Christmas
Latin Christmas Desserts, and How Far Ahead to Make Them
Mexican, Colombian and Venezuelan holiday sweets, planned so Christmas Eve is just for serving.
Most Christmas desserts from Latin America are made before the big night, which is good news if you are also cooking dinner. Venezuela's black cake is a rum-soaked fruit cake baked in early December; Mexican polvorones (Mexican wedding cookies) and iced butter cookies keep for one to three weeks; jars of fruit in cane-sugar syrup are made two or three days ahead and keep for weeks in the fridge; and chilled desserts such as Colombian natilla, a sliceable cinnamon custard, or Venezuelan quesillo, a caramel flan, are made the day before. Only Colombia's cheese buñuelos need frying at the last minute.
Below they are grouped by what actually helps you choose: how far ahead they go, which ones keep well enough to give away, which need no oven, and which get fried. Each one says how long it keeps, using the numbers from our recipes. New to Latin baking? Start with Colombian natilla, Colombian rice pudding, Mexican wedding cookies or Mexican mosaic jello: none of them has a step that goes wrong in a single minute.
Most of the special ingredients have easy stand-ins. Piloncillo, the cone of unrefined cane sugar in the Mexican aisle of US supermarkets, replaces Venezuelan papelón and Colombian panela; in the UK, dark muscovado does the job. For the full holiday menu by country, see Mexican Christmas, Colombian Christmas, Venezuelan Christmas or our main Latin Christmas recipes guide.
A dessert countdown to Christmas Eve
You don't need all of them. Pick one from each stage (one weeks ahead, one jar and one the day before) and the dessert table is covered without losing December 23 to the kitchen.
- Late November. Soak the fruit for the Venezuelan black cake in dark rum and sweet wine (our countdown starts November 26) and bake around December 3. The wine-soaked Colombian black cake is baked two to three weeks ahead. Mexican sweet tamales can be steamed and frozen now too: they keep 3 to 4 months.
- Early December. Freeze discs of Christmas butter cookie dough and raw balls of polvorones, both good for 3 months. From December 7, shape and freeze the raw Colombian buñuelos: they keep 1 month and fry straight from frozen.
- One to two weeks before. Bake cookies for gifting: polvorones keep 2 to 3 weeks in a tin and iced butter cookies 10 days. Venezuelan catalinas, soft spiced cookies, keep 2 to 3 weeks. Brush the black cake with rum on December 8, 15 and 21.
- December 20 to 22. Make the jars: green papaya in syrup, cabello de angel and Colombian figs in syrup, all better after a couple of days in the fridge. Fry Mexican buñuelos, buñuelos de viento and hojuelas and store them in tins. Start the natas dessert three days out, and put the panettone dough in the fridge two nights before.
- December 23. Make the chilled desserts: natilla, quesillo, bienmesabe or majarete, or a rompope gelatin. Manjar blanco goes on the stove on the 22nd or 23rd. Bake the panettone and set the colored slabs for the mosaic jello.
- December 24. Assemble the mosaic jello in the morning, since it needs 6 hours to set. Unmold the natilla, fill the figs with dulce de leche just before serving, and fry the Colombian buñuelos last: they lose their crunch in about 20 minutes.
- January 5. Refrigerate the dough for the rosca de reyes overnight (8 to 14 hours) to shape and bake on January 6.
Desserts to make weeks ahead
These take the pressure off December. The Venezuelan black cake is a dark, dense fruit cake colored with burnt caramel and cane sugar, closer to a British Christmas cake than to anything chocolate. It spans about four weeks on the calendar but only around 3 hours of work: bake it early, brush it with rum weekly, and on the 24th just unwrap it. Wrapped, it keeps up to 1 month in a cool, dark cupboard, 6 months in the fridge and 12 in the freezer. Running late? A 4-day soak and baking on December 21 still works, as long as it rests 3 days wrapped before slicing. Colombia has its own black cake, soaked in sweet red wine with prunes and figs instead of rum: bake it two to three weeks ahead, wait at least 3 days before cutting, and with a spoonful of wine a week it keeps 3 weeks somewhere cool, or up to 3 months frozen.
