I’m not sure, but now I’m obsessed with the thought of it. Gingerbread, whipped cream and maybe some cherries?

Anonymous wrote:To bring to a Xmas celebration/get together? Any suggestions for specific recipes?

Peppermint bark is pretty easy and most people like it

Rum cake

Sugar plums (although the PP offended by the oreo roll things won't like this either, lol).

https://gfreefoodie.com/sugar-plums/

Figgy pudding.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/warm-sticky-figgy-pudding-recipe-1918585

Gingerbread.

https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/a41846776/gingerbread-cake-recipe/

Brownies with vanilla buttercream and chopped up candy canes sprinkled over is the bomb. The Ghirardelli mix brownies are great for it.

I make Christmas pudding every year and adore it but it’s an acquired taste so wouldn’t recommend it.

A nice way to do trifle is individual trifles in plastic glasses (plastic champagne flutes are fancier). It avoids the problem where the trifle starts looking disgusting after a few scoops are taken out. My favorite trifle is: chocolate or vanilla cake; homemade vanilla pastry cream; mixed berries with strawberry preserves; sweetened whipped cream. By the time you later it all in, it’s not a big deal if you use box mix cake as the base. But don’t use boxed pudding — the pastry cream taste should carry the day here. For an adult crowd, you can do a rum syrup to pour over the cake. If you make in advance be sure to stabilize the whipped cream by adding a little dissolved gelatin (which is not kosher or vegetarian, so may not work for all guests).

This is my favorite easy buche de Noel—one of my kids found it when they needed to make a fancy dessert for a party and it was really delicious:

https://www.bhg.com/recipe/chocolate-cakes/mocha-bche-de-noel/

Chocolate covered pretzels
Rum cake
Cranberry cake (https://barefeetinthekitchen.com/cranberry-christmas-cake/)
Reindeer chow (https://www.dinneratthezoo.com/reindeer-chow/)
Cupcakes (Christmas tree https://www.countryliving.com/food-drinks/a45639949/christmas-tree-cupcakes-recipe/, Snowman https://www.countryliving.com/food-drinks/a45630700/snowman-cupcakes-recipe/ )

Chocolate mousse, red wine mousse

How about a chocolate hazelnut dessert (nutella)

- Apple galettes
- Brownies with peanut butter cup or caramel or peppermint bark stirred in before baking
- Persimmon (or other winter fruit) pavlova

Coconut cake
Trifle
Peppermint cheesecake with chocolate ganache
Red velvet cupcakes/cake

Christmas cake, mince pies, boxed chocolates.

This has gone over well in our house…

https://thenovicechefblog.com/pumpkin-cake-with-cinnamon-cream-cheese-frosting/

Mmmm, I love the Oreo balls. We called them white trash truffles growing up 😆

In a similar vein, I like peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate (we called them buckeyes, there a bajillion variations).

Or super super easy is peppermint bark or fudge.