40+ Delightful Winter Desserts – The Best Ideas Ever In 2021

When the outside temperature goes down in the winter, staying at home and enjoying some winter desserts with beloved family members after main meals will warm you up a lot.

Especially when you go back home from the office in a down mood during busy weekdays, you will need a little sweet food to boost you up. Then, some yummy cookies or puddings served as desserts will be the best.

But if you need more beautiful ideas of savory winter endings, this post is right for you. Here, I will recommend super appetizing desserts that will surely touch your heart!

List Of 40 Delicious Winter Dessert Recipes

You should not miss the following winter desserts for your cozy winters!

Cookies

1. Snowball Cookies

2. Christmas Blondies

3. Apple Crisp Cookie

4. Peppermint Patty Sandwich Cookies

5. Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Cookies

6. Almond Spritz Press Cookies

7. Super Gooey Chocolate Drops

8. Biscuit And Jam Cookies

Cakes

1. Candy Cane Cheesecake

2. Strawberry Shortcake Layer Cake

3. Classic Cheesecake

4. Champagne Cupcakes

5. Coconut Cheesecake

6. Gingerbread Bundt Cake

7. Flourless Chocolate Cake

8. Chewy Cookie Cake

Pies

1. Cherry Hand Pies

2. Creamy Coconut Peppermint Pie

3. Buckeye Pie

4. Cinnamon Swirl Apple Pie

5. Chocolate Chess Pie

6. Praline Pumpkin Pecan Pie

7. Sweet & Salty Truffle Pie

8. Gingersnap Crumb Pear Pie

Puddings

1. Perfect Banana Pudding

2. Carrot And Walnut Puddings

3. Self-saucing Chocolate Pudding

4. Spiced Chocolate Bread Puddings

5. Molten Black Forest Puddings

6. The Ultimate Bread And Butter Pudding

7. Sticky Fig And Ginger Pudding

8. Sticky Date Pudding

Tarts

1. Pear And Chocolate Fudge Tartlets

2. Marmalade And Almond Tart

3. Maple, Bacon And Pumpkin Tart

4. Baked Custard And Prune Tart

5. Walnut And Armagnac Tart

6. Apple And Prune Brioche Tart

7. Chocolate Cherry Tart

8. Winter Berry Tart

40 Yummy Winter Desserts You Should Know

Let’s roll down to discover all the pleasant winter desserts I want to introduce to you.

Cookies

Let’s enjoy some cookies for your winter desserts. Why not?

1. Snowball Cookies

Snowball cookies are a perfect Christmas cookie recipe. The word “ snowball” refers to the round shape of the cookies that look like small balls, and the snow here is powdered sugar covering outside the cookies.

It is on the list of simple cookies, but I guess you will love sweet and savoring bites melting gradually in your mouth. During cold winter days, you can enjoy the cookies while drinking a warm cup of tea. What is better than this enjoyment!

2. Christmas Blondies

When the Christmas holidays come to town, making some Christmas blondies will be a perfect treat for your friends and family members.

The cookies coming with a soft and chewy texture with festive holiday sprinkles and peanut butter on their tops will surely warm up your cold days.

Because the cookies can be stored and frozen well, you can prepare them in advance for your family consumption or a special Christmas gift to your friends.

It just takes you about 10 minutes to prepare the dough before popping it into the oven. Hence, if you are too lazy to make complicated cookies, Christmas blondies would be a great alternative.

3. Apple Crisp Cookie

If you are a big fan of apples with the health benefits they bring to you ⁽¹⁾, you should try this quick and easy cookie recipe this winter. Apple crisp cookie is the combination of juicy baked apples and the topping of crisp brown sugar.

However, just a small amount of fresh apple is used in this baking recipe because the cookie flavor will concentrate on delicious, crispy, and buttery shells. Despite the crispness outside, the inside of the cookies is still chewy, moist, and delicious.

4. Peppermint Patty Sandwich Cookies

Peppermint patty sandwich cookies are a big hit for both children and adults. You will love the bite-size cookies that are a lovely combination of chocolate and mint with a creamy and buttery filling.

