14 more bakery NPD dazzling taste buds this Christmas time

From traditional treats and twists on favourite recipes, to warming spice infusions and indulgent flavours, bakery businesses across the nation have been fully embracing the festive season this year with an array of new products.

On the sweet side, there’s lashings of chocolate, of course, along with dashes of ginger and fruits, and occasionally booze. Savoury offerings feature classic cheese and cranberry pairings or are filled with roast meats and some of the trimmings.

Here, we unwrap the 14 latest batches of bakery NPD for Christmas 2024:

Panettone, Gail’s Bakery

A first foray into the Italian festive tradition of panettone has Gail’s using ‘lievito madre’ (sourdough starter) to create a heavily enriched dough that is then studded with a cornucopia of dried fruits, peels, and nuts. Joining the Classic variety are two other panettone options, Chocolate and Pistachio & Lemon (rsp: £35 | 1kg).

Gail’s, which saw its continued estate expansion drive revenue growth of 28% in its latest financial results, has also launched a Ginger & Treacle Loaf Cake (rsp: £12) made with treacle, muscovado sugar, spices, grated, ground and candied ginger, a hint of black pepper, and topped with a ginger crumble. On the savoury side, there’s new Christmas Escargot (rsp: £5.30 each or £32 for six) – a croissant dough swirled with rarebit sauce, parmesan, sweet caramelised onions, spiced red cabbage and cranberries, drizzled with jalapeño infused hot honey and sprinkled with fresh thyme.

Country Choice

Brie and cranberries are perennial Christmas favourites, and these have been combined in two of the five new products launched by Country Choice this Christmas. The Savour It Brie & Cranberry Ciabatta (rsp: £5.25) features creamy Brie and cranberry sauce with port, nestled in a rustic ciabatta. Meanwhile, the Brie, Port & Cranberry Turnover (rsp: £2.45) is filled with port-infused cranberry sauce and Brie, wrapped in puff pastry and sprinkled with parsley breadcrumbs.

For those who like their treats a little sweeter, there’s the Mince Pie Cookie (rsp: £1.45) that combines spiced cookie dough with mincemeat and broken biscuit pieces; or a decadent Chocolate Orange Cupcake (rsp: £1.75) that has chocolate cake topped with swirls of orange chocolate icing and festive sugar decorations. Completing the range of new products is the Iced Ginger Mini Loaf Cake (rsp: £1.75) consisting of ginger sponge cake adorned with ginger icing and a gingerbread crumb for that perfect seasonal spice.

Gingerbread cookies, Oreo

Available at retailers till the end of December, the Oreo Gingerbread cookies (rsp: £1.50) are crafted with the warming flavour of gingerbread and filled with a vanilla creme. Each also features an imprinted design of a gingerbread person to give an added touch of festive cheer. Earlier this year, Oreo unveiled an update to its classic black & white cookie recipe with added cocoa content.

Other limited-edition treats rolled out for Christmas by manufacturer Mondelēz International include the Oreo White Enrobed Cookies (rsp: £2), the Oreo Festive Favourite Selection Box (rsp: £2.75), and the Oreo Yard Stick (rsp: £4).

The company has also reinvented its Cadbury Festive Friends to create Cadbury Festive Animals (rsp: £1.50) – semi-covered milk chocolate biscuits in shapes ranging from jolly Santa Claus characters to adorable snowmen with carrot noses. And there’s a packet of Cadbury Snowy Fingers (rsp: £1.75) made of crunchy biscuits cloaked in a silky, smooth layer of white and milk chocolate.

McVitie’s Gingerbread Flavour Milk Chocolate Digestives, Pladis

Another major snack manufacturer looking to enhance Christmas sales is Pladis, which owns the McVitie’s and Jacob’s brands among others.

After a four-year hiatus, McVitie’s is bringing back its Gingerbread Flavour Milk Chocolate Digestives with an extra-chocolately recipe (rsp: £1.89 | pack of 16 biscuits). The product enjoyed a “standout success” in 2020, ranking in the top five seasonal NPD and contributing £1.2m in sales to the brand (NielsenIQ Scantrack Data, 16w ending 25 December 2021). There has also been a seasonal redesign of two of McVitie’s most popular biscuits: Milk Chocolate Hobnobs and White Chocolate Digestives. The latter line has delivered sales of £12m since it was launched last year.