Christmas butter cookies and Mexican wedding cookies, the pecan snowballs rolled in powdered sugar, can be frozen raw for up to 3 months; baked, the iced cookies keep 10 days and the polvorones 2 to 3 weeks in a tin. Venezuelan catalinas are soft, dark cookies spiced with clove and cinnamon that keep 2 to 3 weeks in a tin or 6 months frozen. Pink Mexican sweet tamales, studded with raisins and served at Christmas posadas, freeze in their husks for 3 to 4 months; you will find husks and masa harina in the Latin aisle or online.
Gingerbread cookies keep about two weeks undecorated in a closed tin, and the dough freezes.
DessertsVenezuelan Black Cake (Torta Negra), Rum-Soaked Fruit Cake
Venezuelan black cake (torta negra) is a Christmas fruit cake with rum-soaked fruit, papelón and dark caramel, baked at 300°F (150°C). One 9-inch cake serves 20: how it differs from Caribbean black cake, feeding schedule, swaps, storage.
DessertsColombian Black Cake (Torta Negra), Wine-Soaked Fruit Cake
Colombian black cake (torta negra) is a Christmas fruit cake soaked in sweet red wine, darkened with burnt panela and baked at 300°F (150°C). One 9-inch cake serves 20: soaking times, burnt sugar, swaps, storage and alcohol.
DessertsChristmas Butter Cookies That Hold Their Shape
Christmas butter cookies made with powdered sugar, egg yolks and no baking powder, rolled a scant ¼ inch thick and baked cold at 325°F (160°C). About 40 cut-outs, royal icing three ways, decorating without piping tips and drying times.
DessertsMexican Wedding Cookies, Polvorones That Keep Their Shape
Mexican wedding cookies, or polvorones, made with butter, toasted pecans and a double roll in powdered sugar, 36 cookies in 130 minutes. Chill the dough balls and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 14-16 min so they stay round. Gifting and freezing.
DessertsVenezuelan Catalinas, Soft Spiced Cookies with Papelón
Venezuelan catalinas made with a papelón or piloncillo syrup, 4 cups (500 g) of flour, clove, cinnamon and ginger, baked at 350°F (175°C). Makes 12 soft 4-inch cookies in 160 minutes, with US and UK sugar swaps and storage.
DessertsMexican Sweet Tamales (Tamales de Dulce), Pink and Fluffy
Mexican sweet tamales, pink tamales de dulce with raisins, made with 250 g of sugar and 300 g of fat per kilo of masa and whipped until it floats. Makes 24 in 160 minutes, with coloring options, steaming time, freezing and cost.
DessertsGingerbread Cookies, Soft or Crisp Cut-Outs with Molasses
Gingerbread cookies with molasses, rolled 3/16 inch thick and baked at 350°F (175°C) so the gingerbread men keep their arms. Pull them at 8 minutes for soft or 12 for crisp, with icing that sets hard. Makes 36 in about 3 hours.
Sweets in jars and on trays for gifting
Latin American Christmas tables often include fruit or milk sweets cooked slowly in syrup and eaten cold by the spoonful. They are made two or three days ahead because they improve in the fridge, and they keep far longer, so the Christmas Eve batch covers New Year's Eve too. In clean, covered jars in the fridge, Venezuelan green papaya dessert and cabello de angel, made with spaghetti squash in the US, keep 3 weeks; arequipe, Colombia's dulce de leche, up to 3 weeks; figs in syrup 2 weeks (3 days once filled with dulce de leche); and milky manjar blanco, set with rice, a week. Green papaya is easy to find in Asian grocers, and figs already in syrup are sold in jars at Latin grocers. Give these cold, to go straight into the recipient's fridge.
For a gift that travels without refrigeration, choose something dry. Wrapped Venezuelan coconut candy keeps a week in a tin and coconut kisses 5 days. They are everyday Venezuelan sweets rather than Christmas-only ones, but they round out a cookie box nicely.