You will spend no more than 30 minutes making the tastiest cookie that can be served as a winter dessert. Just start to prepare a batch of the sandwich cookies, and the results will blow your mind!

5. Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Cookies

Traditional shortbread cookies are always the spirit of Christmas time, but the most natural cookies with butter, sugar, and flavor seem to be not attractive to your kids.

It’s time to level up classic shortbread cookies to a chocolate coating version. Traditional shortbread cookies are buttery, crumbly, and rich.

However, when they are dipped in chocolate and sprinkled on some festive toppings, the cookie flavor will rock your winter.

You can also choose other flavors such as cinnamon, coffee, or vanilla extract to make savory cookies as you prefer.

6. Almond Spritz Press Cookies

Dear almond lovers, I have a special cookie recipe for you to make your almond dream come true!. The almond spritz press cookies are so appealing with festive holiday sprinkles on their tops.

So, they will be a perfect gift you can give your friends or coworkers for this winter. The cookies do not call for the almond flour because you can use the almond extract to make them flavorful.

This simple additional flavor creates a big change for the traditional cookies’ taste.

7. Super Gooey Chocolate Drops

If you are a chocolate lover, you should not skip this nice cookie recipe. When you take one bite of the cookies, what you can taste is chocolate and super rich chocolate.

The cookies in dark chocolate color will be set outside but soft inside. This will surely melt your heart in the first bites!

8. Jammy Cookies

Classic biscuit is the best of all times, but it will be more beautiful and flavorful with some jam topping. When you can make sweet and buttery traditional cookies, the jam ones are at your reach.

You can use any fruit jams as you prefer for the recipes so that the cookies will come with your favorite taste.

On this holiday, just prepare some colorful jam cookies as a great treat for your family members, especially kids.

Cakes

How about having winter desserts with some cakes? It is also so marvelous!

1. Candy Cane Cheesecake

Now, just make your dessert time merrier with some pieces of candy cane cheesecake. The special note of this cheesecake is the crushed colorful candy sprinkled on its top.

It is believed that the cheesecake is made to keep children silent during a long performance in the church on Christmas Eve. Whether the story behind the cheesecake is real or not, this creamy and rich cake is a big hit for any kid.

2. Strawberry Shortcake Layer Cake

The strawberry shortcake layer cake will touch your heart at your first look! This cake is a combination of fluffy vanilla cake layers that are sandwiched together with sweet fresh strawberries and whipped cream.

It is an incredibly sweet dessert for your special meals or parties.

3. Classic Cheesecake

The classic cheesecake is silky, creamy, and smooth. It can be a perfect ending for your family meals during this winter. It is topped on a homemade cracker crust.

It is so easy to make this cheesecake, so you can prepare it as a birthday gift for your friends or family members.

When preparing the cheesecake, cream cheese is the most important component that brings stunning creaminess to your mouth. In addition, you have many topping options for the cheesecake, such as lemon curd, strawberry sauce, or salted caramel sauce.

4. Champagne Cupcakes

Champagne is the universal celebration drink, while dessert is the celebration food all over the world. So, it will be a perfect match if you combine them. This cupcake is extremely rich and moist with a pleasant flavor of champagne.

In addition, luscious champagne buttercream and gold sprinkles are a special note that makes cupcakes more delightful. After the cakes are baked, some alcohol still remains. But do not worry because it is safe for your consumption.

5. Coconut Cheesecake

If you are a loyal fan of the refreshing flavor of coconut, you should not skip this baking recipe. Despite its simple ingredients, the results will impress you a lot. The cheesecake recipe does not call for sugar or grains.

It has a creamy and smooth texture and is topped with a fluffy frosting. Its slightly sweet taste matches well with coconut flavor without being overpowering.

6. Gingerbread Bundt Cake

The warm and aromatic ginger flavor is always the all-time favorite during the winter months! This gingerbread cake is super moist and tender and especially does not require much time to prepare.

