12 easy holiday recipes for every baking occasion
From festive cookies to party-worthy desserts, bake it easy this winter.
The holidays are stressful. Your holiday baking shouldn’t be.
That was the inspiration behind this stunning collection of Bake It Easy: Holiday recipes. We have simple-yet-spectacular recipes for every holiday occasion — and baker. Looking for a beautifully decorated cookie that doesn’t require a piping bag? Try our Two-Tone Festive Sugar Cookies. Need to bring dessert to a holiday party that starts soon? Cranberry-Orange Olive Oil Cake is here to save you. What if you love pecan pie, but hate rolling pie crust? Make these Easy Pecan Pie Bars.
Whether you’re traveling to an unfamiliar kitchen with limited supplies or need reliable recipes streamlined to fit into a busy schedule, we’ve got what you need. Here’s what to bake this holiday season.
The Holiday Lineup
Fast Frosted Gingerbread Cookie Bars
Why it's easy: One-bowl, 10 ingredients or less, no mixer required
Why it’s special: If you love the spicy flavor of gingerbread cookies but dread the rolling and cutting, try these soft, chewy bars. Generously spiced with ginger, cinnamon, and allspice and crowned by a simple stir-together frosting, they're a streamlined take on a holiday classic. If you’re not confident in your cookie-decorating skills — or simply don’t have the time to perfect a bunch of individual cookies — these bars are for you; a shower of sprinkles is all the decorating they need.
Two-Tone Festive Sugar Cookies
Why it’s easy: 10 ingredients or less, easy decoration
Why it’s special: These fun, festive sugar cookies are easier to make than they look. That’s because they rely on a simple swapping technique: After rolling and stamping out a chocolate and vanilla dough, you just switch the cut-out dough from the center of each cookie for a striking two-tone effect. There’s no messy icing or fine-tuned technique required. And bonus: These sturdy cookies ship beautifully.
Simple Linzer Cookie Slices
Why it’s easy: 10 minutes prep, easy decoration
Why it’s special: Here’s what’s great about Linzer cookies: They’re fruity, nutty, and captivating with jewel-toned jam and a snowfall of confectioners’ sugar. Here’s what’s not-so-great about them: They take a lot of time and precision to assemble. So we solved that: We’ve kept the classic tender almond dough and stunning fruit jam and ditched the painstaking assembly for a simple, sliceable cookie log. This recipe makes it easy to prepare a huge batch of colorful cookies with little effort and no special equipment.
Easy Pecan Pie Bars
Why it’s easy: 10 ingredients or less, easy assembly, last-minute
Why it’s special: If you’re intimidated by pie (or just don’t have time to chill and roll out pie dough) this easier version of pecan pie is for you. A buttery, brown-sugar shortbread crust cradles a gooey honey-sweetened pecan filling (no corn syrup here!). These bars keep well for days, so they’re perfect for baking ahead. They’d also be just as at home on a holiday cookie plate as a Thanksgiving dessert table, so you can bake them all season long.
Looking for more festive cookie recipes? We've got 46 classic holiday and Christmas cookies to bake this year.
Cranberry-Orange Olive Oil Cake
Why it’s easy: Dump-and-stir, easy decoration, no mixer required
Why it’s special: Is this the cake that can do it all? Let’s run it down: The cake batter is mixed by hand in just 10 minutes, and because it’s made with olive oil, it’s reliably soft and moist every time. (You can’t mess it up!) And instead of stacking and frosting, the finished cake is decorated with a gorgeous cranberry-orange glaze that delivers punchy flavor and stunning color.
Chocolate Peppermint Pavlova
Why it’s easy: 10 ingredients or less, easy decoration
Why it’s special: It’s hard to find a show-stopping holiday dessert that doesn’t require a ton of ingredients, effort, or decorating skills, so we created one: this festive, decadent pavlova. Assemble it with plenty of whimsy and very little precision: Pavlovas are breezy, elegant desserts, not fussy ones. To serve, simply slice like a cake, revealing a gorgeous cross-section within. And while meringue can be a bit touchy, we think the method outlined here is nearly failproof — if this is your first time making meringue, you’ve got this!
Glazed Chocolate Gingerbread Cake
Why it’s easy: No mixer required, easy decoration, dump-and-stir
Why it’s special: This dairy-free single-layer cake showcases both chocolate and gingerbread at their finest in each moist, flavor-packed slice. Plus, it comes together by hand in just 15 minutes: Mix your dry ingredients in one bowl, wet ingredients in another, and stir them all together. A quick glaze adds an extra dose of gingerbread spice and contrasts the deeply chocolatey cake with a beautiful snow-white topping.
Lazy Morning Eggnog Coffee Cake
Why it’s easy: Pantry-friendly, smart shortcut
Why it’s special: The secret to this fine-crumbed coffee cake is its whipped cream base, which simplifies the baking process and also means you don’t need additional fat, like butter, or liquid ingredients, like buttermilk or milk. Just whip your heavy cream, then beat in sugar, eggs, and the dry ingredients, including nutmeg and rum to evoke a glass of eggnog. Perfect for slow holiday mornings, this breakfast coffee cake celebrates the season with minimal effort.
After the baking comes the gifting. We've handpicked our go-to presents for every baker on your list in our Holiday Gift Shop.
Fast Christmas Tree Pull-Apart Bread
Why it’s easy: 10 ingredients or less, no special equipment, made with a mix
Why it’s special: This melty, cheesy Christmas tree-shaped bread has a secret … it starts with our Pull-Apart Garlic Bread Mix Kit! The mix comes with a flavor-packed cheese and herb blend, so you don’t even need to chop garlic or reach for your spices. This easy recipe is handy when you have other holiday menu items to juggle, or just need a simple-but-stunning showstopper for a last-minute party.
Party Pretzel Pigs in a Blanket
Why it’s easy: 10 ingredients or less, no special equipment, made with a mix, under 1 hour
Why it’s special: Our Soft & Chewy Pretzel Mix Kit adds a fun twist to the beloved finger food and makes prep easier and faster. You only need hotdogs, vegetable oil, and water to bolster the boxed mix, and you’ll have nearly three dozen pigs in a blanket in under an hour. Accompanied by a garlic-honey mustard dipping sauce, these irresistible party snacks will be the star of your appetizer table.
Christmas Ham Focaccia
Why it’s easy: 10 ingredients or less, no special equipment, made with a mix
Why it’s special: Glazed Christmas ham meets airy focaccia in this holiday-inspired mash-up. Our Crisp & Airy Focaccia Mix Kit is perfect for festive add-ons: Chunks of ham stud the dough, and after baking, the surface is brushed with maple syrup for a touch of sweetness and shine. Ideal for cocktail party snacking or a holiday table bread basket.
Big Batch Quick Dinner Rolls
Why it’s easy: Ready in 90 minutes, feeds a crowd
Why it’s special: This fast, fit-for-a-crowd recipe isn’t your average plain dinner roll. To give these a holiday-worthy upgrade, the rolls are brushed with garlic and herb-flavored oil and baked on a bed of shredded Parmesan cheese, so a lacy frico footer hides beneath each fluffy roll. These rolls are ready in record time, and the recipe makes two dozen, perfect for even your largest gatherings.
Cover photo by Rick Holbrook; food styling by Kaitlin Wayne.
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