My Top 10 Christmas appetizers, Holiday desserts, Party Sides and More!

Some recipes simply embody the holiday spirit. After Thanksgiving, I am all Christmas all the time. I love showing up with a special treat to holiday parties, hosting my own intimate get-togethers, and it's my grandmother's birthday in December, so I love to have her over for a special birthday dinner. I really appreciate all the wonderful TikToks and YouTube channels that share all different dessert, appetizer side recipes with me each year, and I've actually done that for you. So I'm hoping you can get some inspiration from these recipes. I have gathered some brand-new ones that I tried out. They are amazing. And some tried-and-true recipes to get you through the holidays. These roasted tomato and rapata crostinis are almost too cute to eat, but they are so delicious. There's so much flavor in them. Obviously, we have to start with five cloves of garlic, but in this recipe, if you don't have fresh garlic, you can always use a teaspoon of garlic powder, and we're gonna divide this garlic up so you can kind of divide it into two. You just wanna mince that garlic, and then we're putting half of it in a small bowl with about a tablespoon of olive oil. Then in a nine-by-13, or really any baking dish, you wanna take one pint of cherry tomatoes, and place those in there. Mine were on the vine, so I had to take them off, and then put the other half of the garlic in, followed by a tablespoon of olive oil. If you have other oil, like vegetable oil, that would be fine, too, and a sprinkle of salt. And you wanna roast these at 400 degrees for about 15 to 20 minutes. You just want the tomatoes to kind of pop, and you do wanna kind of stir them halfway through. So you can kind of check them and see where they're at. Each tomato is a different size, so I don't wanna 100% say it's 15 minutes or 20 minutes. It's gonna be somewhere in that range. You wanna let those tomatoes cool, and while they're cooling, you wanna toast some crostinis. So basically, I have a Parisian loaf, or you could use like a French baguette, and I was able to purchase mine pre-cut, and it was the same price as the whole baguette, so it just was much easier for me. So if you can find that deal, I feel like that is quite the steal. Otherwise, you can slice it thinly, and then place them on a lined baking sheet. Then you wanna brush the slices of bread with the olive oil and garlic mixture, and really make sure to get in there and make sure that some of that garlic gets onto the bread. You wanna bake these at 350 degrees for seven to 10 minutes, and again, we're just waiting for those tomatoes to cool down. You probably wanna put them in another container and put them in the fridge. And then when you are ready to make this and the tomatoes are cool, you wanna put a handful of basil, probably about a third of a cup, into a blender with one cup of ricotta, half a teaspoon of salt, and a quarter teaspoon of black pepper. And we're just going to blend this, so whatever type of blender you have, you're gonna get that basil really infused into the ricotta, and that's really what makes part of this so fabulous. And then you take your cooked crostinis, those should be cooled down as well, and top them with the ricotta. And then you also wanna top that ricotta with your roasted tomatoes. There's so much flavor in those. I went through and I just put one on each one, and then I went through again with whatever was remaining left and put some that had two. One was plenty on there, so if you don't have a ton of tomatoes, that's fine too. You can kind of customize this to make as many or as little as you like. And then I'm topping it with some sliced fresh basil. If you didn't have fresh basil, you could definitely use some dried basil in this, so about a teaspoon in that ricotta mixture, and then just sprinkle it over the top at the end. I do love the fresh look because it's so festive with the red and green, but if you don't have it, just make do and make it work, right? And then we're gonna drizzle some balsamic glaze over the top. And I like to buy mine usually at Aldi. They have it this time of year on sale. If you don't have balsamic glaze, I will put a recipe for balsamic glaze down in the description box. It's really simple to make, and all you need is a little bit of sugar and a little bit of balsamic vinegar. These are such a flavorful and festive treat. Anyone would be lucky to have them on their holiday table. For this next one, we're making an apricot and pecan goat cheese log, and I kind of just made this up on the fly. I had some apricot jam and some goat cheese, so I rolled the goat cheese in the jam and then rolled that in some crushed pecans, and then placed it on a plate with some more of the jam, so it's kind of sitting in a puddle of jam, and then just top that with a little bit of diced parsley or minced parsley, and it gives it that festive look. But I think this would look really good if you use like a cherry jam or a raspberry jam. It'd be super festive for the holidays. Either way, it's really cute, and it's super delicious. When you mix jam with goat cheese, it is just a match made in heaven. And then those nuts gave it a little bit of a crunch and kind of a deeper flavor, but this was a huge win for me. I served this at our little wine