Old Fashioned Christmas Dessert Recipes That Grandma Loved

By Don Bell / Recipe Archivist and Compiler

Grandma's old fashioned Christmas dessert recipes will let your family experience a traditional Christmas filled to the brim with delicious homemade treats. Surprise your loved ones this Holiday Season with Christmas cakes, cookies, puddings, pies, and melt-in-your mouth candies, all made in your own kitchen using these marvelous recipes.

Get Grandma's Old Fashioned Christmas Dessert Recipes

Children Enjoying Christmas Baking with Their GrandmaHave Fun While Christmas Baking
(Source: ©luckybusiness/Depositphotos.com)

Mom was always so proud of her holiday baking, and you can be too with these old fashioned Christmas fruitcake recipes that are bursting with fruit and perfectly moist.

If you prefer a more delicate holiday cake, these light Christmas fruitcake recipes offer a beautiful white version of the traditional family favorite.

Surprise your guests with a beautiful frosted snowflake cake recipe that makes a stunning and delicious centerpiece for any holiday table.

Experience the tradition of a steamed holiday dessert with these traditional Christmas pudding recipes that have been passed down through generations.

This English plum pudding recipe creates the classic steamed pudding that is absolutely delicious when served with a warm brandy sauce.

Fill your home with the spicy aroma of these traditional mince pie and tart recipes featuring homemade mincemeat and festive pastry stars.

With these homemade Christmas candy recipes, you can make a tray of traditional candies to share sweet holiday joy with loved ones.

Learn how to make your own peppermint treats with this homemade candy cane recipe for some old fashioned family fun.

These buttery shortbread cookie recipes are just like the ones Mom used to make for her Christmas baking every year.

Enjoy the crumbly texture of traditional Scottish baking with Grandma's shortbread rounds recipes for a truly rich holiday treat.

Nothing beats the taste of old fashioned Christmas fudge recipes filled with nuts and made right in your own farmhouse kitchen.

Your cookie tin will be the talk of the neighborhood when you use Grandma's favorite Christmas cookie recipes for your holiday baking.

These decorated sugar cookie recipes are easy to make and offer a wonderful way for children to help out in the kitchen.

For a festive no-bake option, these coconut snowball recipes create delicious little treats that look just like winter snowballs.

Serve your guests a refreshing beverage with these non-alcoholic Christmas punch recipes that are perfect for any holiday gathering.

Use edible Christmas gift recipes to share the love this season by giving treats that family and friends will truly appreciate and remember.

Start your holiday celebration off right with these vintage Christmas party appetizer recipes that are both delicious and easy to prepare.

Celebrate the season with a traditional Buche de Noel using these old fashioned yule log cake recipes iced with rich chocolate.

Mark the end of the holiday season by baking traditional twelfth night cake recipes for your family Epiphany celebration.

Create lasting family memories while learning how to make a gingerbread house with these classic decorating ideas.

These old fashioned Christmas squares recipes include all the favorites, from cranberry oat squares to crumbly date bars.

When you are short on time, these no bake Christmas treat recipes offer nostalgic flavors without needing to turn on the oven.

International Christmas Desserts

Bring a taste of Sweden to your home with these Scandinavian dessert recipes for traditional and fragrant Lucia buns.

Celebrate the New Year with a traditional Dutch oliebollen recipe for delicious deep-fried holiday treats that everyone loves.

Experience the authentic flavors of Europe with these German Christmas cake recipes for stollen and traditional fruitcakes.

These traditional springerle recipes create beautiful, embossed German cookies that are a true holiday classic.

Vintage DIY Christmas Decorations

Add a wonderful forest scent to your home with this pine needle pillow craft for a unique and old fashioned Christmas touch.

Create a unique holiday atmosphere with these vintage Christmas table decoration ideas for your festive centerpieces.

Yummy! So many festive ideas. It's the go-to place for good old-fashioned food memories and desserts. —Maggie, U.S.A.

Remembering Christmas Past

Chocolate Nut Christmas SquaresOld Time Chocolate Christmas Squares
(Source: ©eva_daren/Depositphotos.com)

I recall Christmas holidays when family and friends dropped by unannounced. Our farm kitchen was often filled with people talking, laughing, playing board games, and all the while enjoying Mom's homemade treats.

Mom always prepared delicious baked goods for the Holiday Season using Grandma's old fashioned Christmas dessert recipes. Afterwards, she carefully stored her Christmas baking in the pantry. I so remember the sweet and spicy aroma of that little room.

There were tins filled with sugar cookies, holiday squares, fancy cupcakes, mincemeat tarts, and plum puddings, all carefully placed on high shelves beyond my reach — until I sneaked in with the kitchen stool.

