Christmas Tree Cake Dip: A festive treat that’s made with cream cheese and nostalgic Little Debbie cakes. Enjoy with graham crackers, animal crackers, or vanilla wafers at your next Christmas party!
Making desserts for a large group of people is less stressful when you have easy recipes that make a large number of servings!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe:
- It’s Easy: When I said this delectable dip recipe was easy, I wasn’t kidding. It only takes 5 minutes to make and calls for basic ingredients. It’s the perfect last minute dessert when you don’t want something store-bought.
- Kid-Approved: There’s nothing better than happy kids around the holiday season. This recipe is 100% kid-approved and I think it’s because there’s something about the scrumptious Christmas tree cakes that kids absolutely LOVE! (Our kids also love this Christmas Chex Mix, and I totally understand why!)
- Sweet Treat: I haven’t found a dessert that satisfies my sweet tooth better than this one does. The sweetness of the Little Debbies combined with the decadent creamy cream cheese makes this festive dessert dip the perfect special treat.
- Dessert Bar Idea: It’s the perfect addition if you’re hosting a holiday party and looking to fill a dessert bar or if you just want something for a small gathering on a holiday movie night! (You may also want to make this sugar cookie fudge to go along with this dip if creating a dessert bar!)
Ingredient Notes
- Cream cheese – make sure this is softened!
- Heavy cream – you can use milk instead if that’s all you have on hand.
- Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cakes – it may be fun to try the Chocolate Christmas Tree Cakes too!
- Red and green sprinkles – these are optional but add some fun to the dip
Step by Step Directions
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, add package of cream cheese and heavy whipping cream (First and Second Image Below)
- Add in a teaspoon of vanilla extract and combine with a hand mixer until smooth (First Image Below)
- Break up 4 Christmas tree cakes and lightly mix them into the cream cheese mixture (Second Image Below)
- Add sprinkles if desired (Second Image Below) and mix together.
- Place dip in a serving bowl and enjoy! (Or see below for tips on how to make this a dessert board or charcuterie board!)
Dessert Dip Charcuterie Board Idea
If you’re hosting or going somewhere for Christmas, it may be fun to serve this dip with cookies and crackers, on a board, making a dessert charcuterie board for your next party! If you’re looking for Christmas movie night ideas too, this would be the perfect treat!
No worries if you’re not sure how to make a dessert board… I’ll show you some tips below!
Items for a Dessert Charcuterie Board
You can use just about any of your favorite dippers like cookies and sweet crackers for a board like this one but here are our favorites, and what you see below:
- Teddy Grahams: Honey or Cinnamon will work beautifully.
- Vanilla Wafers: We used the mini wafers but the regular size will work too.
- Waffle Cookies: These are the round cookies with a waffle pattern (top left corner) and these were actually filled with caramel, which were amazing!
- Graham Crackers: Like the Teddy Grahams, you can use honey or cinnamon, or even chocolate.
- Mini Fudge Stripes cookies: You can use full-size Fudge Stripes cookies but we went for the mini to keep the “mini” look!
- Fresh Fruit: Although we didn’t use fresh fruit on this board, it’s a fantastic option for dessert dip recipes.
- Gingerbread Cookies: If you’re baking for the holiday, you may love baking and serving these gingerbread cookies with the dip too!
We simply used the same snack crackers and cookies for both sides of the board to keep things easy!
Remember when styling a board like this, that’s it’s ok to overlap the items and pile them up. The beautiful thing about these boards is that messy and piled can still look fabulous!
But you may also love to see my other Christmas Charcuterie Board which has a lot of sweets and candies on it, for more ideas too!
Expert Tips and FAQs
Yes! You can use a food processor to make this Little Debbie Christmas tree cake dip. Combine cream cheese, heavy whipping cream, and vanilla before adding in the snack cakes and sprinkles. You don’t want to over process your snack cakes.
For this Christmas tree cake dip recipe, I suggest using sprinkles that aren’t too large. Smaller sprinkles will combine and taste better when combined with the creamy texture of the dip. And of course, use red and green sprinkles!
If you’re in a bind, you can use cool whip instead of heavy whipping cream. Heavy whipping cream will combine with the above ingredients better than cool whip will, however, it will still work for this recipe.
How long does Christmas tree dip last?
You can keep this Little Debbie Christmas tree dip in the fridge for up to 4 days. You’re going to want to place the festive dip in an airtight container or over the serving bowl with plastic wrap. I would recommend serving this dip fresh or after it’s chilled for a little time.
