Let’s Get Cooking — Holiday Dessert Edition

Ah, holidays and sweets—what a delightful combination! Whether it is the warm spices of gingerbread, the comforting sweetness of hot chocolate, or all the candies adorning festive tables, the holiday season provides a warm welcome for sweets. Getting the family together to make holiday desserts can be a fun and delicious way to add excitement to your celebration, and it could become a tradition you look forward to each year. Here are a few unique recipes to try this year.

Not Your Average Sugar Cookies

Sugar cookies are the quintessential Christmas treat! The basic recipe is simple, and there are countless ways to make your cookies festive. You only need seven ingredients for the basic cookie dough, and from there, you can add icing, sugar crystals, colorful sprinkles, candy toppings—just about anything you can dream up. Icing is fun and easy if you use piping bags with Wilton tips 2, 3, and 4, and swirled icing is a fun option to punch up the color and texture. We recommend two complementary colors (like red and white) to pipe on your designs for pristine presentation. As for shapes, you can try using cutters like this fun set with Santa, reindeer, and angels, or make your own unique patterns using tracing paper or freehand.

Reindeer Food

Some call it Christmas Puppy Chow, and others call it Reindeer Food, but either way, this amped-up Chex mix is crazy addictive! And you won’t believe how easy this recipe is. It’s only seven ingredients, but the combination is holiday magic for humans (despite the names, this is for us, not furry friends). With chocolate candies and peanut butter cups throughout, this delicious treat also makes great gifts. Divide it up into pretty holiday bags, boxes, tins, or decorative containers, and spread the joy to your friends and neighbors.

Go Green

Try going green with these brightly colored Grinch Cookies, guaranteed to steal hearts just as the Dr. Seuss creation does each year. These treats may become your new favorite, just as the Grinch is a beloved Christmas tradition. They are super easy to make using a white cake mix, green food coloring, and red heart-shaped sprinkles. If you want them all to be uniform and right-sized, use a medium cookie scoop (about 1.5 Tbsp), and if you want to kick it up a notch, use cinnamon hearts to add some snappy flavor.

Ginger Spice

Covered with cream cheese icing and packed with just the right amount of spiciness, Gingerbread Cookie Bars are deliciously soft and chewy. Gingerbread dough is more challenging to work with than other cookie dough, so making these bars instead removes all the guesswork. You just spread them in your favorite baking pan, make the icing as they cool, then spread the icing and have fun decorating with colorful sprinkles and pretty shapes (maybe gingerbread men?). 

Dreams Come True at The Colony

Make your dreams come true in a new home at The Colony, where you’ll have the perfect kitchen space filled with modern technology to help you create holiday magic. Contact us today to find your dream home.