Secure on the top shelf and wrapped in several layers of brown paper was her Christmas fruitcake faithfully made from Grandma's recipe. Mom was so proud of her Christmas cake, and I knew not to touch it. It was bursting with fruit, perfectly moist, and absolutely delicious.

Throughout the Christmas holidays, whenever company had dropped in, everyone was treated to Mom's homemade goodies. The sideboard in the dining room was loaded with Christmas baking: delicious mincemeat tarts, crumbly date squares, colorful sugar cookies, and fruitcake — all manners of tasty tidbits.

However, guests could never leave without first sampling a piece of Mom's Christmas cake. I have many happy memories associated with Mom's Christmas baking.

Now, you can have Grandma's old fashioned Christmas dessert recipes to make your own pies, cakes, cookies, and candies — all the trimmings of a traditional family Christmas to create your own happy memories!

These homemade goodies will make edible Christmas gifts too. Imagine giving that special someone a tin of traditional shortbread, an assortment of sugar cookies, or a box of scrumptious Christmas fudge. Everyone will love it and love you for it.

For both kids and grownups, those homemade goodies were impossible to resist. We stuffed ourselves! Now, you can have the same recipes to make the same delicious treats. Your Christmas get-togethers will be truly memorable!

Share the Christmas Blessing


By remembering our kinship with all men;
By well-wishing, friendly speaking, and kindly doing;
By cheering the downcast, and adding sunshine to daylight;
By welcoming strangers (poor shepherds or wise men);
By keeping the music of the Angels' Song in this home;
God help us every one to share the Blessing of Jesus,
In whose Name we keep Christmas. —Henry Van Dyke

Bless your family and friends with an old fashioned Christmas this year, and as Tiny Tim said in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, "God bless us every one!"

Christmastide Scene of a Canadian VillageCanadian Christmastide in the Early 1800s

An Early Canadian Christmas Story relates an Anglo-Canadian's fond memories of a Canadian Christmas in the early 1800s.

Christmas Stories and Articles are featured on Dr. Ralph Wilson's Joyful Heart Ministries website. (This link opens onto a new page while leaving this page available for your convenience.)

Stereoscopic Photo of Children Singing CarolsYoung Children Singing Christmas Carols, c. 1890
(Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C., LC-USZ62-112653)
Illustration of a Girl Looking Into an Antique Stereoscope

The old-time stereograph picture creates a 3D effect. View it by crossing your eyes slightly until the two images merge into one central 3D picture. It's a fun visual trick to try.

Christmas Morning Memories

Christmas Morning in the Fleming HomeThe Excitement of a 1960 Christmas Morning
(Source: ©Don Bell)

Do you remember how exciting Christmas mornings were when you were young? Getting that special present you dreamed about is something you never forget. My wife Vicki was just a little girl when the above photo was taken, and she wasn't letting go of her new bike for anything.

Did you ever hunt for your presents before Christmas? I often hunted for them without success. But, I did find a present by chance one Christmas. My Uncle Max arrived on Christmas Eve to spend the holidays with us. He hid my present behind the chesterfield in the living room, planning to wrap it early on Christmas morning before I woke up. However, things didn't go as planned.

I was playing with my Dinky Toys on Christmas Eve (Do you recall those little metal cars?) while the grownups talked, and one of my toy cars rolled behind the chesterfield. While retrieving it, I found my present. It was a band-new baseball bat, and I tripped over it, landing on my behind. I can still hear Uncle Max laughing and slapping his knees.

Just thinking about the old fashioned Christmas dessert recipes always brings back fond memories.

As a senior in my family, this time of the year brings a tear to my eyes when I think back of the wonderful times in my past. You help keep those memories alive. —Eric, U.S.A.

An Old Gaelic Rune

Traditional Christmas Wreath

I saw a stranger yestreen;
I put the food in the eating place,
Drink in the drinking place,
Music in the listening place;
And, in the sacred name of the Triune,
He blessed myself and my house,
My cattle and my dear ones,
And the lark said in her song:

Often, often, often, Goes the Christ in the stranger's guise;
Often, often, often, Goes the Christ in the stranger's guise. —Anon

Christmas is a wonderful time for gathering with family and friends to celebrate the Holidays.

And what better way to celebrate than with traditional treats made using the old fashioned Christmas dessert recipes from Grandma's collection.

Grandma McIlmoyles Little Dessert Book

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Don Bell

Don Bell, Founder & Archivist, Old Fashioned Dessert Recipes. Don has spent over two decades preserving heritage dessert recipes from handwritten family notebooks, recipe scrapbooks, and vintage cookbooks. His collection spans hundreds of authentic, old fashioned recipes presented exactly as originally written.


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