207 holiday dessert recipes

These rich chocolate-toffee bars from Mary Lueke of Menasha were our top pick in the bar category.

Try these fruit cake bars instead of fruit bread, they are very handy and delicious, also they are great gifts at Thanksgiving or Christmas!

Cherry and almond Christmas cake: maraschino cherries, apricots, ginger, and almonds macerated in amaretto and brandy, baked into a lighter apple-puree batter, then soaked in more amaretto. A boozy, fruit-packed festive cake that keeps for a month.

Spooky chocolate cookies with pretzel stick legs coated in melted chocolate and sprinkles with candy eyes. These Halloween tarantula treats are fun to make with kids.

Citrus lovers will like this refreshing crispy cookie from Jocelyn Moritz of Waukesha.

Buttery spiced fig thumbprint cookies, tender brown-sugar dough rolled in a crunchy flax-sugar coating and filled with jammy fig preserves. Warm cinnamon and nutmeg make them a standout on the holiday cookie tray.

Quebec apple dumplings wrap whole apples in cheddar pastry, each cored and stuffed with rum-spiked mincemeat. Brushed with a brown sugar and lemon cream glaze, baked golden, and served warm with rum cream.

This co-winner in the filled-cookie category from Dorothy O'Neill of Whitefish Bay makes a delicate, crispy cookie. Dipping in chocolate and nuts adds flavor and texture.

Virginia Lane of Cudahy secured this recipe, with its nice complexity of flavors, in the late '50s or '60s when she lived in Iran.

No-bake cheesecake sets on a graham cracker crust, then gets decorated with star-shaped cutouts filled with warm strawberry jam and a border of fresh blueberries for easy July 4th entertaining.

This pie comes out so creamy, smooth and rich, just a slice, it's enough for you to feel the delicious flavor of this dessert!

Green-and-white peppermint pinwheel cookies, sliced from a swirled frozen log. A classic Christmas icebox cookie with spiraled layers of vanilla and mint dough.

Serve these cute and delicious Irish flag sugar cookies at your St. Patrick's Day party, nobody wil resist these lovely cookies.

Lighter cranberry apple cookies made with egg whites and skim milk, loaded with fresh fruit, cinnamon, and orange zest. A guilt-free holiday cookie that yields 2 dozen.

Truffle and fudge are together, it is so rich, creamy and smooth, and full of chocolate flavor, these truffle fudge makes everyone being addicted.

Mexican wedding cakes are always a holiday favorite but this recipe takes it up a notch or two, writes Mary Wilhelm of Sparta.