5 Fun Christmas Desserts for Children

I don’t know what it is with Christmas desserts and children, but they just don’t seem to be popular with anyone under 4 feet tall. On the long list of Christmas treats that fall foul of the little folk are mince pies, Christmas pudding, Christmas cake, figs, nuts (obviously) and brandy snaps.

All of these would go stale in the cupboard before my little one’s would consider sampling them. Maybe they get it from me, I can’t ever remember liking them when I was younger, in fact I’m sure I used to scoop all the filling out of the mince pies and just eat the pastry. They were definitely an acquired taste.

So, if you’ve got kids in the house over Christmas and you’re thinking about some fun Christmas desserts they’ll love, this article is for you!

Polar Bear Peppermint Creams

Polar Bear Peppermint Creams

I love this recipe for polar bear peppermint creams. The presentation of them is really cute and they’re also gluten free and vegetarian, which makes them a perfect and inclusive dessert. They also last around one month after making so you can serve them to any little guests that pop by over Christmas instead of a mince pie.

Gingerbread Houses

Why don’t you kill two birds with one stone by getting the children in the house to help make their own deserts? If your kids are too young to help you bake, just get them to help with a few decorations.

Putting the finishing touches on ginger houses are perfect as they can entertain children of all ages for ages (as well as make lots of lovely mess to clean up). You can get lots of easy assemble kits, or if you’re a whiz in the kitchen you can make your own templates.

If a gingerbread house sounds too much like hard work over the holiday period, getting (or baking) some Christmas animal cookies which the kids can have a go at icing is the next best thing!

Yule Log

The perfect alternative to the Christmas pudding - especially if your Christmas pudding has the unpalatable taste of alcohol! They’ve got a while yet to acquire that taste! The yule log is a great hit with children at Christmas, not only because it looks fun (it’s a chocolate log, come on!) but because it’s nice and soft, there’s no “bits” in it and it’s creamy and chocolatey.

There are loads of recipes online if you want to try making your own - personally I’d rather buy mine as I’d worry it would come out looking more like a chocolate turd than a yule log - but Nigella doesn’t think so!

Decorational Biscuits

Christmas Cookies

These are super fun to make with children. There are lots of recipes online for edible biscuits from gingerbread to cinnamon, like these ones.

Kids will especially love helping you create these. Mine especially love to squidge the mixture together in its doughy form and roll it out, albeit rather unevenly! Don’t worry if they don’t look pretty enough to hang on the tree when they’re finished as they can serve as a great, immediate desert for the impatient.

Whatever you do, make sure you pop a hole in the top of the biscuit before you bake it so you can tie some string or ribbon through it once it’s finished and hang it from the tree.

Christmas Brownies

Christmas Tree Brownies

These are SO easy to make and they taste amazing. They’re just brownies but cut into triangles with a bit of green icing and a candy cane stick stuck into the side! Viola! My description might sound a bit coarse, but you can make them look really pretty! Here’s some that someone else made earlier...

And here is the link detailing how to make some... however, you could make a healthier version that are just as easy to make and taste just as good. There’s loads of recipes online for vegan and gluten free too.

What are your kids favourite Christmas desserts? We’d love to know! Tag us at @matchstick_monkey on Instagram.