10 bakery treats launching for Christmas 2024

Holidays are coming and, just like Santa’s elves, the nation’s bakers have been hard at work whipping up goodies to spread festive cheer.

There’s something for everyone – gluten-free festive doughnuts, vegan-friendly cupcakes, beautifully decorated biscuits, and pastry-clad delights of the sweet and savoury kind.

Dive into the festive fun here:

Cosy Christmas Letterbox Cookies, Baked by Steph

Baked by Steph is helping shoppers to sleigh this Christmas with its range of beautifully iced biscuits.

The vegan-friendly Cosy Christmas Letterbox Cookies features hand decorated treats in the shape of a snuggly fireplace, Christmas tree, slippers, and cup of cheer. Plus, the bauble can be personalised with a message for that extra special touch.

These are just one of the letterbox friendly options available on the Baked by Steph website, with Meowy Christmas (featuring festive felines), Classic Christmas, and Festive Feast (complete with Brussels sprouts, turkey, and Christmas pudding shaped delicacies) among the line-up.

Gingerbread Cupcake, The Hummingbird Bakery

The Hummingbird Bakery has embraced warming festive flavours for its range of seasonal bakes this year, including the Gingerbread Cupcake (£4). The gingerbread spiced cupcake is topped with an orange cream cheese frosting.

Also available is the Apple Pie Cookie (£3.80), said to capture all the cosy flavours of a classic apple pie with its cinnamon-flavoured apple topping and caramel drizzle. There’s also the Chocolate Orange Cookie (£3) which sees a rich and gooey chocolate cookie packed with orange-flavoured chocolate and finished with a drizzle of milk chocolate.

While the cookies are only available in The Hummingbird Bakery’s six stores across London, it has unveiled a hamper for customers who are further afield. The Hummingbird Baker x Mirabeau Christmas Hampers come with either a bottle of Mirabeau La Folie Sparkling Rosé, or Mirabeau Pure Provence Rosé and includes select bakes from The Hummingbird Bakery’s 2024 Christmas Range, including the Christmas Cupcake Box, and Christmas Red Velvet Wreath Cake.

The Festive Feast, The Pizza Company

The Pizza Company is urging the nation to embrace festive flavours as part of a big night in with the launch of its Festive Feast Pizza. Available in Tesco stores for £5.25, the pizza has a takeaway-style base smothered in tomato sauce, generously topped with creamy mozzarella, cheddar, and all the trimmings – including marinated chicken pieces, smoked bacon, crumbled stuffing breadcrumbs – and finished with a drizzle of cranberry sauce.

Festive Box, Borough 22

Borough 22 is promising doughnuts for all this Christmas with its box of six sweet treats that are gluten-free, 100% plant-based, kosher and halal.

Priced at £32 and available for nationwide home delivery from 1 December, the box contains six festive doughnuts. They are:

• Candy Cane – Borough 22’s classic fried doughnut with white peppermint glaze and festive sprinkles
• S’mores – Chocolate fudge icing topped with a digestive crumb and a toasted plant-based marshmallow
• Boston Cream – indulgent chocolate glaze with a smooth custard cream filling
• Cranberry glaze – a sweet pink cranberry glaze, topped with festive sprinkles
• Mince Pie – a cinnamon spice sugared ring doughnut topped with a vegan 0% alcohol mincemeat
• NoEgg Nog – a zero-alcohol twist on the well-known festive cocktail, with notes of cinnamon and nutmeg in a whipped icing glaze.

Hot Chocolate & Marshmallow Cupcakes, Oggs

Another brand serving up inclusive goodies for the yuletide season is Oggs, which has unveiled Hot Chocolate & Marshmallow Cupcakes and Gingerbread Cakes.

The former combine soft chocolate sponge with a marshmallow flavoured frosting, dusted with cocoa. They’re available in Tesco Express, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, and Ocado with a rsp of £2.35. The Gingerbread Cakes, meanwhile, feature creamy vanilla icing between lightly spiced gingerbread sandwich cakes. They’re available in Sainsbury’s and Ocado with a rsp of £3.95.

Gingerbread Chocolate Melting Middle, Gü

Gü has put a twist on its classic showstopper this year. The limited-edition dessert promises a warming gingerbread spices coupled with a rich molten centre and soft chocolate sponge, all finished with a flourish of speculoos crumb.

Shortbread Advent Calendar, Walker’s

Walker’s Shortbread Advent Calendar (rsp £20) has made a triumphant return for 2024 after selling out last year. It is filled with a selection of all-butter shortbread and features a new design which offers a peek at the inner workings of the bustling Walker’s bakery.

Walker’s shortbread is also available in other guises over the festive season including Shortbread Festive Shapes, a Shortbread Finger Tin, and Festive Mini Bags which feature tree and star-shaped treats. For something a tad more premium, Walkers also has the Festive Prestige range which includes Cranberry & Clementine Rounds – buttery shortbread with cranberry pieces and a zesty clementine flavour – and Christmas Spiced Rounds, which have warming hints of cinnamon and nutmeg with a dusting of demerara sugar.

Pork Stuffing & Cranberry Pie, The Original Baker

Embracing the savoury side of the season, The Original Baker has launched several pastry-clad delights including the Pork Stuffing & Cranberry Pie. It sees marinated pork shoulder slowly roasted, finished in a rich gravy, with pork stuffing and cranberry sauce, encased in an all-butter pastry.

Those preferring turkey can tuck into the Turkey Bacon Cranberry Roll, which comprises puff pastry wrapped around seasoned turkey thigh and pork shoulder, smoked dry cured bacon, sweet cranberry sauce, and dried cranberries. A Yuletide Pasty is also available and filled with British pork shoulder with dry cure smoked bacon, mixed with apricots and dates, wrapped in all-butter pastry which has been hand-crimped by The Original Baker team.

Those wishing to forgo meat have the option of the Nut Roast Deli Roll, which has a mix of nuts, sauteed mushrooms, seasonal vegetables, cranberries, and herbs encased in vegan-friendly pastry.

Merry Christmas Musical Tin, Cartwright & Butler

Part of the new Merry Christmas range, this embossed tin plays ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’ to anyone who opens it. The tin (rsp £15) features Cartwright & Butler’s new Christmas Pudding Biscuits, made with warming spices of cinnamon, ginger cloves and nutmeg and packed with rich dried fruit.

Other new additions to Cartwright & Butler’s range include Oaty Stollen Bites (rsp £6) which are made with two types of oats, golden syrup, candied peel, glace cherries and dried cranberries. The bites are then infused with a special hint of Christmas spices, packed onto layers of golden marzipan and apricot preserve before finally being topped with a mix of cherries, mixed peel and flaked almonds.

There’s also Winter Spiced Orange & Cranberry Shortbread Rounds (rsp £5) and the Biscuit Dunkers Selection (rsp £45) which features the likes of butter oat crumble and orange & cranberry shortbread biscuits.

Festive Chicken & Stuffing Slice, Ginsters

Ginsters is bringing back its Festive Chicken & Stuffing Slice for Christmas 2024. The limited-edition savoury slice sees 100% British chicken and smoked bacon in a creamy sauce with potato and sage & onion stuffing all encased in golden baked puff pastry. It is described as a ‘quick and convenient’ way to enjoy a taste of Christmas with minimal effort required.