DessertsVenezuelan green papaya dessert, dulce de lechosa recipe
Dulce de lechosa, Venezuela's Christmas dessert of green papaya strips candied in piloncillo syrup with cloves, off the heat at 223°F (106°C). Makes 3 lb (1.4 kg), 14 servings, in 3½ hours, with or without pickling lime and how to gift it.
DessertsCabello de angel, Venezuelan spaghetti squash candy
Cabello de angel is Venezuelan candied squash: strands of figleaf gourd or spaghetti squash cooked in their own weight of sugar to 220°F (104°C). Makes 3½ lb, 16 servings, in 4 hours, with cinnamon and cloves; costs, storage and gifting.
DessertsColombian Figs in Syrup with Dulce de Leche (Brevas)
Colombian figs in syrup are green figs boiled three times to strip the bitter latex, then simmered in panela syrup to 220°F (104°C). Makes 24 figs for 8 in 170 minutes, with US and UK fig swaps, a Christmas plan and storage.
DessertsArequipe, Colombian Dulce de Leche From Milk
Arequipe made the long way: a quart of milk, sugar and baking soda reduced for 125 minutes down to 225 °F exactly. Why baking soda darkens the milk, how to read the set without a thermometer and the five ways it fails.
DessertsColombian Manjar Blanco, the Rice-Set Christmas Milk Sweet
Colombian manjar blanco is milk and sugar reduced with soaked, ground rice until it sets firm enough to cut with a spoon. About 3 hours on the stove for 20 servings, the cold-plate test, US and UK swaps, a Christmas plan and costs.
DessertsVenezuelan Coconut Candy (Conservas de Coco) with Papelón
Venezuelan coconut candy, conservas de coco, made with 17.6 oz (500 g) of fresh coconut and 14 oz (400 g) of papelón cooked to 234°F (112°C). Makes 25 squares in 195 minutes, with coconut and sugar swaps, cutting, storage and cost.
DessertsCoconut Kisses, Venezuelan Besitos de Coco with Cane Sugar
Venezuelan coconut kisses, besitos de coco, made with a spiced syrup of 17.6 oz (500 g) papelón and one fresh coconut, baked at 350°F (180°C). Makes 30 in 130 minutes, with macaroon differences, coconut swaps, storage and cost.
Buñuelos and other fried sweets
"Buñuelo" means different things across Latin America, and only one kind has to be fried at the last minute. Mexican buñuelos are thin, crisp discs tossed in cinnamon sugar; fry them up to three days ahead, store them in a tin, and pour the piloncillo syrup (which keeps a week) over them at the table. Buñuelos de viento are lacy rosettes made with a rosette iron; fry them two or three days ahead and they stay crisp up to a week. Colombian hojuelas, thin orange-scented fried dough, stay crisp 5 days in a tin.
Colombian buñuelos are the exception: round cheese fritters, naturally gluten-free, best within 20 minutes of leaving the oil. The trick is to freeze the raw balls for up to a month and fry them from frozen with 2 extra minutes per batch. Cotija is the closest US match for the Colombian cheese.
DessertsMexican Buñuelos Recipe, Crispy with Piloncillo Syrup
Mexican buñuelos are paper-thin wheat discs fried at 350°F (175°C) for 30 to 45 seconds a side, 16 in 110 minutes. How to stretch without tearing, why they turn hard or greasy, piloncillo syrup and how many for a party.
DessertsBuñuelos de Viento Recipe, Crisp Mexican Rosette Cookies
Buñuelos de viento are Mexican rosette cookies, a thin milk and egg batter fried on a rosette iron heated in 365°F (185°C) oil. How to season the iron, fix sticking or greasy rosettes, keep them crisp and make 40 ahead.
DessertsColombian Hojuelas, Crisp Christmas Fried Dough
Colombian hojuelas are thin orange-scented fried dough, rolled to 2 mm (1/16 in) and fried at 350°F (175°C) so they blister and snap. One batch gives 75 pieces in 85 minutes, with panela syrup or powdered sugar and a party plan.
