My grandmother made iced molasses bar cookies. I haven’t had them in forty or so years.
My maternal grandmother’s family has a candy called Boston Cream. It’s a fudge type of candy, incredibly rich and delectable. Sugar, corn syrup, heavy cream, butter and vanilla are cooked to the soft ball stage, then the mix is beaten until it’s almost ready to set. It take a strong arm or a heavy duty mixer. Just before it’s poured into the pan chopped black walnuts are added. Always black walnuts, never any other kind of nut. When the candy is set it’s cut into small squares.
My favorite is the sweet yeast, poppy seed filling, rolled Polish swirl bread. Luscious and soft, dark, golden, and sweet crust from an egg and milk wash.
Eat some warm with a bit of sweet butter, or even toasted with a bit of Jam and sweet butter, and you have broken new ground.
It’s my Polish Challah.
Is ambrosia considered dessert? Because it wouldn’t be Christmas around here without a big bowl of citrus and coconut goodness on the buffet. (Some people add mini marshmallows. Those folks are heretics, IMHO.)
The other sweets that must grace my Christmas feast: microwave fudge (for my niece, especially, even though the rest of the family snarfs it right up, too,) pecan tassies, and red velvet cake (from Grandmother’s “secret recipe” - the one printed on the back of the Swans Down flour box.) Mom usually makes chewy cake, which involves lots of coconut and nuts. Someone usually brings divinity candy, too, but I can’t stomach that much sugar in one bite.
Nothing exotic, I guess.
My mom’s vanilla wafer cake.
The Life Saver “books”.
And this hard candy - round, usually had a flower or something in the center…I always called it “stained glass” candy, but it probably has a real name. It looks like Murano glass rods cut into pieces. Any ideas?
I also love ribbon candy.
UT
Trader Joe’s has the best ladyfingers you can get anywhere these days. They only have them in stock in December. Good ladyfingers are very hard to find.
When my husband and I first married I worked for Retail Brand Alliance (owners of Casual Corner/Brooks Brothers). Their owner is Claudio del Vecchio, an Italian gentleman, who traditionally sent each employee a pannetone loaf for Christmas. If you’ve never had one, it is a sweet, very puffy, loaf of bread, and if you pinch a piece tightly between your fingers, the butter just squeezes out. The husband wishes fondly each year that RBA would return to Omaha just so I can go to work for them again and score the pannetone, and I think he would probably kiss Claudio if he ever met him. I really ought to buy the hubby a loaf for the holidays.
I bought some Trader Joe’s pumpkin butter the other day. It was very good. I really miss ribbon candy, we always had it at Christmas when I was a child. My mom would buy it from Marshall Field’s, she’d also get the Marshall Field’s chocolate candy…I forget what it was called. I used to love the chocolate mint.
When I was a kid and my Italian grandmother was still alive, the whole family (three aunts, two uncles, their spouses and kids, and my parents, my brother and I) would spend Christmas Eve at Gramma’s. She ALWAYS had La Florentine torrones from the Italian import shop down the block. Those nougats in the little portrait boxes are still my favorite Christmas candies, even though I rarely have them anymore.
I really like petit fours. We’ve always gotten Swiss Colony’s, but last year they were thinner than they had been before, so we might try another brand.
My all-time favorite is Linzer Torte, but I haven’t been able to find a good one in years.
Frangos! 
UT
The traditional Christmas pudding. Plus we usually have a pavlova too, smothered in whipped cream and passionfruit.
Fudge! I usually make at least three flavors for the holidays: chocolate, peanut butter, and vanilla. Sometimes vanilla mint or penuche sneaks in. My kids are all voting for eggnog fudge this year. All my fudge are old fashioned whipped fudges just like you pay $15/lb for at candy stores. Only mine is better. 
I used to make toffee as well, but that probably won’t happen this year.
My favorite Christmas desert is a steamed pudding that my family always makes called carrot pudding. It’s served with a rum flavored sauce that’s just delectable.
The hard candy with the pictures in the middle is called cut rock candy. We used to get it at Christmas when we were kids and I thought it was really neat. I saw a program on the Food Channel showing how it’s done-the design is made large scale then the candy goes through rollers that stretch it into a long rope and reduce its diameter. Nifty.
We also used to get these soft sugar sticks, sort of like Bob’s peppermint sticks only in different flavors and pastel colors. I haven’t seen those in many years, don’t think anyone makes them anymore.
Personally, I liked the fruit flavored striped candy canes over the peppermint. They were kind of like Beech-Nut Company fruit stripe gum. there was also a local handmade candy cane line that had striped, rootbeer, horehound, and blueberry flavors that I would pick over peppermint. They also had green and white spearmint swirled canes… take that over peppermint. Lime and Lemon, Green apple, Red Cherry and White stripe can be deceiving.
Gingerbread, peanut butter & ritz with almond bark and hot cocoa.
Quick or sweet breads- zucchini, banana, date, pumpkin, dark ginger, and my favorite which has glaceed cherries, cranberries, pecans, and dates in a molasses pudding/bread. Mexican wedding cookies, shortbread cookies, molasses cookies, sopapillas, and snickerdoodles. Fudge, peanut butter cups, sea foam, divinity, and the newest is peppermint bark. About a half dozen kinds of pie, lemon meringue and pecan are special favorites.
I’ve added torrone, marzipan, ricciarelli, and panettone. I’m working on an apple-caramel cheesecake that’s just about ready.
