No-Bake

Christmas Desserts

: Easy, Festive & Oven-Free Holiday Treats

Quick Summary

This holiday season, permit yourself to skip the baking marathon. Your oven is busy, your schedule is packed, and honestly? These no-bake wonders are going to steal the show anyway. Make them in your pyjamas, make them with your kids, or make them the night before while watching Hallmark movies. However you do it, you're about to become everyone's favourite person at the Christmas party – no oven required.

Deep Dive

During the holidays, especially if you are any of the gifters or party hosts, your oven is already working overtime. Between the turkey, the ham, the casseroles, and whatever else is vying for precious oven space, another dessert demanding its turn might fill you with dread. That's where no-bake Christmas treats swoop in like Santa himself – there to make the Christmas oh-so-sweet without you needing to put much effort at all. Save your tears and break into a sweat, and give that poor oven a break with these no-bake Christmas desserts.

Santa Hat Crepes

This one tastes as good as it sounds and looks. You make crepes the usual way with the crepe batter dyed red with food colouring to match the red of a Santa hat. Cook the crepe as usual and then spread a sweet spread, be it jam, chocolate or nutty ones, and fold it like a triangular pocket. Seal it properly, and then use a piping bag filled with whipped cream to decorate the bottom and top with the white fur trimming and a ball. Dust the rest of it with powdered sugar, and it’s ready to serve

Peppermint Bark

This is perhaps the easiest of the lot, made with melted chocolate and crushed peppermint candy. To make this dessert, you're literally just melting chocolate (dark, white, or both if you want variety), spreading it on a baking sheet, and crushing candy canes on top. Three ingredients and quick prep time are all it takes. The hardest part is just waiting for it to set in the fridge. Overnight is best for the bark to set, so do it the night before the party or a couple of days in advance. Package it in cellophane bags tied with ribbon as a gift or serve at your party in chunks.

Boozy Chocolate Orange Pots

These little pots of joy are what happens when someone asks, ‘What if we made chocolate mousse, but made it Christmassy and slightly boozy?’ Start with a buttery biscuit base (crushed digestives work brilliantly), top it with a silky chocolate orange ganache spiked with creamy Irish whiskey, and top each one with a block of orange-flavoured chocolate. They're elegant enough for a fancy dinner party but so easy to make that you can whip them together while still in your pyjamas and slippers.

Chocolate-Covered Cranberries

These are as easy as they sound: pick a bunch of fresh cranberries, wash and pat them dry. Melt chocolate with a little butter using the double boiler or microwave oven. You can either use white, milk or dark chocolate for this one. Let the chocolate cool a little, then put the cranberries into it to coat them in the chocolate. Arrange the chocolate-covered cranberries on a parchment-lined sheet in the shape of a small Christmas tree. While the chocolate is still slightly wet, zigzag chocolate sauce on it and then add crushed candies for a decorative touch. 

Tiramisu Truffles

In just 15 minutes, you get the coffee-rich tiramisu in the form of balls. You start with the crumbs of ladyfinger cookies, mixed with mascarpone, sugar, and espresso until you have a thick, scoopable mixture that tastes exactly like tiramisu filling. Roll them into balls, dust them with cocoa powder (or dip them in melted chocolate if you're feeling fancy), and boom – you've created bite-sized portions of one of Italy's most famous desserts. The first bite will hit you with that slightly bitter cocoa powder, then melt into creamy, coffee-rich sweetness.

No-Bake Peppermint Cheesecake

Cheesecake is inherently impressive. No-bake cheesecake is inherently smart. This version features an Oreo crust (sensing a theme?), a fluffy cream cheese filling spiked with peppermint, and usually gets topped with whipped cream and crushed candy canes. The dessert offers a light, fluffy texture with seasonal peppermint flavouring. It needs time to chill, ideally overnight, but that's perfect because you can make it the day before your party and completely forget about it until it's time to slice and serve.

Gingerbread Truffles

Got leftover gingerbread cookies? (Or store-bought ones you're not ashamed to use, no judgment here!). Grind them in a food processor, mix with cream cheese, roll into balls, and coat in melted white chocolate with a sprinkle of holiday cheer on top. Suddenly, those humble gingersnaps have become elegant little bites that belong on a fancy dessert platter. They're like gingerbread's greatest hits album, remixed for maximum impact.

Keep Your Sanity This Christmas

Here's what makes these treats genuinely brilliant: they free you up to actually enjoy the holidays. No hovering by the oven, no setting timers and no panic when something comes out slightly overdone. You mix, you chill, you serve, and you get ‘compliments to the chef’ from your guests.