The tasty cake is sure to satisfy your most demanding guests! It is covered with a smooth maple glaze and spiced up with ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon.

The appetizing cake taste is highlighted by the brown butter that tastes super delicious and gives extra rich flavor to every single batch of baking products.

7. Flourless Chocolate Cake

It is a rich cake, but it is made of no flour. Is it a myth? No, it is real. And you are able to make it at home. The cake is a combination of two main ingredients, including cocoa and chocolate with chocolate ganache topping.

This will be an excellent dessert for every celebration. Everything is so simple when it comes to its recipe: no special cake tools, no complicated decoration, and no fussy layers.

8. Chewy Cookie Cake

Chewing some chocolate chips after meals seems to be boring! So, how can you make it more worthy? The answer is to put the chips in a soft-baked cake for a sweet dessert.

What you make is a giant cookie topped with chocolate chips that not only decorate the cake but also make it more chocolatey. The topping of some chocolate buttercream also highlights the creaminess of the monster cookie.

Pies

Just fulfill your frozen winter with some soft and savory pies.

1. Cherry Hand Pies

The cherry hand pies come with a flaky baked crust and juicy cherry filling. It is perfect for parties, picnics, or just a sweet dessert for your appetizing meals.

In order to make the pies more special, the cherry hand pies can be loaded with a giant scoop of vanilla ice cream.

2. Creamy Coconut Peppermint Pie

Creamy coconut peppermint pie is a chocolate crust packed with a luscious creamy mint as its filling.

For the more flavorful pie, you can pour some coconut whip on its top. If you want a new idea for a birthday gift for your friends, this pie should be added to your list.

3. Buckeye Pie

Buckeye pie is such a simple and elegant dessert. While it is perfect enough for ending a meal, no baking is required here. So you can let your children participate in making this pie.

The pie basement is made of chocolate chunk cookies that are topped with a creamy peanut filling and a layer of rich chocolate. When tasting the pie, you can enjoy rich chocolate and salty-sweet butter.

4. Cinnamon Swirl Apple Pie

At first glance, I am so impressed with the creative pie decoration. It has two large pieces of crispy crust at the bottom and the top covering the whole filling inside.

This baking pie will bring you the fruity, sweet, and aromatic flavor of its filling made of fresh apple, sugar, cinnamon, and plain flour. You will also go crazy with the crispiness of the pie dough brushed with egg wash.

The baking product will be perfect for a home party when you and your family members or friends get together and enjoy some cinnamon swirl apple pie you make.

5. Chocolate Chess Pie

Enjoying chocolate bars alone after meals sometimes seems to be normal, so I offer you a simple baking dessert that will surely blow your mind! The chocolate chess pie contains flour, butter, sugar, and eggs.

How popular the ingredients are! It just takes you a few minutes to prepare the pie before you bake it in an oven. Despite its simplicity, the pie is so sweet, creamy, and rich in chocolate flavor, which is surely enough for a nice dessert.

For the best results, you can prepare the pie in advance and then put it in the fridge so that its filling can become more consistent, which will give you a better taste the next day.

6. Praline Pumpkin Pecan Pie

Pumpkin is usually used in cooking nutritious soups, but today I would like to put the healthy stuff (2) in a pie baking recipe called praline pecan pie.

The creamy pie contains a flaky pie crust that is filled with smooth and spiced pumpkin pie texture and then topped with chewy and crunchy brown sugar pecans. Unlike other soft pies, this pumpkin pie will come with a little crunch.

This creates the perfect flavor and texture in every bite. When preparing it to serve as a dessert, you will never mess with perfection.

7. Sweet & Salty Truffle Pie

Do you want to enjoy a crispy truffle with a sweet, salty, creamy, chocolatey taste? All of the flavors are stacked in a pie; what is better than this?

The special note here is that the filling of rich chocolate whipping cream is combined with a topping of vanilla cream. Everything will match well with each other and melt in your mouth.

8. Gingersnap Crumb Pear Pie

Use gingersnap cookies to make a pie. Why not? It is such a creative recipe, but it truly tastes perfect.

