Of course, several of these recipes are for themed snacks, such as Rudolph treats and olive penguins, but just because something is out of season doesn’t mean it doesn’t still taste fantastic. People may just wonder why exactly you’re eating snowman Oreo balls in the middle of June, but that’s okay. Let them wonder! Everything on this list is perfect for your next holiday party, and several of them are theme-free, meaning you can make them for any number of get-togethers, parties, and events. However, you won’t need a special occasion to enjoy your favorite Christmas snack. All you’ll need is the desire and the necessary ingredients. Let’s take a look at some of the best options.
1. Peppermint White Chocolate Popcorn
Peppermint, popcorn, and plenty of chocolate – this four-ingredient treat takes only 30 minutes to make. It’s sweet, chocolatey, and super minty. There’s also a delightful crunch and just a bit of salt, making it the perfect sweet and salty snack.
2. Chocolate Covered Peppermint Pretzels
If you love peppermint but prefer pretzels to popcorn, try this recipe instead. These pretzels are just as easy to make and just as sweet, salty, and minty. Personally, I prefer them to the popcorn. (Although to be fair, I love them both.)
3. Candy Cane Cream Cheese Spread
This incredible cream cheese spread is much less minty. There are no actual peppermints or candy canes in it, but if you shape it correctly, it does look like a giant candy cane. It’s also smooth, creamy, and unbelievably herby. Serve it with crackers, toast, pretzels, chips, or veggies. Either way, it’s sure to be a hit.
4. Peppermint Bark
Homemade peppermint bark takes some time to harden but only 15 minutes to prepare. All you’ll need to make it is chopped dark chocolate, chopped white chocolate, peppermint extract, and a lot of broken candy cane pieces. This crunchy, pepperminty treat is pretty much a Christmas staple around our house.
5. Peppermint Bark Dip
This delectable dip tastes almost just like the bark, but it’s in dip form. Serve it with sweet snacks for a double dose of decadence or something salty for a bit of contrast.
6. Olive Penguins
If you’re a fan of garlic-y cream cheese, salty olives, and zesty horseradish, these adorable penguins are the snack for you. They look just like tiny penguins with oversized feet, and they have a phenomenal, robust flavor.
7. Mini Cheese Ball Bites
Cheese balls are always popular on any occasion, but they aren’t the most convenient snack, particularly if you’re holding up a long line of hungry people trying to slice off a piece. Mini-cheese ball bites are the ideal solution. They’re tiny, single-serving cheese balls formed around a crunchy, salty pretzel. Top them with nuts, scallions, more pretzels, or anything else you like for a dozen different flavors that everyone can enjoy.
8. Pizza Rolls
Air fryer pizza rolls are less greasy and crispier than pizza rolls cooked in the microwave or oven. The insides have the same cheesy filling you’re used to enjoying, and they’re always a massive hit.
9. Rudolph Treats
If you like making snacks that are as cute as they are delicious, you’ll definitely want to check out these Rudolph treats. With some pretzel twists, Rolos, candy eyes, and mini-M&Ms, you can make snacks that look like enchanting Rudolphs with giant antlers. Plus, they’re super tasty – sweet, chocolatey, salty, and crunchy.
10. Hot Chocolate
You could probably make it through the winter holidays without having hot chocolate, but why would you want to, especially when you make it with Ghirardelli Premium Hot Cocoa and a Ghirardelli Square? It’s rich and smooth, and you can add marshmallows, cinnamon, or even a dash of sea salt if you like.
11. Snowman Oreo Balls
Oreo balls are always a treat. They’re dense, sweet, and have the perfect balance of cream cheese, chocolate, and Oreo cream. These are even better because they’re adorable. Each one is coated in melted vanilla almond bark and decorated to look like Frosty after a warm day in the sun. The mini-Oreo on top makes a perfectly jaunty hat that sets off the whole look.
12. Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate chip cookies may not be a Christmas-specific dessert, but they’re still a favorite among most people, and these Ghirardelli chocolate chip cookies are the best. They’re so soft; they nearly fall apart in your hands, and they’ll almost literally melt in your mouth. Plus, you can make three dozen in less than 30 minutes.
13. Snowflake Cookies
All you’ll need to make these gorgeous snowflake cookies are cookie cutters, about 40 minutes, and fewer than 10 ingredients. They’re soft, sugary, and beautiful, and you won’t need much artistic talent to decorate them. If you can draw lines and dots, you can make these edible works of art.
14. Peanut Butter Balls
These appetizing balls of yumminess have thick, creamy peanut butter centers and rich, shiny chocolate coatings. You can top them in shredded coconut, crushed pretzels, sea salt, or anything that adds the texture and extra flavor you want.
15. Peanut Butter Penguins
These silly peanut butter penguins are more dorky than cute, but that doesn’t matter. Everyone loves them anyway. Maybe it’s the crunchy Nutter Butter cookie underneath the creamy dark chocolate and white candy coating, or perhaps it’s their goofy googly eyes. Whatever the case, people love them, and you can make dozens of them in an hour or less. That’s hard to beat.
16. Donuts
These miniature donuts – or donut holes, if you prefer – are light, airy, and melt-in-your-mouth fluffy. They’re deep-fried to perfection and coated in cinnamon and sugar, and you won’t find many people who don’t enjoy them.
17. Christmas Rice Krispie Treat Bites
Rice Krispie treats are always an easy-to-make crowd-pleaser, but when you shape them into miniature balls and dye some of them green and red, they’re ideal for Christmas. You can still make them in 25 minutes, and they’re still the buttery, gooey, hard-to-pull-apart sweet treats you know and love. They’re just a bit more colorful.