DessertsColombian Buñuelos, the Christmas Cheese Fritters
Colombian buñuelos, the salty cheese fritters of Christmas, made with cotija or queso costeño, cornstarch and tapioca. Fried at 300-330 °F so they puff without splitting, 20 of them in 57 minutes. Cheese swaps and why they burst.
No-bake chilled desserts for the day before
Make these on the 23rd; on the 24th they just come out of the fridge. Colombian natilla is 15 minutes at the stove plus 4 hours of chilling, keeps 3 to 4 days and does not freeze. Mexican mosaic jello, cubes of colored gelatin set in a creamy condensed-milk layer, is a crowd dessert for about 20: set the colored slabs the evening before and assemble in the morning. It keeps 3 to 4 days and does not freeze either. Rompope gelatin is a pale yellow milk jello flavored with rompope, Mexico's eggnog liqueur; it needs at least 6 hours to set, keeps 3 to 4 days and can't be frozen. Store-bought eggnog stands in for rompope, and since nothing is cooked, make an alcohol-free batch for kids.
Venezuelan majarete is a coconut and corn pudding cut into squares, about 30 minutes of hands-on work, and keeps 3 to 4 days. Colombian rice pudding is done in 55 minutes and keeps 4 days. The natas dessert needs no oven either, but it is not for beginners: it takes fresh, ideally non-homogenized milk and three days of boiling and skimming, and keeps 3 to 4 days once assembled.
Puerto Rican tembleque, coconut milk set with cornstarch, firms up in about 4 hours in the fridge and unmolds on the day.
DessertsColombian Natilla, the Eggless Christmas Custard
Colombian natilla, the firm eggless Christmas custard of milk, cornstarch, panela and cinnamon, made for 10 people. Fifteen minutes of work plus 4 hours chilled, how much cornstarch per quart and why it will not set.
DessertsMexican Mosaic Jello, Gelatina de Mosaico That Unmolds Clean
Mexican mosaic jello, or gelatina de mosaico, sets cubes of three colored gelatins in a creamy milk gelatin for 20 servings. Pour the milk layer below 86°F (30°C) so the cubes stay sharp, with 50 minutes of work and an overnight chill.
DessertsRompope Gelatin, Mexican Eggnog Jello That Unmolds Clean
Rompope gelatin is a Mexican milk jello made with eggnog liqueur, condensed and evaporated milk and 4 envelopes (1 oz) of unflavored gelatin. No milk to heat, an eggnog swap, a kid-safe version, 10 servings after 6 hours chilling.
DessertsVenezuelan Majarete, Coconut Corn Pudding with Papelón
Venezuelan majarete is a coconut corn pudding set with precooked corn flour, whisked into cold milk so it never turns lumpy. 40 minutes at the stove, 4 hours to chill, 10 squares, with brown sugar and UK swaps, storage and versions.
DessertsColombian Rice Pudding, Creamy by Starch Not Cream
Colombian rice pudding with short-grain rice, a cinnamon stick and condensed milk, ready in 55 minutes for 8 bowls. The 6-to-1 liquid ratio, why the rice is never rinsed and why it thickens as it cools rather than in the pot.
DessertsColombian Natas Dessert, the Milk-Skin Pudding for Christmas
Colombian natas dessert, postre de natas, is milk skins from 6 liters (1.6 gal) of whole milk simmered in cinnamon syrup with yolks taken to 160°F (71°C). Which milk works, a 3-day plan, US costs and a cream shortcut.
DessertsTembleque Recipe, Puerto Rican Coconut Pudding That Sets
Tembleque is Puerto Rico's coconut pudding, set with cornstarch instead of eggs and molded so it wobbles on the plate. Two cans of coconut milk, ½ cup cornstarch, why it won't set or goes lumpy, make-ahead tips and storage, serves 8.