lunch for my mom and grandmother and aunt, and we just really enjoyed it, so it would be perfect on any holiday table. Next up, we have a Dollar Tree charcuterie. So yes, you can make a really cute and delicious charcuterie from the Dollar Tree. Dollar Tree carries real cheddar cheese that's actually quite good. So I just diced mine up into some little squares. It didn't cut perfectly, but that's totally fine. And then I had some trail mix. Make sure to grab the trail mix that has the dried fruit in it, because that just adds a little bit of a sweet component to your treat. Now, I'm putting mine on a Christmas tree board, but you don't have to have a Christmas tree-shaped board to make this. You can still turn your charcuterie into a Christmas tree shape just by putting it in layers like this. So I decided to do kind of like every other. So we've got a layer of cheese, a layer of the trail mix. Then I grabbed some white cheddar popcorn, but you can use any type of popcorn that you want on this. It just adds a nice, different texture. And then I had some white cheddar Chex Mix that I actually had utilized to put as a topping for my green bean casserole, because I had used this as an appetizer in my Dollar Tree Christmas dinner last year. So this is a really budget-friendly one, and I encourage you to go check out Dollar Tree Christmas dinner. It's really, really neat. But it was really fun to have this, and it's just my encouragement to show you that everything doesn't have to be super expensive all the time to have a amazing time during the holidays. Next up, we're gonna make a pigs in a blanket wreath, because it is just festive, and the pigs always go like hotcakes. It's crazy. I have one roll of the crescent roll dough, and I'm just gonna cut it with a pizza cutter into strips. That's what I find is the easiest for me to just roll these. And then down the middle, that line is already there, and that's perfect, because you just wanna use about half of each of the little strips to make one of the pigs, and I feel like it's the perfect size. I've also done these with regular-size hot dogs before, and then you just slice the regular-size hot dog into a smaller hot dog, and it's actually a lot cheaper than buying. It's been, in my experience at least, than buying the little smokies or little wieners, but it's an option if you wanna go that route too, and it can save you a few bucks. And then you're gonna make it in, wow, the shape of a wreath, surprisingly enough. So you just kind of place them all next to each other, and it turns out beautifully. And then I just cook this according to the package instructions for the crescent rolls, which I think is like 325 for 12 minutes, but you just wanna check your crescent rolls and double-check that that is gonna cook them all the way through. And then once it's finished, I just thought such a pretty wreath here, you wanna transfer it to whatever plate you wanna put it on. I found a nice Christmas, little nice little festive plate for me. And then I just brush it with a little bit of melted butter, Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, pepper, and salt. And I find that that just elevates something like this. Anytime I'm making anything with like a crescent or a biscuit roll, if I can, and it's a savory dish, I'm going to brush it with that mixture because it just doesn't get any better than that. And it just really, really, really elevates it for little to no effort on your part. So if you're planning to make pigs in a blanket this year anyway, because what is a holiday party without them, you may as well make it in a wreath shape and really up your game. For this one, we're making slow cooker barbecue chicken wings, and I swear when you put them on a red plate, they just get more festive. But when you put the little sprinkle of parsley on top, it really changes things. So I've got a few pounds of chicken wings here. You can use as many or as little as you like, depending on how big your crowd is. And then I'm just smothering mine in all of the leftover barbecue sauce that I have in the fridge. So this is the perfect opportunity to use what you have on hand, or you can use a container. You just want to make sure that they're nice and covered and then covering and cooking on low for three hours. And when they're done, you can see that they're fully cooked through. So these are like fall off the bone delicious, but really want to crisp up the outside. So in order to do that, I'm putting it on broil, I'm putting the oven on broil. And then I'm taking the wings and putting them on a lined baking sheet and then painting them with more barbecue sauce. You kind of want to put lather some on one side there. And then I'm going to broil those for five minutes on that side, then flip them over and then paint on some more barbecue sauce and broil them for another five minutes. And then repeat the process one more time. So you're kind of doing a full 20 minutes in that broiler. And that really crisps up the outside of those wings and gives it a nice coating. And then I just minced up some parsley and poured it over the top because now you have that red and green contrast. I served mine with some ranch dressing and the family loved it. These are a perfect appetizer and the Crock-Pot does most of the work for you. This is another one