Dessert Recipes To Make 2 Days Before Christmas

You don't have to make everything in one day! The Christmas rush doesn't need to be felt on the day itself so if you have the foresight to plan ahead, you can stay ahead of the stress of Christmas Eve preparations. 

One of the things you can make, at least 2 days before Christmas, is dessert. Dessert can be anything you want it to be but if you're working with gelatin or gulaman, we highly suggest you make these in the morning or the night before.  

If you are game to make dessert ahead of time, here are dessert recipes to try to beat the holiday stress:  

Photo by Rico Jose

1 Cheesecake Recipes 

Whether you love the baked cheesecake over the no-bake cheesecake recipes, both kinds of cheesecake need to be chilled at least overnight for best results. That's because once made, the cheesecake itself needs to chill before you can even slice it. This applies to almost all cheesecakes, including that hit Basque burnt cheesecake that everyone seems to be making and trying to make at home during the past few months. 

2 No-Churn Ice Cream Recipes  

Desserts that need to be chilled and stay chilled are the best kinds of dessert to make ahead. The ones that need to be frozen are even better to make ahead of time, especially if you have space in your freezer for the tub. 

If you want to do more than just make ice cream, pair it with cake and make an ice cream cake. This is perfect if you just came from the supermarket with slightly melted ice cream. You can make it immediately!    

Photo by Shutterstock

3 Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes 

What's even better than a fast and easy chocolate chip cookie? That would be a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie from a batch of cookie dough you made two days before. The secret to the best kind of cookie is chilling the dough. It results in cookies that rise in the oven and then fall when removed from the oven, giving you awesome chewiness and crispy edges.

If you allow your cookie dough to "age" in the refrigerator in air-tight containers or bags for two days or even longer, you actually develop the flavors of the cookie. You allow the flour to hydrate, the sugars melt and meld with the other ingredients, and the butter of course firms up completely. When you bake these cookies, these are going to be the best homemade chocolate cookies you will ever make.

Plus, all you have to do is arrange the cookie dough balls on a baking sheet on the big day. Bake each batch an extra 2 to 3 minutes than stated on the recipe for freshly baked cookies you exerted little to no effort on. 

Photo by Rico Jose

4 Layer Cake Recipes  

If you're up to making a layered cake for Christmas, go for it! The cakes can be made up to 2 days in advance and so can the buttercream. Any syrups, toppings, and any special decorations that you plan to put on top of your cake can also be made ahead of time which you can put together on Christmas eve so it's as pretty and perfect as it can get. 

This is what we suggest you do if you plan on making a stunning layered cake for Christmas: 

1. Day 1: Make and bake the cakes. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and chill overnight.
2. Day 2: Make the buttercream and layer the cakes. Cover with a crumb coat then chill. Make cake decorations, additional toppings, etc.   
3. Day 3: Finish the cake and either chill until needs or at least one hour before it's ready to slice and serve.    

How's that for a planned baking session? 

5 Refrigerator Cake Recipe

Refrigerator cakes might be the best go-to dessert for the holidays. It's easy to make, takes little effort to put together, and tastes fantastic when served. It's up to you if you want to jazz up the flavors and add more ingredients. 

The mango float freezer cake might be the most popular of these easy cake recipes, but you can tweak that to make it into a strawberry version, a blueberry recipe, any mix of fruits such that you'll find in a fruit cocktail can, or even use canned peaches that you secretly love. You can swap the fruit for chocolate, coffee, or even caramel.

Just don't forget the graham crackers, egg nog cookies, or the alternative cookies you'll use as the base of these easy cake recipes.     

Photo by Aldwin Aspillera

6 Brazo and Sans Rival Recipes  

For all those who love meringue, these recipes will be the ultimate dessert that you can make. The classic brazo de Mercedes doesn't need much tweaking to make it delicious (unless you want to make an ube version) but you can make a frozen version that will you can make ahead. 

Sans rival meanwhile is just as stunning a cake as any other layered cake you can make, and this is truly fantastic, especially if you want to play around with the nuts. Just keep it chilled until the big day. 

Photo by Majoy Siason

7 Leche Flan Recipes

It's no secret we love leche flan so let this be your cue to make some. If you want to make it more impressive, try any of the flavored versions that we have to make your dessert delicious and addictive. You can even make a leche flan cake or custard cake and combine two of your favorite desserts in one!   

 

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Thinking about what to cook next? Join our Facebook group, Yummy Pinoy Cooking Club, to get more recipe ideas, share your own dishes, and find out what the rest of the community are making and eating!

Got your own version of the classic dishes? Pa-share naman! Get your recipe published on Yummy.ph by submitting your recipe here!