Around the same time in 2023, Jacob’s debuted a 30% less fat recipe update to its Crinklys Cheese & Onion oven-baked snack. As one of the top five non-HFSS product launches last year (Nielsen data 18w to 30 December 2023), it is now available in a Christmas Caddy format and joins the brand’s existing line-up of Jacob’s Treeselets, Jacob’s Mini Cheddars Original and Jacob’s Mini Twiglets, which soared into double-digit growth (+13.9%) during last year’s festive season.

Christmas range, Love Handmade Cakes

A 15-strong range of festive treats for the foodservice sector has been launched by Yorkshire-based supplier Love Handmade Cakes, which was acquired by Regal Foods back at the start of 2024. Highlight from the selection of grab-and-go options and cake counter classics are decorated Gingerbread characters, Chocolate and Vanilla Cupcakes, Mini Chocolate Yule Logs, and an Iced Brandy Flavoured Fruit Wreath.

Additionally, there’s a tray of Spiced Christmas Flapjack made with a mix of oats, cherries, citrus peel and currants, topped with spiced jam, dark chocolate chunks, apricots and mixed spices. For a touch of luxury, the Clementine and Chocolate Cake comprises a deep clementine chocolate sponge sandwiched between a layer of clementine flavoured cream and orange flavoured jam, topped with dark chocolate glaze and dark chocolate shavings.

Christmas macarons selection, Mademoiselle Macarons

The Edinburgh-based company, which took delight in being asked to supply the production set for the Barbie movie in 2022, has come out with some indulgent flavours of handmade macarons for this year’s festivities.

The Winter Soirée Macaron Gift Box (rsp: from £16 for six) includes Baileys, Hot Toddy, and Festive Espresso Martini options, all wrapped in luxurious black and gold-embossed packaging. Meanwhile, the Luxury Christmas Macaron Box (rsp: from £16 for six) offers combinations of Orange & Cranberry, Mince Pie, Chocolate Mint/After Eight, Black Forest, Caramel Gingerbread, and Pear & Chestnut flavours.

The business is the brainchild of Rachel Hanretty, who honed her skills in Paris after being taught at Michelin-starred Alain Ducasse’s cookery school.

Cookies and biscuits, Fox’s and Maryland

Ferrero subsidiary Fox’s Burton’s Companies has launched three biscuit NPD for Christmas across supermarkets and convenience including the new Fox’s Winter Spiced Cookies (rsp: £2.50 | 175g) – milk chocolate chunk cookies flavoured with winter spices and half covered in smooth milk chocolate. Fox’s has also unveiled Viennese Double Chocolate Fingers (rsp: £1.90 | 120g) featuring smooth chocolate filling between two light cocoa shells.

In the meantime, the Maryland cookies brand has undergone a festive rebranding to become Merryland for its launch of new White Chocolate Chip Minis (rsp: £1.75 | 150g).

“Last Christmas was a roaring success for the biscuits category and was a demonstration of how important the market is to seasonal sales. Sweet biscuits saw the highest uplift of any seasonal category in the four-week December window with growth of 16% vs 7% across total seasonal products,” said Colin Taylor, trade marketing director at Fox’s Burton’s Companies UK.

Festive cookie range, Dipp’d

Planet Doughnut co-founders Duncan and Samantha McGregor were inspired by the trend in American-style cookies to create the new Dipp’d brand this year, which has taken over three of their original stores in Shrewsbury, Chester and Telford as well as launching a website for nationwide delivery.

Introduced for the holiday season is a new festive box of six 5” cookies (rsp: £26.90) with a choice of flavours including:

• Black Forest Christmas Pud – triple chocolate cookie with dark cherry chocolate, dipped in luxury white chocolate
• Baileys Hot Chocolate – triple chocolate cookie with Irish cream buttercream, topped with marshmallows
• Elsa’s Magic – cookie with sweet marshmallow buttercream and blue and white sprinkles
• Gingerbread Flat – gingerbread spice cookie with white chocolate chips and green and red M&Ms
• The Grinch – cookie with sweet vanilla green buttercream and green, red and white sprinkles
• Mint Aero Wreath – triple chocolate cookie with mint frosting, Aero chocolate pieces and sprinkles.