that's four ingredients and seriously beautiful and so flavorful. So you want to take a crusty French loaf of bread. You don't want to use like a Parisian loaf that's going to be softer on this one. You do want a crustier loaf and slice that into thin pieces and then heat up some olive oil or you could always use vegetable oil or butter in a large pan over medium low heat. And once that oil is hot, you can add the bread to the pan. And in about three minutes, you're going to crisp up one side of that bread and then flip it over. It's like normal home cook stuff or if you cook a lot to just do it with your hands, I guess, but the smarter thing to do would be using tongs. And once those are crisped up on both sides, about six to eight minutes total, I mean, you just want to keep checking it. You don't want to overcook it, but you definitely want it to get that crispy crust on it. You can pull those off and put those onto a cutting board. I love using this little Christmas tree one. You can see I've used it before in this video. And I do have one in my Amazon store if you're interested in getting one. I got this particular one at TJ Maxx. I don't know if they still sell them, but it's just a fun little thing to make things a little bit fancier, but you totally don't need it. They're beautiful with or without it. And then you want to top that with some fig jam. I can get fig jam at my local grocery store, so I hope you may be able to find it too. I think Aldi might have it as well. You could also use whatever your favorite jam is. It would probably look really good with some cherry or raspberry, just like the goat cheese. And then top that with some crumbled blue cheese. Again, you could probably use goat cheese or feta cheese on this, depending on what you like, but I love the blue cheese on this. And a couple of sprigs of basil or slices of basil. Fresh basil on this is just perfection, but if you don't have it, you can always use dried. So make it your own, and these are super simple, but they are full of flavor and absolutely delicious. All right, this is another super simple one, and we're moving on to some sides here. Crock-Pot Party Potatoes. You just want one package of shredded hash browns, a package of French onion dip, two cups of shredded cheddar cheese, and about a cup and a half of heavy cream, or you could actually use a can of cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup, it's your choice. I just had half and half, actually, so whatever you have on hand, go ahead and use it. So you want to pour those hash browns into the crock-pot. You can actually just use them straight from frozen. And then we're adding the entire container of French onion dip, all of the cheese, and the cup and a half of half and half, and then just give everything a really good mix and stir. And you can cook this on low for about four hours, and the potatoes should cook all the way through, and the cheese is gonna melt, and it's gonna give it an amazing flavor. And then I just microwaved or heated up, you can melt however you want to, about a quarter cup of butter, and add to that two of those small sleeves of Ritz crackers. It's probably equal to one large sleeve of Ritz crackers, all crushed up. So you're making a Ritz cracker crust, and then placing that right over the potatoes and letting that go for another half hour. And I think alternatively, you could probably put that in the oven to kind of crisp it up a little bit more. Mine didn't have like a super crispy top, but it was still really, really good. So your choice on how you want to do it. And this is an amazing crock-pot choice for a side, and super low ingredient and full of flavor. And for a main dish idea, I'm sharing this slow cooker glazed ham, cause it's a great set it and forget it. All right, we're getting started early, cause this is an eight hour crock-pot meal. So I got my pajamas on, and open up our pork butt. Okay, for this recipe, we're going to trim any excess fat on our pork butt. Then I'm gonna make cuts in the ham, about a half inch apart, and a quarter inch deep in a diamond shaped pattern. And we're gonna place the ham into the slow cooker. And then I'm gonna make a sauce. In a bowl, I'm mixing together, three quarters of a cup light brown sugar, three quarters a cup of honey, a half a cup of Dijon mustard, and a quarter cup of apple juice. And with the apple juice, I actually saved this kid's apple juice, because again, I didn't want to go out and buy anything extra special, or that I didn't need to. And I saw the apple, the little package of apple juice we probably, apple juice we probably got like McDonald's. And I thought, you know what? We'll just use this for the ham. And I set it aside. But Betty Crocker says, try this out. Is she still around? Betty? I don't know. God rest her soul. So this is funny, because there's a story about a woman who made a ham, and she followed mom's recipe, and it says cut the top off the ham. But she couldn't figure out why it said cut the top off the ham. So every time she'd cut the top off the ham. And she did that for years, until she asked mom, why do I cut the top off the ham? And she said, oh, well honey, it's because it didn't fit in the oven. So her oven was big enough, and she could have kept the top on the ham, but hey, we do things the same way. But that