Christmas recipes
Christmas recipes you can make ahead
A classic dinner, written so Christmas Day is calm: each recipe says what to do ahead, how to freeze it, how to tell it is done and how to scale it to your guests. Adaptations of traditional dishes, in our own words.
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Cookies
Christmas cookie recipes: sugar, gingerbread, shortbread and more →
Five make-ahead cookies for the tray, each with freezer notes.
Main course · 2 hr 20 min
Brown Sugar Dijon Glazed Ham
A fully cooked bone-in ham, warmed slowly and brushed with a sweet-sharp glaze. The easiest centerpiece for a Christmas dinner, with a time per pound so you can plan the oven.
Side dish · 1 hr 25 min
Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes
Creamy mashed potatoes you assemble up to two days before and reheat in the oven, which frees the stove and your attention on Christmas Day.
Side dish · 33 min
Roasted Green Beans with Garlic and Almonds
Green beans roasted hot and fast with garlic, lemon zest and toasted almonds. A bright side dish that is ready in 20 minutes and uses the oven after the ham comes out.
Side dish · 17 min
Fresh Orange Cranberry Sauce
A 15-minute cranberry sauce with orange, a little cinnamon and not too much sugar. Make it up to a week before Christmas and cross one dish off the list.
Dessert · 55 min
Soft Sugar Cookies (No Chilling)
Soft, buttery drop-style sugar cookies rolled in sugar: no rolling pin, no cutters, no chilling. They freeze as dough or baked, which makes them the dessert you can finish before the week of Christmas.
Cookies · 3 hr
Soft Gingerbread Cookies
Cut-out gingerbread cookies with molasses, ginger and cinnamon that bake up soft in the middle with crisp edges. Make the dough up to 3 days ahead and decorate with a simple icing.
Main course · 5 hr
Standing Rib Roast (Prime Rib) for Christmas
A bone-in standing rib roast, salted a day ahead and cooked low and slow so it is evenly pink from edge to edge. With a time per pound, thermometer targets and a rest that gives you the oven back for the sides.
Drink · 4 hr 15 min
Homemade Cooked Eggnog
Rich eggnog made with a cooked custard base, so it is safe from raw eggs, thick and not too sweet. Make it up to 3 days ahead; add bourbon or rum if you like, or leave it out for the kids.
Cookies · 1 hr 30 min
Buttery Shortbread (3 Ingredients Plus Salt)
Classic pan shortbread: butter, powdered sugar and flour pressed into a pan, pricked with a fork and baked low until pale gold. It keeps for a week, tastes better after a day or two, and freezes, so it is a gift you can make early.
Cookies · 1 hr
Soft Snickerdoodles (Cream of Tartar, No Chilling)
Soft, tangy cinnamon-sugar cookies with the crackled tops that only cream of tartar gives. The dough is dropped into cinnamon sugar, flattened and baked in a hot oven for about 11 minutes, with no chilling.
Cookies · 1 hr
Peanut Butter Blossoms (Chocolate Kiss Cookies)
Soft peanut butter cookies rolled in sugar, baked 8 to 10 minutes and topped with a chocolate kiss pressed in the moment they come out of the oven. A Christmas cookie-tray favorite that freezes well.