Cookies are usually a hit and travel well. Fruit is another favorite that could be dessert or just something light.

My son loves trifle,altho,I myself have never made one..I was thinking maybe something like that too.....

I vote for cookies. You could make a few different kinds of cookies for a pretty dessert tray.

This cranberry "pie" is lighter than most desserts and although it's good served warm it works at room temperature also. I don't use a pie pan. The recipe as given bakes up well in an 8" round or square cake pan. Doubled you can use a standard 13 x 9 inch pan. I use pecans in place of walnuts. I also like to use a bit of orange extract along with the almond.

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups cranberries (fresh or frozen)

• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon almond extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease one 9 inch pie pan.
2. Combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Stir in the cranberries and the walnuts, and toss to coat. Stir in the butter, beaten eggs, and almond extract. If you are using frozen cranberries, the mixture will be very thick. Spread the batter into the prepared pan.
3. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 40 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted near the center comes out clean. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream.

Carrot cake in a 9 X 13. Apple crisp in 9 X 13 (double or triple recipe). A double yule log......they look complicated but it's just a jelly roll with chocolate frosting instead of a jam filling. A platter of several kinds of cookies.

I make spiced peaches. Light, sweet, just enough.

It wouldn't be Christmas without carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Not that light, but would travel well in the pan.

This looks delicious.

“This came from my grandmother, whose family owned a bakery. My grandmother's was the full-fat version and I didn’t want to mess with perfection too much, so I only made a few healthier substitutions. It's sweet, lemony and light, and we occasionally slice fresh strawberries over the top. —Nancy Brown, Dahinda, Illinois”

For that many people I am thinking of a sheet cake.

Cheese cake for the grown ups, and these for the kids.

Our favorite is apple crisp. It travels well and does not require refrigeration. Our age range is four years to eighty two and all of us like it!! It's also simple and easy to make.

Lukki, do you have a recipe for the trees? Are they cake, or cookies? Thanks.

Paul's Pumpkin Bars, and the Brownie Bar Cake (aka Texas Sheet Cake) will each serve about 24 baked in a jelly roll pan. If you had two pans (and I do) you could be really generous and bake two, send leftovers home with people. Both are the kind of thing I eat in 1" pieces, all day, every time I pass through the kitchen.

Bobbi, the trees are brownies cut into tree shapes after baking.

Mor and I think alike! The very first dessert that came to my mind when I read the title of this thread was Texas sheet cake. Lots of recipes out there but the chocolate sour cream version is spectacular and what most will expect when they see that jelly roll pan.

How thin is a sheet cake? Is it baked on a cookie sheet with sides or is there a specific pan? I googled jelly roll pan and it looks like my cookie sheets.

wow...some great ideas..thank you all!

So many good sounding desserts. A light dessert would be a homemade angel food cake, with maybe some fruit salad on the side.

Sue

Ii would bring cookies, either homemade or from a nice bakery.

I like bundt cakes as they are about indestructible for traveling and can just be dusted with powdered sugar so no frosting to get damaged and no refrigeration required. There are only about a zillion recipes. That and cookies are also easy travel food.

This year I think I'll make the almond pastry puff as it is sooo tasty! I could eat one all by myself.

For that large and varied a gathering, I'd bring one cake-like item, and 2 to 4 dozen cookies. Maybe an apple-cobbler 13x9 cake, and chocolate-chip oatmeal cookies. Or a cinnamon struesal bundt cake, and chocolate truffle cookies. You can never have too many desserts!

White Chocolate Mousse is always loved in my house. You can make it ahead and freeze it and eat it partially frozen if you like, so it really doesn't matter the length of time it's out (obv you want it to stay on the cool side). I make raspberry sauce and fudge sauce to serve on the side.

Super simple but impressive and delicious...