What to serve with this Christmas Dip?
Graham crackers, Nila wafers, pretzels, and animal crackers taste delicious dunked in this festive dip. If you’re looking to really impress at holiday parties, I suggest making sugar cookies for dipping! Sugar cookies are another easy dessert recipe that never disappoints!
Can I use different Little Debbie snack cakes?
Yes! If want to make a non-festive creamy sweet dessert dip, you can use other seasonal snack cakes like birthday cake snack cakes, zebra cakes, or even chocolate snack cakes. You can switch up this dip to be a birthday cake dip, cookies, cream dip, or chocolate cake dip. There are tons of different Little Debbie cakes so go crazy!
Related Recipes
I love the Christmas season, especially the holiday food!! It really is the most wonderful time of the year! I have so many Christmas dessert recipes that can be a fun treat for the holiday season and your next holiday party, such as this candy cane pie, these cornflake wreaths, these forest cupcakes, and red velvet cake mix cookies!
But if you’re wanting to get super creative, you’ll love this Christmas Tree Charcuterie Board idea!
Christmas Season Tip:
While you’re trying not to blow your Christmas shopping budget, and crossing off the names on your Christmas gift list, make sure to pick up a box of these Little Debbie’s Christmas tree cakes for a fun treat of the holiday season before the snack cakes leave the shelves!
Recipe
Christmas Tree Cake Dip
Ingredients
- 8 ounces cream cheese 1 package, softened
- 2 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5 little debbie christmas tree cakes 1 box
- 1 Tablespoon Red and Green Sprinkles each
Instructions
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, add package of cream cheese and heavy whipping cream.
- Add in teaspoon of vanilla extract and combine with a hand mixer until smooth.
- Break up 4 christmas tree cakes and lightly mix them into the cream cheese mixture.
- Pour into a serving bowl and garnish with one Christmas Tree Cake and red and green sprinkles.
- Serve with graham crackers, cookies, pretzels, or vanilla wafers.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Rebecca Hubbell says
Love this dip! So easy and we make it every year!
Sharina says
This is amazing! It’s easy to make and so delicious! My family loves it and can’t get enough with it. Would probably make it again.
Journa Liz Ramirez says
One of the best dessert dip I have ever made! It’s easy and fun to make. My family loved it and can’t get enough of it. I’ll definitely make this again!
Evi says
Oh, this was such a hit with the kids! I can’t wait to make it for the holidays again!
Chandice says
This recipe is so perfect for a Christmas party! Easy and definitely a crowd pleaser. Thank you 😊
Moop Brown says
This recipe looks so tasty and festive. Definitely gonna have to make this again when December rolls around.
Katie Crenshaw says
I look forward to the Little Debbie Christmas Tree cakes every year. Turning them into a delicious dip is brilliant. I made this as a fruit dip for apples and strawberries. They went perfectly together.
Lori | The Kitchen Whisperer says
All the yesses for this recipe! I love those cakes and this dip was excellent! Definitely a crowd favorite!
Mikayla says
My kiddo had so much fun making this with me, he thought we could squish it together to make cheese cakes, but thoroughly enjoyed dipping our homemade grahams in it.
Jessica says
Awww, that’s so fun! Thank you so much for sharing, and I’m so glad that you loved this dip too!
Ann says
This dip is wonderful! I love those Little Debbie Christmas Tree snacks! I am excited to make this for the holidays!
Marta says
This Christmas tree cake dip is so addictively good! I ate it with pretzels and the contrast of sweet and salty was sheer perfection!
Gloria says
It’s hard to believe Christmas is just around the corner. I am starting to gather all my recipes for the holidays. Looks like I have one more to add to the list.
Stephanie says
Wow! What a great idea! This tastes so amazing! I can’t wait to make it again!
Jessica says
Oh good! I’m so glad that you liked it Stephanie! Thank you so much for taking the time to come back and comment and leave a review!
Louann Stark says
Adorable! I made this for my son’s birthday and we served with graham crackers. Everyone loved it!
Jessica says
Oh wow!! This Christmas tree dip is a great idea for a birthday party. Thank you so much for sharing!
Krissy Allori says
I made this for the kids and they loved it. Will be making again at Christmas!
Jessica says
Oh good!! I’m glad they loved this Christmas dip! It’s definitely worth making again! 🙂