65 Christmas Dessert Recipes for Every Flavor - Slumber and Scones (2024)

FAQs

What are tradition 13 desserts? ›

The thirteen desserts are in reference to Jesus and his twelve apostles at the Last Supper. As tradition goes, there must be at least thirteen sweets available. They are all served at once, and each guest must have at least a small bite of each dessert.

The thirteen desserts of Christmas are a well known tradition of the people living in Provence, who every year renew this ancestral and convivial tradition by gathering families around delicacies at the end of the 'Great supper' (Christmas dinner).

Bûche de Noël is a traditional French Christmas dessert shaped and decorated like a log. This recipe takes some time, but we promise it's worth it.

Christmas Dinner

Dishes might include roast turkey with chestnuts or roast goose, oysters, foie gras, lobster, venison and cheeses. For dessert, a chocolate sponge cake log called a bûche de Noël is normally eaten.

Tradition calls for 12 traditional courses to be served during the Polish Christmas Eve. This number is a symbol of wealth, the 12 Apostles and a representation of the 12 months of the year. But in the past, dinner consisted of an odd number of dishes.

In 1845, cookery writer Eliza Acton wrote the first recipe for a dish actually called "Christmas pudding". The dish is sometimes known as plum pudding (though this can also refer to other kinds of boiled pudding involving dried fruit).

For a long time it's been common practice to include silver Christmas pudding coins, charms or tokens into Christmas pudding. Finding a Christmas coin in your slice of pudding is believed to bring good luck and especially wealth in the coming year.

If you are offering a full size dessert like a cupcake or a full size brownie, count on 1-2 per guest. With smaller desserts like cookies, macarons, bite size brownies, or mini tarts you can count on each guest taking 3 items from the various options.

Traditional Christmas dinner features turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, and vegetables. Other types of poultry, roast beef, or ham, are also used.

Why are their thirteen desserts at the Christmas dinner in Provence? ›

Following midnight mass, it is time for the 13 desserts. The amount has nothing to do with a baker's dozen but rather is equal to the number of participants around the table at the Last Supper; Jesus and his 12 apostles.

1. Crème brûlée. This custard based dessert is topped with a layer of crunchy caramel. The dessert is popular all over the world, but it originated in France, making it a must-try for anyone who's traveling through.

The mille-feuille is a quintessentially French dessert made of layers of flaky puff pastry and pastry cream. It's simply known as the mille-feuille meaning 'thousand leaves' referring to its many layers.