It consists of a single-crust pie that is filled with ripe pear mixture and topped with sweet and salty crushed cookies.

Puddings

If you want some creamy and buttery winter desserts, puddings will be your perfect choice.

1. Perfect Banana Pudding

For those who love both bananas and cookies, I suggest you should try making some banana pudding because the results will surprise you a lot.

This pudding is an excellent treat for your busy days when you do not have much time to make sweet desserts. The pudding is a bright combination of ripe bananas and wafer cookies that are spread between layers of whipped cream.

The creamy layers make slices of banana sweeter and more flavorful. Everything happens outside your oven, so it is a great option for a hot day!

2. Carrot And Walnut Puddings

For those who hate carrots, I want to reveal to you an easy pudding recipe with carrots, but you will not find the original taste of carrots in the puddings.

In order to make this, all the main ingredients of flour, grated carrots, brown sugar, eggs, baking powder, and vanilla extract are mixed well and then baked to create an aromatic pudding.

When you serve the puddings, just drop some crushed walnuts and lemon mascarpone on them for a more flavorful dessert.

3. Self-Saucing Chocolate Pudding

The chocolate pudding is a moist chocolate cake with a rich chocolate sauce. You do not need to take a hard bite for this pudding because everything will soon melt in your mouth. How amazing it is!

To make the pudding, you sprinkle sugar and cocoa powder on top of the batter and then pour hot water into the mixture.

During the baking time, the liquid mixture sinks into the batter, which creates the pudding’s moisture. It can be served with toppings of ice cream or fresh fruits.

4. Spiced Chocolate Bread Puddings

Do you want to transform normal bread into an appealing pudding? If yes, just try this pudding recipe. It is a perfect dessert with buttery croissants and tons of rich chocolate.

So as to prepare this bread pudding, the bread cubes will be dipped in a creamy mixture of cream, sugar, cinnamon, and melted chocolate. After that, the whole mixture will be baked in the oven.

Each bite of bread pudding will bring you the fullest flavor of all pudding ingredients. So what is greater than this one?

5. Molten Black Forest Puddings

Despite its name, molten black forest puddings look like dark mountains rather than forests. However, no matter how the pudding is decorated, its rich chocolate flavor is the keynote you and I should discuss.

The nice combination of dark chocolate with whisked egg mixture will surely pay off the valuable time you spend making the puddings. Vanilla ice cream and cherry juice are two wonderful things to serve with the puddings.

6. The Ultimate Bread And Butter Pudding

Have you ever heard about any recipes calling for leftover dry bread? Maybe it sounds weird, but actually, it is real.

The recipe of bread and butter pudding will be a golden chance for you to make use of the leftover bread you put at room temperature yesterday. But do not worry that the leftovers become hard and dry after the baking process.

It is because the bread is soaked in a mixture of eggs, butter, sugar, milk, cream, orange zest, and vanilla for 3 to 4 hours so that it can be softer by absorbing all the mixture’s liquid before being popped into the oven.

Hence, the puddings will come with buttery flavor and custard.

7. Sticky Fig And Ginger Pudding

Sticky fig and ginger pudding comes with a soft and moist texture that is spiced up by three forms of ginger, including ground, grated, and crystallized.

This creates a fragrant spiciness of the pudding. Then, the dessert is topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and drizzled with whisky butterscotch sauce. What is better than this!

8. Sticky Date Pudding

If you do not like to eat dates on their own, just transform them into a nice dessert. In this pudding recipe, dates will be mixed with other main ingredients, including butter, flour, brown sugar, and eggs to make a stuffed pudding.

After the baking process, the pudding is soaked in creamy caramel sauce before it is served with some vanilla cream and additional caramel sauce as toppings.

Tarts

There are some nice tart recipes for those who love crispy crusts.

1. Pear And Chocolate Fudge Tartlets

The creativity in cooking is a non-stop song. It’s time to combine chocolate and pear in a baking recipe named pear and chocolate fudge tarts.

The pear is used to create a naturally light sweet, and then lovely decoration for the tarts.

