Tanghulu
By: Chloe Lee
Recipe Link: https://amiraspantry.com/tanghulu-recipe/
The slight crunch of a first bite explodes into heavenly goodness as the sweetness of the decadent fruit oozes into your mouth. Tanghulu, a traditional Chinese skewer, recently went viral on TikTok, unlocking a whole new world of candy. This treat features a thin layer of freshly coated sugar around a wide variety of fruit.
The holiday season is a wonderful time to get creative and explore the plethora of possibilities tanghulu has to offer. The original strawberry skewer can be cut in half with a marshmallow stuck in the middle to create Santa-inspired tanghulu. Grape skewers can be stacked and decorated with sprinkles to mimic Christmas trees. Adding a little white chocolate and edible decor can turn any fruit skewer into a snowman. Incredibly simple, customizable, and delectable, tanghulu is all the rage this holiday season!
Brownies
By: Olivia Gu
Recipe Link: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018653-easy-brownies
Sitting by the warmth of a fireplace, you can enjoy the velvety texture of a brownie, which mirrors this comforting scenery. The rich chocolate flavor from the cocoa complements each bit of melted chocolate. There is never a wrong time to bake brownies with a plethora of easy recipes online. This simple treat can be elevated with other flavors, such as salted caramel. Warm brownies are the perfect snack amidst the winter season!
Besides adding other flavors and textures, brownies can also be cut and molded into various shapes. In particular, a sheet of brownies can be cut into triangle shapes, drizzled with green frosting, or put on a pretzel stick. The sprinkles are up to you: festive reds and greens, all hues of blue, or whatever goodies you can find in your pantry.
Peppermint Bark
By: Eric Chen
Recipe Link: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/almost-famous-peppermint-bark-recipe-2120609
Peppermint bark is the perfect snack to enjoy on-the-go this winter. It fits right into the holiday season with its vibrant hues of white and red. Portable, sweet, and minty, peppermint bark can be savored while you watch the snowflakes fall from the cozy comfort of your home. Peppermint bark is easy to make and requires few ingredients, making it the ideal, minty, and refreshing snack.
You can decorate peppermint bark by cutting it into different shapes like Christmas trees and snowflakes.The bark can also be used to make s’mores.
Rice Krispie Treats
By: Raymond Zhang
Recipe Link: https://www.ricekrispies.com/en_US/recipes/the-original-treats-recipe.html
Since before the popular Kellog’s snack version emerged, rice krispies have been a classic homemade dish that can be molded to fit tastes and textures. Making rice krispie treats is a joy in itself—and eating them is another world of excitement.
The real satisfaction of making rice krispie treats comes with the customization: make it s’mores inspired, swap out the marshmallow, incorporate foreign flavors, add candy cane bark or a secret spice — the choice is yours. To elevate your Rice Krispies for the holidays, tie it with a bow and wrap it around a wooden stick, giving you or your guests a fancier way to eat these sweet, sticky delights!
Gingerbread Cookies
By: Fiona Fung
Recipe Link: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015813-gingerbread-cookies
Originally presented to high-ranked officials by Queen Elizabeth 1, the traditional holiday snack has always been “Grandma’s homemade” gingerbread cookies. Dashes of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger are added to the cookie dough and sweetened with molasses and sugar to create the spicy-sweet combination that gingerbread is known for. Pair them with a glass of milk or hot chocolate for a fulfilling treat.
To impress anybody who tries your gingerbread cookies, you can pipe royal icing and add sprinkles once your treats have cooled, or add crushed mints to create the best holiday flavor combination. Personalize your cookies by creating gingerbread people and decorating them to look like your guest!
Sugar Cookies
By: Irena Jiang
Recipe Link: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018383-classic-sugar-cookies
Fresh out of the oven, the scent of piping hot sugar cookies fills the kitchen and makes your mouth water. Each bite consists of the golden brown, crispy outer shell melting into bits of crystallized sugar, revealing the warm, chewy, buttery filling underneath. You turn to reach for another, only to realize the whole plate is already licked clean and crumb-free. Simple and iconic with the perfect amount of flavoring, sugar cookies are the ideal treat to enjoy with a nice warm cup of hot chocolate.
To elevate the classic treat, add a dash of icing and a pinch of peppermint. Try a snowflake pattern and edible glitter sprinkles for an extra glow—a twinkling crystal amidst the holiday season.
S’mores
By: Cassandra Zheng
Recipe Link: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1023383-smores
Whether it be around the heat of a campfire or in the warmth of your home on a chilly night, s’mores are a simple yet iconic dessert for any occasion. After being perfectly layered between two graham crackers, the creamy melted bars of chocolate slowly drip over the gooey golden-brown marshmallows. With hints of the aroma of toasted marshmallows still wafting through the air, you finally sink your teeth into the right balance of crunch, fluffiness, and warm chocolate melt, hoping that their sweetness and comforting taste will linger just a little longer in your mouth. Together, these components make every s’more a tasty and irresistible snack for everyone. Whether they are generously coated in a light stream of chocolate or topped off with bits of crushed candy canes, s’mores are a classic treat that never disappoints.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
By: Darren Cheng
Recipe Link: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015819-chocolate-chip-cookies
Freshly baked chocolate cookies are the prime wintery dessert with its sweet and delectable flavors. With your first bite, you break through the cookie’s crunchy, yet crumbly perimeter. You taste the semisweet chocolate chips and feel the cookie’s soft and gooey center as you take a second bite. And if you choose to do so, drinking it with chilled milk, the cookie’s famous companion, will blend delightfully with the dessert’s buttery composition and familiar warmth. This simple delicacy, whether upgraded with additional ingredients or not, will leave you content this holiday season.
Adding M&Ms to the dough before you bake creates ornament-inspired treats. Did someone end up on Santa’s Naughty List this year? You can mix dark chocolate or black food coloring into the cookie batter to create “coal” cookies.
Madeleine Lennox and Justina Hom contributed to this article.