was, it didn't fit. So it was kind of making me laugh. Like should I cut it? But I removed it. I had never done a ham in the crock pot like this before, and I will do it forever now. I will never cook it in the crock pot. This was so delicious. It's definitely the best ham that I've ever had. It was basically falling apart, falling off the bone, and the flavor of that sauce was absolutely incredible. I mean, I'm carving it, but you could basically shred it like pulled pork, which is somewhat comical, because earlier in the day, Dan was like, we're having pulled ham, pulled pork? And I was like, no, it's just ham. Well, it turned out to be almost like pulled ham, but I was not mad, because it just was so moist, juicy, not dry. It's a winner. And I loved it, because like I said, I had everything on hand to kind of make that glaze. This would be a really nice thing to bring to a potluck or to cook on Christmas day, especially if you're having a crowd. It's nice to get everything started nice and early, and then have the meal that you want ready when it's done. And for dessert, we're making a cannoli dip. And if you haven't had cannoli dip before, this is the time. It is so delicious. I'm a huge cannoli fan myself. Whenever I get takeout from my local pizza place, they have the most delicious cannolis, so I can't help myself but grab one. This was so great to make at home, and it's so nice for sharing when you have a big event. You want to start with eight ounces of packaged cream cheese at room temperature, and two cups of ricotta cheese. You want to beat that together until smooth, and add one and a half cups of confectioner's sugar, and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Then you want to stir that mixture until the sugar is completely dissolved and incorporated. And then we're going to fold in about a cup of miniature sweet chocolate chips. You can see how simple this recipe really is. It's really low ingredient. You then want to pop it in the refrigerator for at least 10 minutes. When you take it out, you can cover it with a few more of those miniature chocolate chips. And then you can use, there's multiple items that you can use to dip in this. I personally found some cannoli chips at my local grocery store, and I was lucky to find those, but I know not everyone has access to them. So you can actually just get regular unfilled cannolis, and use those, and just break them up. Or I've heard that waffle cones are actually fantastic with this. So if you get like a sugar cone or a waffle cone package, break those up into little pieces, and give those a dip as well. I really hope you try this, because it really is fantastic. It's something that will wow guests and friends, and it's so easy to put together. I made this for an event we call Wine Lunch, where I have my grandmother, aunt, mother, and friends usually come over, and we just have a great time together. For another dessert option, I'm making mini cheesecakes with a raspberry topping. They're so festive looking. I thought they might look like Santa hats, but not exactly, but they still have the festive colors. You wanna start with eight ounces of softened cream cheese in a stand mixer, or you could use a hand mixer, a quarter cup of sour cream, a quarter cup of sugar, a half a teaspoon of vanilla, and one egg. And it's that simple. There's not a ton of stuff in this. I usually have cream cheese and sour cream on hand anyway. Sugar. This is a relatively budget-friendly dessert. You just wanna mix that up until everything is well mixed. There still are gonna be a few small clumps in it, even kind of no matter how long you go, and that's gonna be okay. And then I have this mini muffin silicone tin. It makes very small mini cheesecakes, which I really liked, because they're bite-sized, but there is an alternative option to grab kind of, there's more of a medium-sized muffin tin, not a full size, but still small. You could do it to make them a little bit bigger, your choice. I used Nilla wafers as the crust for my mini cheesecakes, and it turned out perfect. I love, love, love that option, and it's super simple, because you just place them in the bottom. You do wanna grease that muffin tin down, and then pour in, just to the top, the cheesecake mixture, and then you wanna bake this at 350 degrees for about 15 to 20 minutes. It's gonna depend on your oven. It's gonna depend on how big the muffin tins you're using. Mine took about 15 minutes. I don't want them to really get browned on the top. I just want to make sure that they're cooked all the way through. Then you wanna make sure that those cool all the way down, and you can make your own whipped cream if you'd like. I have a great recipe for that down in the description box. I just used the spray whipped cream, because that's what I had on hand, and it was nice and easy, and I topped it with a raspberry, and then shook on some powdered sugar to make it look like it snowed, and it was so beautiful. I think alternatively, because raspberries are a bit expensive, you could use cherry pie filling, and top each with a piece of cherry from that. That would be a great inexpensive option. And that's the last one I have for you today. Go ahead and check out this next video for more holiday inspiration, and I hope you have the most magnificent and wonderful holiday season.