Christmas desserts: 12 recipes for Christmas Eve and the holidays
Twelve homemade desserts for the Christmas table, from the pan de pascua baked days ahead to the cold desserts a December heat wave calls for. Each one with its real time, how much it yields and what can be ready before the 24th, so the kitchen does not close at midnight.
Christmas desserts, in short: the Chilean classics are pan de pascua (1 h 40 min, better baked ahead), leche asada (chilled overnight), arroz con leche (50 min) and apple kuchen (1 h 20 min). For the sweet table and for gifts, hojarasca alfajores (20 pieces), butter cookies (24) and calzones rotos (20). When it is hot, mote con huesillo, lemon tart and yogurt pots are served cold. Almost everything can be made one or two days ahead; only the cookies and the calzones rotos are best made on the 24th itself.
The Christmas Eve classics
Four desserts found on almost every Christmas table in Chile. Three of them are made the day before without losing anything; the rice pudding is cooked the same morning.
Pan de pascua
Christmas fruit loaf with candied fruit, raisins, walnuts, honey and spices, leavened with baking powder rather than yeast. Makes 12 slices and is baked ahead.
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Leche asada
Milk-and-egg custard baked over caramel, with the water-bath technique that keeps it silky. It needs at least 3 hours in the fridge; the day before is ideal.
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Arroz con leche
Round-grain rice cooked low and slow in whole milk with cinnamon and lemon peel, creamy in 50 minutes. Serves 4 to 5, warm or cold.
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Apple kuchen
Southern Chile's German apple tart: buttery shortcrust, sliced apples with cinnamon and a crisp streusel. 8 portions in 1 hour 20 minutes; keeps 2 days covered.
View recipeCookies and alfajores: for the sweet table and for gifts
What gets eaten by hand between the pan de pascua and the cola de mono, and what gets wrapped as a gift. The alfajores and the cookies bake in under an hour; calzones rotos are at their best freshly fried.
Chilean alfajores
Thin hojarasca pricked before baking and filled with manjar: 20 alfajores in 50 minutes. The cookie layers keep 5 to 7 days in an airtight tin; fill them just before serving.
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Butter cookies
Crisp outside, tender inside, with vanilla; 24 cookies in 32 minutes. Cut with Christmas cutters they decorate the table, and the raw dough freezes for up to 3 months.
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Chocolate cookies
Double chocolate with 70% dark chocolate chips: 20 cookies in 28 minutes of work plus 30 minutes chilling. The dough bakes straight from the freezer.
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Calzones rotos
Butter, citrus zest and pisco in the dough, fried and dusted with icing sugar: 20 pieces in 40 minutes. Make them on the afternoon of the 24th; they are best the same day.
View recipeCold desserts for the December heat
In Chile, Christmas Eve falls in high summer and dinner is late. These four are served cold, straight from the fridge, and three of them are ready the day before.
Mote con huesillo
Dried peaches in spiced syrup over wheat berries, Chile's summer dessert-drink. Makes 4 glasses in 1 hour; the syrup with the peaches keeps up to 5 days in the fridge.
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Lemon tart
Buttery biscuit base and a tangy, set lemon cream; 4 portions in 55 minutes of work plus cooling and at least 2 hours in the fridge. Make it the same morning.
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Greek yogurt pots
Layers of Greek yogurt, berries and granola, no oven and no cooking, ready in 15 minutes. The dessert for the kids and for anyone who wants something lighter; keep the granola separate.
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Chocolate loaf cake
Moist, fluffy chocolate loaf, 15 minutes of prep and 45 in the oven, no mixer needed. Makes 10 slices and freezes for up to 3 months, whole or sliced.
