How Sweet It Is | 5 Holiday Dessert Recipes

Five easy desserts to see you through the holidays, from Thanksgiving to the new year.

By Amy Traverso

Oct 25 2022

Chocolate-Dipped Shortbread Stars

Photo Credit : Kristin Tieg | Food Styling by Liz Neily

These recipes are for those of us whose holiday ambitions live at the intersection of big dreams and little time. While all of these desserts are pretty and delicious, there are no project bakes here. Everything can be put together quickly and with ingredients you can easily find at your local supermarket (the one exception: unsalted roasted pistachios for the Bundt cake, which you can find at specialty markets or order online).

Chocolate-Dipped Shortbread Stars
*Photo Credit : Kristin Tieg | Food Styling by Liz Neily*

The lineup starts with Lemon-Pistachio Bundt Cake with Lemon Glaze, packed with flavor and pretty enough to hold center stage on a dessert buffet. Chocolate-Peppermint Cloud Cake—so named because both the chocolate chiffon layer and the peppermint whipped cream are so light and fluffy—will easily feed a crowd. Gingersnap Brownies are inspired by our favorite molasses- clove cookies, with a layer of store-bought gingersnaps for a crunchy crust. Chocolate-Dipped Shortbread Stars get their sparkle and extra flavor from an optional sprinkling of flaky sea salt; Pumpkin Pie Crumble is a cozy dessert with all the flavor of the beloved Thanksgiving pie but without the trouble of making a crust. Everything here is well within your reach—and well worth a try!

Holiday Dessert Recipes

Chocolate-Peppermint Cloud Cake

Lemon-Pistachio Bundt Cake with Lemon Glaze

Chocolate-Dipped Shortbread Stars

Gingersnap Brownies

Pumpkin Pie Crumble

Amy Traverso

Amy Traverso is the senior food editor at Yankee magazine and co-host of the public television series Weekends with Yankee, a coproduction with WGBH. Previously, she was food editor at Boston magazine and an associate food editor at Sunset magazine. Her work has also been published in The Boston Globe, Saveur, and Travel & Leisure, and she has appeared on Hallmark Home & Family, The Martha Stewart Show, Throwdown with Bobby Flay, and Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. Amy is the author of The Apple Lover’s Cookbook, which was a finalist for the Julia Child Award for best first-time author and won an IACP Cookbook Award in the “American” category.

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