Holiday Bakes You Should Bake This December

Here we are, staring down the very end of 2023. Hopefully with our butter at room temperature and our ovens preheating ready for our holiday bakes. I love the days after Thanksgiving for all of its cozy baking and seasonal gifting becomes my personality. You can see that in my well crafted cookie tin. There is a lot of joy and peace in the kitchen these days, making holiday bake recipes which make my little Houston apartment smell like my parent’s home in California. I always start with a loaf of my mom’s Cranberry Orange Bread and come the end of the month I’ll be home in LA making Dea’s Potato Rolls with my dad. I’m committed to make the end of this year an exceptionally cozy and comforting time full of holiday baking.

Are you baking this weekend? If you’ve got a running list, here are a few goodies you might want to add to it.

Take a scroll through My 12 Best Christmas Cookie Recipes for some truly festive and delicious holiday treats of the sweet variety.

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Try these PB goodies which replace the Hershey Kiss with a Peanut Butter Cup. Just tell the kids it’s what Santa would want. Trust me, they will love you for it.

Gingerbread Ricciarelli

This almond flour (and naturally gluten-free!) holiday bake is perfectly spiced and gets more chewy and delicious as the days go by! They’re a perfect gifting cookie as they are durable enough for the trip to a loved one.

Eggnog Iced Oatmeal Cookies

Each one of these slice-n-bake oatmeal cookies, lightly kissed with eggnog glaze, looks like a different moon phase. They’re dreamy little holiday bakes that are flavorful but still light on the spice for those that think gingerbread flavors are a bit much. The texture is chewy and toothy and they age into a crisp cookie that’s equally delicious!

If you’re looking for a show-stopper of a holiday cake, this Gingerbread Swirl Bundt Cake is the cake for you! It’s based on my family’s traditional pound cake recipe, with a portion of the batter flavored with molasses and gingerbread spices. The baked cake is brushed with butter and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. As with all bundt cakes, this one is best kept at room temperature with a butterknife on the platter for slicing a portion every time you pass by the kitchen.

Spiced Mulled Wine Bars

I’m not much for warm spiced wine, but I can get all the way into the sweet mulled wine and fruit teamwork in this holiday bake. A buttery shortbread crust doubles as a crumble topping encasing wine plumped fruit. These bars taste festive and expensive. Like wearing velvet at a holiday party, but for dessert.

Christmas Morning Orange Rolls

High on the priority list is planning the treat that comes out of the oven on Christmas morning. I’m a sucker for these aptly named rolls with lots of citrus and a mega amount of cream cheese frosting. The trick is to place the cream cheese frosting in two shots. Once while the rolls are hot from the oven, and again when they’ve cooled to warm. Then dig in!

On the savory side of holiday bakes, it’s nice to keep something in the oven that ages well and is easy to heat up on the stove. Louisiana taught me to keep a pot of Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya at the ready this time of year.

Potato Leek Quiche with No-Roll Crust

For breakfast this month, this carb upon carb is perfect for a Sunday morning followed by Monday night dinner leftovers. It’s substantial and the press-in crust is free of any daunting feelings you might have reaching for the rolling pin.

Have a wonderful December, friends. I hope you find yourself in the kitchen with a few of these holiday bakes if that feels good to you!

xo, Joy

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