Recipe Index - Risa's Family Kitchen

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Here are our favorite Christmas cookie and candy recipes from 2025. With toffee, bark, cookies, and Christmas desserts, we have lots of ideas to share for your Christmas baking and gifting this year. In this overhead image, the cookies and candy are arranged in a 6 container wooden box.

Desserts

Christmas Cookies Box Ideas

Desserts

Peppermint Bark Pretzels

he chocolate and toffee need to set for at least 2 hours or up to overnight. You can speed up this process by placing the toffee in the fridge if desired. Place a spatula or bench scraper under the toffee and place it on a cutting board (it’s okay if it breaks a little with this process). Cut with a sharp knife to break into pieces and serve or store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two weeks. In this image, the toffee is placed in a tin in the center of the image, surrounded by Christmas greenery, ribbon and ornaments.

Desserts

Chocolate Butter Toffee with Pecans

These Orange Cranberry Cookies with Icing are soft, citrusy, and sweet. Filled with tart dried cranberries, crispy chopped pecans, and bright citrusy orange zest, then rolled in orange sugar and drizzled with orange icing, they are a beautiful and delicious holiday treat. This image is an overhead shot of the iced cookies close together on a plate.

Desserts

Orange Cranberry Cookies with Icing

This Caramel Pretzel Chocolate Bark is the ultimate sweet-and-salty treat. The combination of the creamy chocolate base, crunchy and salty pretzels and peanuts, and a rich buttery caramel topping finished with a sprinkle of salt is an irresistible treat. Easy to make with just a few ingredients, its a fun holiday treat, perfect for packing in tins or sharing on a plate. In this image, a piece of the Caramel Pretzel Bark is leaning in front of a stack of the bark in the center of the frame with pretzels, peanuts and other bark pieces in the foreground and background.

Desserts

Caramel Pretzel Chocolate Bark

These Baked Mashed Potatoes with Cream Cheese are the ultimate comfort food and make the perfect side dish for holiday baking. These make-ahead potatoes can be made 1-2 days in advance and then baked just before serving. Made with cream cheese, butter in the potatoes and on top, and cream, they are ultimately creamy and buttery, with a light golden top. Here a spoon is scooping the potatoes out of the pan in the center of the image

Salads and Sides

Baked Mashed Potatoes with Cream Cheese

We make these Cherry Bars with Almond Glaze every holiday season. Made in a half sheet pan, they make a beautiful dessert for a larger crowd or make an easy Christmas gift. The tender crumb, cherry pie filling, and almond icing drizzle are a delicious combination, and they are easy to prepare. In this image, a cherry bar is plated in the center of the image with a bite taken, showing the inside tender crumb, cherry pie filling, and almond drizzle up close. Plated bars are in the background.

Desserts

Cherry Bars with Almond Glaze

This Brined Boneless Turkey Breast with Maple Glaze is incredibly tender and flavorful. The overnight brine, seasoning, and maple butter glaze when roasting, gives this boneless turkey breast an incredible depth of flavor and just the right balance of slightly sweet and savory. This is an easy, elegant dish for dinner or for a small group for Thanksgiving if you don't want to make a large turkey. This is an overhead shot of the boneless turkey breast placed on a serving platter with sage, thyme, and cranberries. The breast has several slices cut so you can see the interior of the turkey as well.

Main

Brined Boneless Turkey Breast with Maple Glaze

This Maple Pecan Pie without Corn Syrup has the buttery, nutty, gooey filling you expect from pecan pie but with an added depth of flavor from maple syrup. Made with mostly maple syrup, some honey for thickening, and a touch of maple extract, each bite of the pecan pie has a hint of maple which beautifully compliments the roasted, sweetened pecans. Here in the center of the image is a slice of pecan pie with a bite taken out of the front with the pie and an additional slice in the background. Maple syrup and pecans are in the foreground and background as well.

Desserts

Maple Pecan Pie without Corn Syrup

This Coconut Cream Pie with Coconut Milk, made with part coconut milk and half-and half, is my husband's favorite pie. We have made it for countless birthdays and holidays, and truthfully, it is always a favorite for guests and family. It has a dreamy, creamy custard with coconut flavor that shines through from the coconut milk, sweetened coconut flakes in the custard, and toasted coconut flakes sprinkled on top. Here the pie is in the pan in the center of the image, and has been sliced into to see the creamy filling of the pie. Slices of the pie are in the background.

Desserts

Coconut Cream Pie with Coconut Milk

Just last night, I won first place in a chili contest with this Chili Recipe with Corn. We love this chili. It is the perfect one-pot meal. It makes a great cozy dinner on a busy weeknight, or easily feeds a crowd for game nights, Halloween, or other fall and winter gatherings. Made with ground beef, chili beans, pinto beans, green chiles, broth, tomatoes, tomato sauce, seasonings, and corn, we love how the slight sweetness of the corn balances with the flavorful seasoned chili. This image shows an overhead of the chili served in a bowl with toppings including corn, avocao, green onions and grated cheese. Cornbread is shown above the bowl of chili.

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Chili Recipe with Corn