9 quick Christmas desserts and treats
Holiday baking is wonderful when you have a free weekend. For every other December day, these treats take 20 minutes or less and still feel festive.
Updated October 2026 · ranked by popularity
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1. Puppy chow
Rice cereal coated in melted chocolate and peanut butter, then shaken in powdered sugar. The crunchy, snowy snack mix is ready in 10 minutes.
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2. Pecan pie bites
Store-bought mini phyllo shells filled with a buttery brown sugar and pecan filling and baked until set. All the flavor of pecan pie in one bite.
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3. Chocolate fondue with fruit
A silky dark chocolate and cream fondue made in one small saucepan, served warm with strawberries, banana and grapes for dunking. Ready in 13 minutes.
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4. Grinch fruit skewers
Green grapes, banana slices, upside-down strawberries and a mini marshmallow on a stick, stacked to look like a little green face in a Santa hat.
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5. Rum balls
No-bake holiday rum balls made from crushed vanilla wafers, pecans, cocoa and dark rum, rolled in powdered sugar. Ready to eat as soon as they're rolled.
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6. Santa hat strawberries
Strawberries piped with a fluffy vanilla cream cheese filling and topped with their own tips to look like little Santa hats. A no-bake holiday bite.
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7. Chocolate-dipped pretzel rods
Crunchy salted pretzel rods dipped in smooth melted chocolate and rolled in colorful sprinkles. Salty-sweet party treats set in the freezer in 10 minutes.
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8. Gingerbread mug cake
A soft, sticky gingerbread cake made in a mug in the microwave with molasses, ginger and cinnamon. Holiday baking for one, ready in about five minutes.
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9. Sticky toffee mug pudding
A soft, dark sticky toffee date pudding cooked in a mug in the microwave and drowned in a quick butterscotch sauce. Dessert for one, in under ten minutes.
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Several of these make good edible gifts: pack them in tins or jars lined with parchment.