18. Veggie Christmas Wreath
I love appetizers that look like I put in a ton of work when in reality, I didn’t even have to cook anything to make them. That’s how I feel about the veggie Christmas wreath. I can whip up the dipping sauce in no time – or buy ranch dressing if I’m feeling lazy – and wash, cut, and arrange the veggies in 15 minutes or less. You can play with the design if you like, but I’ve found modeling my wreath off the recipe gives me the prettiest results.
19. Candy Cane Dip
Dips are a specialty of mine. I’m always busy and frequently forgetful, so sometimes, I don’t remember I’m supposed to bring something until the night – or a couple of hours – before I’m supposed to bring it. I can make this three-ingredient dip in 5 minutes by mixing melted marshmallow creme, cream cheese, and broken candy canes. It’s sweet and full of peppermint flavor. I plate it with graham crackers, cookies, pretzels, or fruit, and I’m ready to go.
20. Caramel Corn
I usually start making this light, crunchy caramel corn sometime in October and don’t stop until after New Year’s. It’s just so incredible. I can’t get enough of this slightly sticky but super scrumptious treat. Plus, it takes so little time to make, making it ideal for snacking on during a Netflix binge.
21. Oreo Cookie Ornaments
If you’re looking for a fun Christmas activity you can do with the kiddos, these Oreo ornaments certainly qualify. The melted candy coating (or almond bark) doesn’t get too hot, but if you’re concerned, you can dip the Oreos into it for your children, then let them decorate them. The recipe calls for miniature peanut butter cups and M&Ms. You and your children can use those to decorate, but don’t limit yourself. Get some edible glitter, edible markers, other candies, etc., and go wild!
22. Gumdrop Cookies
Crunchy oatmeal cookies are always perfect for the holidays, but these specific oatmeal cookies contain sweet, chewy gumdrops. The gumdrops add a slightly tart flavor to the cookies and several splashes of vibrant color.
23. Peppermint Patties
York Peppermint Patties have nothing on these plump, refreshing homemade versions. You can make 40 of them in only 20 minutes with nothing but butter, corn syrup, peppermint extract, powdered sugar, and dark dipping chocolate. Each one is packed with cool, minty flavor and covered in velvety smooth dark chocolate. You can add some chocolate sprinkles on top if you like, but they’re pretty amazing as-is.
24. Grinch Fruit Kabobs
I made these cutesy Grinch kabobs for Christmas a few years ago for the kiddie table at my family’s Christmas dinner, and they were a huge hit. (Mostly with nostalgic, fruit-loving adults, though.) I used banana slices for the hats’ bases, but even though I dipped them in lemon juice beforehand, they started turning brown before the evening was over. So, unless you’re just dead-set on including some banana slices, I highly recommend using sliced marshmallows instead. They’ll stay nice and white no matter how long your party lasts.
25. Saltine Cracker Toffee
What goes better with toffee and chocolate than saltine crackers?! I know, a lot of things, right? That was kind of what I thought, as well. Then I tried these saltine cracker toffee squares and changed my tune. You won’t even taste the crackers, but their salt combines with the sweetness of the chocolate and toffee for an unbeatable taste, and they add a very satisfying snap-like crunch.
26. Santa Deviled Eggs
Over the years, I’ve seen deviled eggs decorated to look like a lot of things. I’ve seen eyeballs, skulls, spiders, and even baby chicks for Easter. I never thought I’d see Santa deviled eggs until I ran across this recipe. Not only do the Santa decorations transform the eggs’ appearance, but it also changes their taste – in a good way! Thanks to the addition of capers (eyes), red peppers (mouths), cream cheese (facial hair), and ham (noses), these are some of the tastiest deviled eggs you’ll ever eat!
27. Christmas Gumdrop Nougat
Nougat is always fun. It’s so soft and chewy, and you can add practically anything to it. For this nougat, you’ll add squishy, colorful gumdrops. They add vibrancy, texture, and a bit of tartly sweet flavor that’s hard not to love. Plus, you can make a whole batch in 35 minutes. Each piece is a bit high in calories and carbs, though, so try to make them a rare treat.
28. Christmas Reindeer Crack
For the longest time, I was skeptical about people calling different foods “crack.” But after finding myself unable to stop eating the last four or five “crack” foods I tried, I just gave in. Some foods really are as addictive and hard to put down as any drug. This sweet, salty, and crunchy Chex Mix is one of them. It has Chex, pretzels, peanuts, and M&Ms, all covered in melted white chocolate, and is one of the best things I’ve ever tasted. As a result, I vary the M&M colors that I use and change the name from reindeer crack to monster mash crack to whatever I need to call it to serve it for every possible holiday.
29. Christmas Tree Cookies
If you’re not a big fan of cooking, you’ll love these no-bake Christmas tree cookies. Basically, you’ll just melt and mix ingredients, shape them into trees, and let them chill before dipping them in melted white chocolate. Then, all that’s left is the decorating! It doesn’t get much simpler than that. Oh, and as a bonus, they taste fabulous.
30. Puppy Chow
Do you like to eat dry Kellogg’s Krave cereal? If so, you’ll love puppy chow because it’s like Krave on steroids. You’ll start with a square, crispy rice cereal, like Chex. Then you’ll coat each square in a warm, rich, melted chocolate and peanut butter mixture. As if that weren’t enough to make you ready to overindulge, once the squares are dry, you’ll also drop them in a bag of powdered sugar and cover each one with a generous white and sweet coating. One bite, and you’ll be in heaven. (Careful, though. This stuff is a sugar high waiting to happen!) Click on a star to rate it!
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