Old Fashioned Christmas Dessert Recipes - These Old Cookbooks (2024)

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I’ve collected our most popular Old Fashioned Christmas Dessert Recipes to share with your and your family this holiday season. From Christmas candies and cookies to vintage Jello salads, this collection has something for everyone.

Old Fashioned Christmas Dessert Recipes - These Old Cookbooks (2)

Table of Contents

Old Fashioned Christmas Dessert Recipes

What is it about Christmas-time that brings out the baker in all of us? Maybe it’s the wonderful aromas that arise from the kitchen that scream Christmas, or possibly you love to hand out homemade treats to everyone you know, but for me, it’s all about memories.

Memories of Grandma making her famous fudge, and memories of Mom teaching us all her favorite Christmas cookies. I’m addicted to these memories and recreating them with my family.

I’ve collected all my favorite Old Fashioned Christmas Dessert Recipes, and each and every one has a memory associated with it. I hope you find a recipe you love, and I challenge you to make your own memories.

Old Fashioned Christmas Candy Recipes

Christmas Candy recipes are a plenty in my house. Anything goes from Grandma’s caramel corn to my favorite copycat mall nuts. Make a batch and split between containers to share with everyone you know.

Grandma’s Fantasy Fudge

Cinnamon Glazed Pecans

Cream Cheese Mints

Triple Layer Chocolate Squares

Church Windows

Caramel Puffed Corn

Grandma’s Caramel Corn

Crispy Almond Bars

Pop Tart Balls

Old Fashioned Christmas Cookies

Christmas cookies come in all shapes, sizes, and flavors. The sky is the limit. I love putting together a variety platter of Christmas cookies just like my Mom did growing up (and still today). Plates of cookies can be wrapped up with a bow or try some of the adorable Christmas-themed air-tight containers. These make the perfect gifts for teachers, friends, landlords, beauticians, mail-carriers and more!

Can I freeze Christmas cookies?

Yes, freezing is a great way to prepare your Christmas cookies in advance. Prepare the Christmas cookies according to the recipe, and then let cool completely. Once cooled, store them in an air-tight container or zip-lock bag in the freezer for up to 1 month prior to Christmas.

Cinnamon Snaps

Triple Fudge Bars

Dainty Logs

Chocolate Crinkles

Iced Thumbprints

Molasses Chocolate Chip Bars

Chocolate Nut Logs

French Buttercreams

Granny’s Sugar Cookies

Pride of Iowa Cookies

Snickerdoodles

Old Fashioned Cherry Winks

Mexican Wedding Cake Cookies

Old Fashioned No Bake Cookies

No bake cookies refer to just that—a dessert that does not get baked in the oven. Most no bake cookies are cooked on the stovetop, and then set up at room temperature on the counter until hard.

How long do no bake cookies stay good?

The great thing about no bake cookies is that they tend to stay fresh longer than regular baked cookies. Most no bakes will stay fresh for up to two weeks in an air-tight container at room temperature. If you want the cookies to last even longer, store the in the refrigerator or freezer.

Peanut Butter Cornflake Cookies

White Chocolate Peanut Clusters

Ting A Lings

Salted Nut Squares

Chocolate Scotcheroos

Christmas Pudding Recipes

Puddings are a great, vintage option for holiday desserts. Old Fashioned Christmas puddings can range anywhere from the traditional British or Irish versions using dried fruits to the American versions that are more like a custard.

Persimmon Pudding

Toffee Date Pudding

Bread Pudding (Using Leftover Donuts)

Pumpkin Pudding Dessert (Slow Cooker)

Classic Chocolate Pudding

Traditional Vanilla Pudding

Crockpot Christmas Cookies and Candy

Using the slow cooker or Crock Pot is a great way to save valuable oven space for other dishes during the holidays. If you haven’t expanded your Crock Pot game to desserts, now’s your chance!

Slow Cooker Candied Pecans

Crock Pot Chili Nuts

Crock Pot Seven Layer Bars

Old Fashioned Jello Salad Recipes

Is there anything more old fashioned than a Jello salad? If you are from the Midwest, your grandma or mom most certainly had at least one recipe featuring jello, fruit/vegetables, marshmallows or Cool Whip!

What is a Jello Salad?

A Jello salad is a vintage dish containing flavored gelatin, also known as Jello. Gelatin comes in a variety of flavors which means the sky is the limit when it comes to Jello salads.

Is Jello salad a side or a dessert?

