These 30 Mexican Desserts for the holidays taste like heaven and will satisfy your sweet tooth. Special enough for any holiday get together.
This time of year is full of celebration and offers up plenty of occasions to indulge in sweet treat or two. In our house the holidays really start with pan de muerto for Día de los Muertos and don’t end until we’ve had that perfect slice of Rosca de Reyes on Día de los Reyes.
Whether you love traditional Mexican dessert recipes like Mexican sweet corn cake (pastel de elote) or more Tex-Mex desserts like sopapilla cheesecake bars, I think this list will give you plenty of options for making and serving the delicious Mexican desserts you love this holiday season.
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Mexican Desserts For The Holidays
1. Authentic Tres Leches Cake
Traditional Mexican cake soaked in three different kinds of milk and topped with a whipped cream frosting. Sprinkle with cinnamon and raspberries—or both!
2. Easy Sopapilla Recipe
This sopapilla recipe is so easy to make and they come out light as air and crisp every time. Deep fry the pastry until it is light and golden and then drizzle with honey or sprinkle with powdered sugar.
3. Mexican Chocolate Sweet Tamales with Hot Honey
If you’ve never had dessert tamales you are in for a real treat! These chocolate tamales are like the best warm chocolate cake topped with a spicy honey.
4. Authentic Arroz Con Leche
Luscious and rich this creamy rice pudding is everyone’s favorite dessert. Serve warm, cold, or room temperature.
5. Churros with Mexican Hot Chocolate Sauce
Want to really WOW your guests? Make a batch of homemade churros! This technique will show you how to make them ahead then just fry them to order when you’re ready.
6. Simple and Quick Champurrado
What about a sweet drink? This Champurrado will be the hit of your party. Similar to hot chocolate, Champurrado is a cozy, chocolatey drink made with masa harina, chocolate, and piloncillo. Ready in 10 minutes!
7. Pumpkin Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Bars
Stepping away from the traditional, this make-ahead dessert takes rich caramel dulce de leche and swirls it into creamy cheesecake with a Gamesa Maria cookie base.

8. Flan!
Great for parties and gatherings because this silky custard has to be made ahead. Made with simple ingredients like eggs, sweetened condensed milk, and the surprise ingredient—ricotta cheese. This caramel flan will knock your socks off.
9. Atole
Serve your guests warm mugs of this creamy cinnamon and corn drink to go with their tamales or enjoy on its own. The flavor is sweet and soothing and is perfect for chilly holiday evenings.
10. Strawberry Tamales with Horchata Sauce
Another sweet tamal made with ripe, red strawberries and drizzled with creamy horchata sauce. Perfect for Las Posadas, Christmas, or any holiday party.
11. Polvorones
Want to bake up some special holiday cookies? These Polvorones are just like the ones you get from the Mexican bakery.
12. Butternut Maple Empanadas with Cornmeal Crust
My interpretation of the sweet pumpkin empanadas but made with creamy butternut squash filling sweetened with maple syrup. The filling is wrapped in a cornmeal crust made with extra virgin coconut oil making them exceptionally delicious and dairy free!
13. Strawberry Tres Leches Cake
Ultra-moist, extra-fluffy tres leches cake infused with juicy strawberries in every bite. This gorgeous layer cake is a real stunner. Perfect for holiday gatherings.
14. Mexican Chocolate Tequila Tart
This silky, rich chocolate filling is spiked in all the right ways with tequila in a sweet and salty crust made with butter, graham crackers, and saltines.
15. Mexican Wedding Cookies
These cookies have the best crunchy texture made with pecans, orange zest, vanilla, and cloves they’re gluten-free and dairy-free!
16. No-Bake Pumpkin Chipotle Cheesecake
This is a perennial Thanksgiving favorite! A simple, no-bake cheesecake made with cream cheese, pumpkin puree and a kick of chipotle chili powder.
17. Buñuelos
A classic holiday sweet, Buñuelos are crispy fried dough that is sprinkled with sugar and anise seed. The homemade version warm out of the hot oil are like heaven.
18. Jamoncillo de Leche
Jamoncillo de leche or milk fudge is a special Mexican candy made during the holidays. Sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk are slowly simmered until it is thick enough that is hardens when cooled. This version is flavored with coffee, peppermint, and cocoa powder.
19. Cinnamon Coconut {Un} Fried Ice Cream
A Tex-Mex restaurant favorite, the wonderful thing about this fried ice cream recipe is that it requires no frying at all! These creamy vanilla ice cream balls coated in cinnamon-coconut crumbs is the perfect make-ahead dessert for your holiday party.
20. Pistachio Mazapan
This authentic Mexican dessert is the traditional candy we all know and love as De la Rosa which is made with peanuts. This homemade version is made with festive pistachios giving it that holiday green glow and weepingly delicious buttery flavor.
21. Coconut Tres Leches Cake
If the other two tres leches cakes didn’t get you excited then maybe this coconut version will tempt you. Coconut milk gets swapped in for the traditional heavy cream then it is topped with toasted coconut flakes.
22. Simple Authentic Capirotada
Learn the secret to making the perfect Capirotada every time. This classic Mexican bread pudding gets soaked in a cinnamon sugar syrup and topped with raisins and cheese. A holiday favorite in Mexico and here in the US.
23. Pumpkin Spice Mexican Wedding Cookies
An easy cookie recipe with all the crumbly salt and sweet goodness of traditional Mexican Wedding Cookies (aka Snowballs) but with the addition of warm spices like cinnamon, ginger, and clove.
24. Blackberry-Mezcal Bread Pudding with Homemade Cajeta Sauce
Creamy and sweet bread pudding with mezcal-macerated blackberries, toasty bread, and drenched in homemade Cajeta, Mexico’s answer to rich and creamy caramel sauce.
25. Oven Baked Mexican Rice Pudding
An elegant dessert that is deceptively simple. This version of arroz con leche is baked in the oven instead of simmered on the stove, taking all the standing and stirring out of the equation. Serve with a sweet and sour rhubarb sauce or fresh strawberries.
26. Homemade Mexican Sweet Bread
If you plan on hosting a holiday brunch then you must make this Concha recipe. The sugar cookie coating on top is colored and flavored with freeze-dried fruits and they have a soft, bouncy crumb, perfect for dunking into coffee or hot chocolate.
27. Ginger Cardamom Rompope
The holidays aren’t the holidays until you’ve had a glass of rompope. This non-alcoholic version is infused with ginger, cardamom, and cinnamon making it the perfect drink for kids and adults alike.
28. Pumpkin Layer Cake with Dulce de Leche
A stunning layer cake with layers of soft pumpkin cake, creamy dulce de leche, brown butter-cream cheese frosting, and a showering of toasted pecans on top. The best part? You can make the whole thing ahead of time and freeze!
29. Sweet Lime Tamales
Like the best sponge cake you’ve ever eaten, flecked with fragrant lime zest this is another one of our favorite sweet tamales recipes.
30. Mexican Chocolate Pudding
Homemade chocolate pudding from scratch is easier than you think and can be made up to 3 days in advance! Infused with orange zest, cinnamon, and vanilla this rich chocolate pudding is luxurious and the perfect way to end a festive holiday dinner.
Check Out These Other Dessert Recipes From Our Sister Site, Kate’s Best Recipes!
So Many Mexican Desserts
So little time! Choosing is impossible, so go ahead and make a few this holiday season. Let me know when you do by snapping a pic and tagging me on Instagram @holajalapeno and #holajalapeno so I can see or leave me a comment below (don’t forget to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating) ! Also, sign up for my weekly newsletter, lots of good stuff there too!
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