The holiday season is one of my favorite times of year. From warm drinks and cozy sweaters to gathering with family and friends for meals and celebrations, there’s so much to love! Another favorite part of the holidays? Delicious French Christmas dessert recipes!

I look forward to some Christmas treats all year, and now I’m sharing my all-time favorites with you! Keep reading to learn more about traditional French Christmas recipes and decide what you’re going to bake this year.

What Do the French Eat at Christmas?

When it comes to Christmas desserts, the French know how to make things deliciously festive. French holiday desserts are steeped in tradition, with each region putting its unique twist on seasonal treats. 

One of the best-known French Christmas dessert recipes is the Bûche de Noël—a rich, yule-log-shaped cake decorated with powdered sugar, chocolate and other fun (and flavorful) decorations.

In France’s Provence region, you might find the famous “Thirteen Desserts,” which represent Jesus and his apostles. This sweet dessert spread includes dried fruits, nuts, nougats, and special pastries.

And much like in the United States, French Christmas baking includes many cookies, cakes and other sweet treats.

13 French Christmas Desserts to Try This Season

Ready for some festive holiday baking? Try one (or many!) of these French Christmas treats recipes this year.

Chocolate Chestnut Cake

The only thing better than chestnuts roasting on an open fire is this chocolate chestnut cake! This cake is as beautiful as it is delicious, and is a wonderfully festive choice to end your Christmas dinner.

This cake includes a chestnut spread, chocolate ganache and chestnut cream frosting for a sweet and complex combination of flavors. The cake is so moist it will stay food for up to a week without the frosting, so you can make it ahead and add frosting the day you serve it!

Springerle Cookies

There’s a reason this cookie recipe is consistently one of my top-performing posts. Springerle cookies are so delicious, so beautiful and just perfect for the holidays! Springerle are a French Christmas cookie from the Alsace-Lorraine region. 

The dough is actually quite simple, made with just five ingredients and an electric mixer. The hard part is making sure you let the dough rest properly so you can shape it with traditional springerle cookie molds. 

Molded Gingerbread Cookies

These cookies are one of my favorite French Christmas dessert recipes! They are a twist on a classic springerle cookie baked with lots of holiday flavor. While traditional Springerle cookies are flavored with anise, these molded gingerbread cookies feature molasses, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg.

They’re molded with Springerle cookie molds and topped with a sweet, simple powdered sugar glaze. They just might become one of your favorite Christmas cookies!

King’s Cake

Galette Des Rois, also known as King’s Cake, is a traditional post-Christmas dessert in France. Traditionally enjoyed on January 6 (Epiphany), the pastry consists of two flaky puff pastry layers filled with a rich almond cream. 

For a fun holiday tradition, you can even hide a small trinket or figurine, known as a fève, inside the cake! Whoever finds the fève in their slice is crowned king or queen for the day – complete with a paper crown! 

French Hot Chocolate

Is there anything more perfect for Christmastime than a steaming mug of hot chocolate? I don’t think so!

My Chocolat Chaud recipe is rich, creamy and oh so chocolatey! Enjoy it with homemade whipped cream on top or add your favorite liquor.

Buche de Noel

Bûche de Noël is one of the most well-known French Christmas dessert recipes – and for good reason! Not only is this cake delicious and packed with wonderful flavors, it’s also beautiful: a simple rolled cake decorated with lots of presents, trees, and little joys to bring sweet delights on Christmas.

Bûche de Noël is typically served in France for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day and is reminiscent of an interesting tradition that started hundreds of years ago. On the winter solstice, a log was decorated with mushrooms, moss and even bathed in Cognac before being burned. On the shortest day of the year, the tradition brought light and joy to people’s homes as they looked forward to the new year. The longer the log burned, the more good luck to be had in the coming year.

While the original tradition has gone out of fashion, today you’ll see everyone from home bakers to famous patisseries creating their own pastry versions. One of my favorite versions is my bûche de noël with gingerbread mousse! 

Mulled Wine

Is mulled wine really a French Christmas dessert recipe? You could argue otherwise, but I say it totally is! This is the perfect drink to pair with dessert on a cold Christmas night (or enjoy on its own).