View recipeHow much to make for your table
Yields are those of each recipe. At a long dinner with pan de pascua and cola de mono already on the table, one small portion of a main dessert per person plus cookies in the middle is enough.
| Dessert | Recipe yields | For 8 | For 12 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pan de pascua | 12 slices | 1 loaf | 1 loaf |
| Leche asada | 6 portions | 2 dishes | 2 dishes |
| Arroz con leche | 4 to 5 portions | 2 batches | 3 batches |
| Apple kuchen | 8 portions | 1 kuchen | 2 kuchen |
| Chilean alfajores | 20 pieces | 1 batch | 1 batch |
| Butter cookies | 24 cookies | 1 batch | 1 batch |
| Chocolate cookies | 20 cookies | 1 batch | 1 batch |
| Calzones rotos | 20 pieces | 1 batch | 2 batches |
| Mote con huesillo | 4 glasses | 2 batches | 3 batches |
| Lemon tart | 4 portions | 2 tarts | 3 tarts |
| Greek yogurt pots | 4 pots | 2 batches | 3 batches |
| Chocolate loaf cake | 10 slices | 1 loaf | 2 loaves |
If you serve a single main dessert, count one portion per person and add only cookies or alfajores.
Work plan: what to make ahead and when
In this order, only the cookies, the calzones rotos and filling the alfajores are left for the 24th. Each recipe says how long it keeps and how to store it.
- Up to two months ahead: Bake and freeze the chocolate loaf cake (up to 3 months) and the apple kuchen (up to 2 months, whole or in portions). Freeze the raw dough of the butter cookies and the chocolate cookies.
- December 22: Bake the pan de pascua: a dense, moist loaf meant to be made ahead; cooled and well wrapped it keeps until Christmas Eve (with no alcohol in the batter, keep it in the fridge).
- December 23: Leche asada (it needs 8 to 12 hours in the fridge), the peach syrup for the mote con huesillo (keeps 5 days) and the hojarasca layers for the alfajores (5 to 7 days in an airtight tin).
- Morning of the 24th: Arroz con leche (50 minutes), lemon tart (55 minutes plus 1 hour cooling and 2 in the fridge) and, if it was not frozen, the apple kuchen (1 hour 20 minutes).
- Afternoon of the 24th: Butter cookies (32 minutes) and calzones rotos (40 minutes, eaten the same day). Assemble the yogurt pots and keep the granola separate so it stays crunchy.
- When serving: Fill the alfajores with the cooled layers, top the yogurt pots with granola and, if you want the kuchen warm, give it 10 minutes at 160 °C to crisp the streusel again.
Christmas desserts: frequently asked questions
What desserts are eaten at Christmas in Chile?
The classic is pan de pascua, eaten with cola de mono after dinner and over the following days. The table also features leche asada, arroz con leche, the southern apple kuchen and alfajores. Since Christmas Eve falls in summer, cold mote con huesillo closes many dinners.
Which Christmas dessert can I make the day before?
The ones that improve with rest: leche asada (ideally chilled overnight), pan de pascua (baked days ahead) and the syrup for mote con huesillo, which keeps 5 days. The alfajores layers keep 5 to 7 days in an airtight tin and are filled before serving. The kuchen keeps 2 days covered and 4 in the fridge.
Which cold dessert should I serve on a hot Christmas Eve?
Four options straight from the fridge: mote con huesillo, lemon tart, Greek yogurt pots with berries and leche asada. All are made hours ahead and nothing needs to be switched on when serving.
How much dessert do I plan per person?
One portion of a main dessert per person, following the yields in the table above (a leche asada serves 6, a kuchen 8, a pan de pascua gives 12 slices). If there is also pan de pascua and cookies in the middle of the table, portions can be smaller: on Christmas Eve dessert comes after a long dinner.
Which Christmas desserts can be frozen?
The chocolate loaf cake (up to 3 months, whole or sliced), the baked apple kuchen (up to 2 months) and the raw dough of the butter cookies (3 months) and the chocolate cookies, which bake from frozen. Leche asada, mote con huesillo and calzones rotos are not frozen; they are eaten the same day.
The rest of Christmas Eve
Desserts close the dinner: the Chilean Christmas menu brings together the turkey, the arrollado and the salads; the Christmas appetizers and cocktails take care of the start, and the New Year's Eve dinner reuses several of these desserts a week later.