The soft texture tarts are in the dark brown color of chocolate with the buttery flavor of butter and eggs. You can top the tartlets with some pieces of pear or cream.

2. Marmalade And Almond Tart

Tarts made with marmalade always touch my heart! It is also true with marmalade and almond tart. As usual, you need some sweet pastry to make the crust for this recipe.

The filling contains butter, sugar, eggs, orange liqueur, and zest that will surely bring you strong citrus and buttery taste. The tart is also topped with some icing sugar for additional sweetness.

3. Maple, Bacon And Pumpkin Tart

Use pumpkin in a tart recipe? Why not?. The bacon pumpkin tart is super easy to make. It can be consumed as a nice dessert or even a light breakfast for you to start your day.

The tart pastry is topped with toasted pumpkin crumbs and slices of smoky bacon before being baked in the oven. For the best result, the warm tart will be served with some herb salad.

4. Baked Custard And Prune Tart

Although this kind of tart requires you to take some more steps to prepare, the result will melt your heart! The tart is filled with prune and brandy paste that is spread over the almond pastry’s top.

Moreover, the custard made of cream, eggs, sugar, and vanilla beans is poured on the tart as its final layer before it is baked in the oven. The tart with icing sugar topping will be eaten with double cream to highlight its creaminess.

5. Walnut And Armagnac Tart

In walnut and Armagnac tart recipes, the wine will be one of the ingredients to create nutty and creamy tarts. It sounds great! So let’s see. To make this, you will prepare some chocolate tart shells with almond flavor.

Before the tarts are baked, the mixture of walnuts, sugar, whisk cream, and eggs will be poured into the crust as the main point of the tart’s flavor.

In addition, you can also make some walnut and date ice cream for the best serving with delicious tarts. Everything will melt in your mouth, and each tart will disappear after some of your light bites!

6. Apple And Prune Brioche Tart

Say hi to apple lovers! It is your turn to transform your favorite fruit into a super savory tart. It is a simple recipe that will not take you much time to make.

Most of your effort is put into preparing the crispy shell of the tart made of yeast, eggs, flour, sugar, and sea salt.

Before being baked, the tart will be spread over with prunes and slices of apples that will lead to the fruity taste packed in every bite of the tart.

This will be a perfect dessert for busy days when you want something more special than fresh apples for ending your meal.

7. Chocolate Cherry Tart

I am always attracted by the red color of cherries, so the presence of the fruit in a sweet dessert appeals to me a lot.

Chocolate cherry tart contains a sweet and tender crust that is filled with a layer of dark chocolate. But not yet; the tart is topped with whipped cream and some cherries for a stunning decoration.

The sweet taste of cherries will match greatly with the cream and rich chocolate. Every small piece of the tart will melt in your mouth without the need for chewing. Such a beautiful ending to your meal!

8. Winter Berry Cheesecake Tart

The combination of fruit and a sweet dessert is always a big hit on different occasions ranging from home meals to night parties. Some topping of raspberries and sugared cranberries combined with sweetened sour cream will make your classic cheesecake batter much more sophisticated and, of course, savory.

All the flavors mix well and compliment each other perfectly, which creates an excellent treat for your merry and cozy winter.

Just Send Your Love To Other People Through Sweet Desserts!

Although a dessert is a small part of meals, it allows you to have a wonderful moment to eat some sweet food and share daily stories with your friends or family members. This will help reinforce the close bonding among people.

In addition, in special events like Christmas, sending savory winter desserts to your friends as a gift from you will be such a meaningful thing.

How about you? Do you usually make desserts at home? If you have any other sweet ending ideas, you can share them with me by leaving your words in the comment section. If you appreciate my post, share it with everyone!

References

1. Boyer, J., & Liu, R. H. (2004, May 12). Apple phytochemicals and their health benefits. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC442131/

2. Pumpkin Nutrition – Pumpkins and More – University of Illinois Extension. (2021). Retrieved from https://web.extension.illinois.edu/pumpkins/nutrition.cfm