Baked desserts for Christmas Eve
Venezuelan quesillo is a caramel flan baked in a water bath, with tiny holes that show it was made right; bake it the day before, since it tastes better on day two and keeps 4 days in the fridge. A bundt pan works in place of the Venezuelan mold. Bienmesabe layers sponge, coconut custard and meringue, a little like a coconut trifle; it is better after a night in the fridge and keeps 3 to 4 days. You can bake the sponge 2 days ahead or skip the oven and use ladyfingers.
Homemade panettone uses instant yeast instead of a sourdough starter, so it fits into an afternoon or two short sessions. Bake it two or three days before serving; it keeps 5 days in a sealed bag, and each batch makes two loaves, one to keep and one to give.
DessertsVenezuelan Quesillo, the Caramel Flan with Tiny Holes
Venezuelan quesillo is a caramel custard of 5 whole eggs and a can of sweetened condensed milk, baked in a water bath. Why the tiny holes are the point, the oven heat that makes them and how to unmold it without breaking it.
DessertsVenezuelan Bienmesabe, Coconut Custard Cake with Meringue
Venezuelan bienmesabe is a chilled layered dessert of wine-soaked sponge, coconut custard and cinnamon meringue, made a day ahead. Serves 15 in 330 minutes, with US and UK swaps, a no-alcohol version, safe egg temperatures and costs.
DessertsHomemade Panettone with Instant Yeast, No Starter Needed
Homemade panettone made with instant yeast instead of a sourdough starter, baked in two small paper molds at 350°F (175°C) to 197°F (92°C) inside. How to knead to the windowpane, timing rises in a cool kitchen, hanging and storing.
After Christmas, Three Kings bread on January 6
In Mexico the holidays close on January 6 with rosca de reyes, an orange-scented sweet bread ring with a crisp sugar-paste topping and small figurines hidden inside. The dough rests 8 to 14 hours in the fridge, so knead it the night of January 5; baked, it keeps 3 days wrapped. For December 31, most of the jarred sweets above are still good if you made them for the 24th, and the rest of the menu is in our New Year's Eve guide.
Frequently asked questions
What are traditional Mexican Christmas desserts?
Buñuelos with piloncillo syrup or cinnamon sugar, polvorones (Mexican wedding cookies), buñuelos de viento, sweet pink tamales at the posadas, gelatin desserts such as mosaic jello or rompope gelatin, and on January 6 the rosca de reyes. See Mexican Christmas for the full menu.
What desserts do Colombians and Venezuelans eat at Christmas?
In Colombia, natilla with cheese buñuelos during the novena nights from December 16 to 24, plus hojuelas, manjar blanco, figs in syrup with arequipe, the natas dessert and a wine-soaked black cake. In Venezuela, black cake, green papaya dessert, cabello de angel and quesillo.
Which Latin Christmas desserts can I make ahead?
Almost all of them. Black cake is baked in early December and keeps a month wrapped; polvorones and iced cookies are baked one to two weeks ahead; jarred sweets such as green papaya dessert or figs in syrup are made two or three days ahead and keep 2 to 3 weeks in the fridge. Natilla, quesillo and mosaic jello are made the day before.
What is an easy Latin Christmas dessert for beginners?
Colombian natilla, with 15 minutes at the stove; rice pudding, ready in 55 minutes; polvorones, which need no eggs and no kneading; or mosaic jello, which needs no oven. Save black cake and the natas dessert for when you have some practice.
Which Latin Christmas desserts make good gifts?
For gifts that travel without a fridge: iced butter cookies (10 days in a tin), polvorones (2 to 3 weeks), catalinas (2 to 3 weeks), wrapped black cake or panettone (5 days in a sealed bag). Jarred sweets such as arequipe or green papaya dessert make lovely gifts too, but hand them over cold for the fridge.
Can I freeze Latin Christmas desserts?
Some freeze well: Venezuelan black cake in wrapped slices (12 months) and the Colombian one (3 months), cookie dough and raw polvorones or Colombian buñuelo balls, cooked sweet tamales, and green papaya dessert or cabello de angel (3 months). Natilla, manjar blanco, rice pudding, mosaic jello, quesillo and bienmesabe do not.