Called Vin Chaud in France, this drink is incredibly simple to make. All you need is a bottle of fruity red wine, brown sugar, spices (like cinnamon sticks, star anise, ginger and cloves) and some fresh orange peel. Let those flavors come together in a saucepan over low heat and you’ve got yourself a delicious drink sure to keep you warm on Christmas and all winter long!

Mulled Wine Chocolate Tart

Once you’ve made mulled wine, it’s only natural to want to enjoy it as many ways as possible! My mulled wine chocolate tart is the perfect solution. The recipe starts out a lot like a classic French chocolate tart. But instead of using cream to make the chocolate ganache, we’re using mulled wine!

This tart is packed full of chocolate and holiday flavors and is a dessert your friends and family will be talking about for holidays to come.

Wreath Macarons

Macarons are a classic French dessert recipe perfect for just about any time of year. They are a delicate sandwich cookie made from meringue and almond flour. Macarons include two meringue shells sandwiched together with a variety of fillings, such as lemon curd, pastry cream or ganache. 

Because they’re so versatile, they’re a great option for a French Christmas recipe. Add classic holiday flavors by filling macarons with mulled wine chocolate ganache or adding peppermint extract. 

Another fun holiday spin? My Christmas wreath macarons! I taught my students how to make these green, wreath-shaped cookies in one of my favorite live cooking classes – and you can still access the class in my shop!

Crème Brûlée

Is there anything more classic than crème brûlée? While this dessert isn’t specific to the holidays, it’s a traditional French dessert that is a gorgeous addition to any meal. 

Crème brûlée consists of a rich custard base topped with a contrasting layer of hard caramel. The custard is typically made from cream, sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla, and is baked in a water bath to ensure a smooth and creamy texture. For a Christmas twist, add a dash of nutmeg to the custard.

Once the custard has set and chilled, sugar is sprinkled on top and caramelized using a kitchen torch or broiler to form a crisp, glass-like topping.

French Madeleines

Madeleines are another traditional French pastry that can be enjoyed during the holidays. Part cookie and part cake, the batter for madeleines is similar to that of a sponge cake except that it has a lot of butter that gives them more of a tender crumb. They develop a slightly crisp edge while baking but stay soft and moist on the inside.

Madeleines are often served with a dusting of powdered sugar, topped with flavored glaze or dipped in a sweet ganache. There are so many ways to add your own favorite holiday flavors to these classic treats.

Croquembouche

Stunning and delicious, croquembouche is a showstopper for any holiday gathering! This is the kind of French Christmas recipe that looks extravagant but is actually fairly simple to make.

A dough is made on the stove and turns into a light puffy cloud that is later filled with a delicious vanilla cream. The cream puffs are arranged in a tower and drizzled with sweet caramel – who could resist?!

Want to try making croquembouche at home this holiday season? Check out my online French pastry class that will walk you through the whole recipe!

Santa Hat Mousse Cakes

If you’re looking for a kid-friendly dessert that adults will also love, these Santa hat mousse cakes absolutely fit the bill! These cakes are made with raspberry mousse, coconut mousse and a red mirror glaze – and decorated to look like mini Santa hats!

All the components of these cakes can also be made up to a week in advance and stored in the freezer until you’re ready to glaze – perfect for the busy holiday season!

Follow along with my online pastry class making these cute French Christmas desserts and get ready to wow your guests, young and old!

Bake French Christmas Desserts With Me!

Making French pastry at home doesn’t have to be hard. But if you’ve never made these recipes before, it can feel a bit daunting – especially during the holidays! 

One of the best ways to tackle a new dessert is to learn directly from the pros. While you may not be able to make a trip to France for one of my Versailles pastry classes, you can follow along with me online in one of my many pastry classes!

My Ultimate Holiday Bundle will walk you through how to make some of my favorite French Christmas dessert recipes, including:

This bundle includes the following classes:

• Chocolate Dream Bûche de Nöel
• Gingerbread Mousse Bûche de Nöel
• Croquembouche
• Wreath Macarons with Maple-Clove Buttercream
• Champagne Macarons
• French Cookies With A Twist (Pain D’Epices Cookies, Coffee Chocolate Domes Du Couvent, Cranberry Orange Thumbprint Cookies)
• Cookie Bonanza (Toffee White Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies, Mini Peppermint Cheesecakes, Chocolate Stars)

Happy holiday baking! Use the button below to get my Ultimate Holiday Bundle or try any of the other French Christmas dessert recipes on the blog!