Holiday Desserts

Part of the magic of the holidays stems from sharing something special — whether that’s sharing time with loved ones, sharing memories by the fire or sharing meals at the table. As you celebrate this holiday season, we want to share a few dessert recipes inspired by this enchanting time of year.

Kendall McCullough, pastry supervisor at the Dogwood, has a few go-to desserts she knows she can count on to spread joy (and delicious flavor) at holiday celebrations. Read on to discover some of her favorite recipes to sweeten up the season!

Gingersnap and Toffee Caramel Sundae

My mom used to make this as a Christmas dessert. You can use store-bought ingredients or try your hand at making it from scratch!

Ingredients:

• 1 bag of Heath bars
• 1 bag of gingersnaps
• 1 container of vanilla ice cream
• Desired amount of caramel sauce

To make:
Simply scoop vanilla ice cream into a bowl, sprinkle with crumbled up heath bars and gingersnaps, then heat your caramel and pour it over top.

*Caramel from scratch:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup cream
• 4 ounces butter
• ½ Tablespoon vanilla
• Pinch of kosher salt

To make:
Pour sugar into a pan and cook while heating cream separately in the microwave. Once the sugar takes on an amber color, remove from heat and slowly add in the cream. Then, add butter, vanilla and kosher salt. Place in a container to cool. Store in fridge. Yields 2 cups caramel.

*Toffee from scratch:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup melted butter
• 2 ¼ cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

To make:
Cook butter and sugar on medium heat around 300ºF, stirring no more than three times (the more you stir, the more the sugar and butter are likely to separate or crystallize). Add salt and vanilla, then pour onto Silpat. Yields ½ sheet of toffee.

Biscoff Cheesecake

This holiday dessert puts a fun, tasty twist on our classic Dogwood cheesecake recipe!

Ingredients for crust:

• 1 pack of 8.8-ounce Biscoff cookies
• ½ Tablespoon brown sugar
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ cup melted butter

Ingredients for filling:

• 1 ½ pounds cream cheese, softened
• 1 ¾ cup sugar
• ¾ cup yogurt
• 2 eggs
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla bean paste
• ½ jar Biscoff spread

To make:
Grind Biscoff cookies and combine with brown sugar, salt and melted butter in a bowl. Toss by hand. The crust is ready once it can compact in your hand.

In a separate bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar with a paddle attachment until smooth, scraping down the sides often. Add yogurt, eggs and vanilla. Pour onto crust and swirl in the Biscoff spread after warming it up in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Bake at 260ºF for about 30-40 minutes or until the cheesecake does not stick to the pad of your finger. Cool fully and refrigerate. You can drizzle over caramel and Biscoff cookie pieces after cutting.

Sweet Potato Casserole

If you’re not sure whether to bring a dessert or a side dish to your celebration, my great grandmother's sweet potato casserole works as both! It’s also great to scoop ice cream on top of.

Kendall originally shared her great grandmother’s sweet potato casserole with Blackberry Magazine in 2022. Click here to read more about what makes this dish so special to Kendall and get the recipe to try it for yourself!