Christmas Dinner Scone, The Cornish Company

Consumer research conducted by the Bodmin-based company revealed that more than a third (38.9%) of British people were stressed by the timings associated with Christmas dinner, while 33.2% were nervous at the prospect of trying to keep food warm, and 33.2% dreaded the clean-up. It claimed its sage & onion stuffing-infused scone was “therefore somewhat of a Christmas miracle” in helping to take the pressure, hassle and expense out of cooking a Christmas dinner this year.

The Cornish Company’s Christmas Dinner scone hamper (rsp: £19.99) includes four festive scones, hand-sliced cuts of roast turkey, cranberry relish, and a white wine and herb gravy.

Christmas Tin, E5 Bakehouse

Recipes for each of the six different biscuits in the tin have been contributed by different members of E5 Bakehouse pastry team, some with cultural significance. These include:

• Alfajores by Camila – a Chilean take on the South American classic featuring a brittle shortbread biscuit sandwiched with silky dulce de leche
• Chocolate Shortbread by Michelle – a chunky chocolate shortbread made with spelt flour, browned butter and a sprinkling of Maldon salt
• Florentine by Suzi – an Italian classic, thin biscuit with snap, made with pistachio, almond, orange and cranberry dipped in Original Beans chocolate
• Hazelnut Hobnob by Angus – a crisp, buttery hobnob with hazelnuts
• Orange Chocolate Swirl by Michal – a short biscuit using ground almonds with fresh orange zest
• Pepparkakor by Blen – a delicate, crisp Swedish-style spiced biscuit decorated with royal icing; the tradition is to tap a Pepparkakor in the middle until it breaks and if it breaks into three pieces, your wish will come true.

Festive Slice, Stacey’s Bakery

The fourth generation family-run, Derbyshire-based business – which has been in operation for more than a century – has unveiled its brand-new bakery creation, the Festive Slice (rsp: 95p). This employs classic winter flavours including a lightly spiced cinnamon sponge studded with sultanas and stem ginger, topped with a layer of frangipane and drizzled with a zingy lemon icing, plus a ‘festive friend’ iced topper.

Merry Grinchmas doughnut collection, Krispy Kreme

A trio of new doughnuts (rsp: from £3.25), each based on a character from the Christmas classic ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas!’ by Dr. Seuss, have been rolled out by the retail brand. These include:

• Grinch Doughnut – filled with cookies & Kreme flavoured filling, dipped in Grinch green icing with a chocolate icing smirky grin
• Grinchy Claus Doughnut – an Original Glazed doughnut dipped in chocolatey icing, topped with frosting and confetti dots
• Cindy-Lou Who Merry Berry Doughnut – an Original Glazed Doughnut dipped in strawberry flavoured icing with a green tree and topped with a star piece.

Last month, former Pret A Manger shop and franchise director Guy Meakin took over from Jamie Dunning as president and managing director of Krispy Kreme UK & Ireland.

Crumble and Almond Mince Pies, Birds Bakery

Alongside the family recipe for its classic mince pies, which has remained the same since 1919, Birds Bakery is introducing some modern flair to the time-honoured treat. Inspired by the firm’s popular Crumble Tarts, the Crumble Mince Pies (rsp: £8.90 for a six-pack) feature a rich filling of bespoke fruits and spices topped with a delectable crumbly lid. The bakery has also unveiled its new Almond Mince Pie, a new take on the classic recipe that’s sprinkled with flaked almonds for added texture and flavour. Both are available at Bird’s 61 stores across the East Midlands.

Festive Sandwich, Cooplands

The UK’s second largest bakery chain has heralded the return of its limited-edition Festive Sandwich (rsp: £3.20) to menus at its 150-plus shops across Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, and the North East. This consists of a soft bread infused with festive sage & onion flavours, generously filled with Cooplands’ own sausages, streaky bacon, sliced turkey breast, lettuce leaves, and cranberry sauce. It can also be purchased as part of a £4 Meal Deal.

Newcomers to the Christmas range at Cooplands is the Christmas Turnover (rsp £1.70), filled with sweet mincemeat and whipped cream; the Christmas Cookie Monster with hand piped chocolate flavoured buttercream and Grinch eyes; and the Christmas Pie that has shortcrust pastry filled with Cooplands’ own sausage, cranberry, and chicken.