The great thing about Jello Salads is that it can be a side or a dessert. Some Jello salads contain fruits or vegetables which make it more of a side dish. Others contain dessert-like ingredients such as Cool Whip, marshmallow or Sweetened Condensed Milk, making them fall along the dessert spectrum.

Red Hot Fluff Salad

Pink Lady Salad

Cherry Fluff

Vintage Pretzel Salad

Classic Ambrosia

Orange Jello Salad

Old Fashioned Christmas Cakes and Quick Breads

Cookies and candy not your thing? Wrap up a beautiful loaf of quick bread or a whole coffee cake to make the perfect breakfast gift. I love wrapping a new, kitchen towel around the bread of cake for added beauty. Banana Bread is always a favorite…and bonus, if you have a coffee lover in your life, give them a loaf of banana bread AND a batch of this Banana Bread Biscotti!

Mom’s Almond Poppy Seed Bread

Pistachio Coffee Cake

Grandma’s Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Classic Pound Cake

45 Traditional Holiday Desserts

I hope you love this collection of old fashioned holiday desserts as much as I do. You may even find that this year brings a new holiday tradition for you and your family while brightening the day of someone else with one of these homemade Christmas gifts.

Old Fashioned Christmas Dessert Recipes - These Old Cookbooks (50)

Old Fashioned Christmas Dessert Recipes - These Old Cookbooks (2024)

FAQs

What dessert did the Old World eat? ›

Desserts in history, such as in the middle ages, revolved more around fruity sweet foods such as jellies and wafers mixed with exotic fruits, nuts, and butter. Indeed, the custard is known to be one of the first desserts ever eaten in the middle ages.

What desserts did they eat in the 1800s? ›

Ready, Set, Bake: Recipes from the 18th and 19th Century
  • Queen Cakes – (Rundell, 1822)
  • To make Ratafia-Cakes – (Kettilby, 1719)
  • Excellent Rolls – (Rundell, 1822)
  • The best Orange-Pudding that ever was tasted – (Kettilby, 1719)
  • Rasberry Tart – (Henderson, c.1800)
  • Rich Puff Paste – (Rundell, 1822)
Aug 24, 2016

What is the oldest dessert in history? ›

Ashure (Noah's Pudding) is thought to be the oldest dessert in the world, first made by Noah after his fabled landfall at Mt Ararat. It is a delightful mix of dried fruit, nuts, grains and beans (yes, beans!) made in Turkey and all over the Middle East. Give it a try - you'll be glad you did!

What traditional British dessert came from a cookbook in the late 19th century? ›

Treacle tart is a traditional British dessert. The earliest known recipe for the dessert is from English author Mary Jewry in her cookbooks from the late 19th century.

What is the oldest American dessert? ›

An irresistible baked pudding that might just be America's oldest dessert! This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy. Indian pudding is a delicious historical dessert first made by American colonists with cornmeal gifted by Native Americans, and molasses.

What did slaves eat for dessert? ›

In the antebellum South, dessert was not a regular part of a meal pattern that primarily consisted of boiled vegetables, corn bread and buttermilk. During the week, if there was a dessert, it would be a piece of corn bread with some molasses poured on top or some fruit.

What desserts did pioneers eat? ›

Vinegar Pie

Cream-filled or custard pies became a nice treat. Custard-like vinegar pie was popular during the Great Depression for the same reasons, but pioneer cooks also made this treat on the frontiers where orchards had not yet been planted and in a time when canned goods were not readily available.

What did they eat in the Old World? ›

Foods That Originated in the Old World: apples, bananas, beans (some varieties), beets, broccoli, carrots, cattle (beef), cauliflower, celery, cheese, cherries, chickens, chickpeas, cinnamon, coffee, cows, cucumbers, eggplant, garlic, ginger, grapes, honey (honey bees), lemons, lettuce, limes, mangos, oats, okra, ...

Did the old world have cake? ›

Medieval European bakers often made fruitcakes and gingerbread. These foods could last for many months. According to the food historians, the precursors of modern cakes (round ones with icing) were first baked in Europe sometime in the mid-17th century.

Did they have cake in the Old World? ›

Interestingly, the ancient Egyptians were the first culture to exhibit baking skills, and during Ancient Times the cakes were more bread-like in appearance and sweetened with honey. The Greeks also had an early form of cheesecake, while the Romans developed versions of fruitcakes with raisins, nuts and other fruits.

Did the Old World have ice cream? ›

The first European ice creams and water ices (sherbets) were likely made in Italy during the early 1600s (a century after a teenaged Catherine de Medici departed Florence to become queen of France).

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