Tea Rings made with sweet dough and decorated with festive colours. Filling can be as elaborate as you wish or just cinnamon sugar. I buy new pizza boxes from a local shop for transport. A dish of whipped butter in the center and a knife and you are good to go. It makes a great hostess gift or one for shut ins, too. If you will be strapped for time make the dough the night before, cover with Saran Wrap and keep in the fridge. Roll out, fill, let double in size then bake. Basic recipe makes three rings or two and a good size “braid” which is nice drizzled with homemade jam and a thin almond icing.

Macaroons travel well & people love them.

fruit cake will travel well. Here is a page of Holiday desserts Holidays

I made this for pre Thanksgiving brunch. My son's favorite fudge. I served it with honey roasted sesame sticks. The sweet and the salty was perfect for the brunch.

white christmas jewel fudge

JCrigler, your suggestion seems to be what my aunt used to make. It was called the Milnot Mock Cheesecake. Milnot was a brand of canned evaporated milk, and I think the recipe was printed on the can label. I was addicted to it. I have been meaning to make it again for old time's sake. Wish my sister liked it so I could bring her half, but it was not one of her favorites. (Maybe I will anyhow.)

Bobbi, those are brownies! Here’s where I found the recipe

http://onelittleproject.com/christmas-tree-brownies/

I'd make a variety of desserts for that big a crowd. What is traditional for your family at Christmas? In my first husband's family, it was a huge Charlotte Russe, served in an enormous glass compote. It fed a huge crowd. Now, our tradition is a Plum Pudding, which I do NOT make - I buy it online from Mother Sperry's Plum Pudding - fabulous and "Mother's" a hoot.

But I know families where it's an apple pie or a mince meat pie. Or it's home made Christmas cookies and peppermint ice cream with choc sauce.

Make a variety of desserts that can be made ahead of time and require no "assembly" after you get there. And be sure one is cookies. You can't go wrong.

Some of these sound wonderful but the little ones would probably not like them. I would do a big platter of various homemade Christmas cookies...be sure to include decorated sugar cookies.

@lukkiirish - it took about 2 minutes for me to find the recipe for the PecanPie Cheesecake Bars and to print it off.

My sons girlfriend is Celiac so gluten free but I know I can find a gluten free crust for this. This is on my list to bake up.

Traditional for us would have been the plum pudding,a carrot pudding MIL used to make,served with a rum sauce and pumpkin pie-all homemade back in the day.

I always had my 3 gal. crock filled with various cookies and also made squares galore of all sorts.

This was all a good 40 yrs ago....the trouble that I am finding now is that there are vegetarans,gluten free & parents that do not allow the kids "anything" sweet(God forbid) .....So,our traditional deserts seem to have gone by the wayside.

However,there are a great lot of ideas to go by here,and certainly some ,if not most, I'll try..thanks again.

If you are the only one bringing dessert and are being counted on for the dessert, I think that you need to bring something more substantial than cookies. And I wouldn't count on people not being hungry.

traditional for us is "red velvet cake" pretty easy but does require cream cheese frosting., which has to be refrigerated. always cannolis and cheesecake.

cookies, something chocolate for sure., chocolate dipped strawberries, bowl of strawberries if u can get them, with reddi whip. lemon meringue pie, a truffle which serves a lot, cream cheese fruit dip-then add your own fruit, we use apples. we also top ours with Heath bar topping! delish!

if you belong to BJ's, im sure Costco would carry something comparable, they sell mini eclairs and mini cream puffs. easy, good and relatively cheap.

I am so going to make those pecan pie cheesecake bars. Haven't stopped drooling since I laid eyes on that picture!

The Christmas trees are really cute too.

Another thought. Check out Ina Garten's coconut cupcakes recipe on food network.com. The recipe makes about 24 and they are super delicious. Top with a cherry and they will look very Christmasy. I have made them and frozen them and they are still delicious. You could also make Hersheys Perfectly chocolate chocolate cake into cupcakes (they freeze well, also and then you would have a variety. Just be sure if you make the coconut cupcakes, to make only half a recipe of the frosting, trust me it's plenty. I once brought some of the coconut cupcakes to the cart attendants at our golf club and the one attendant about 60 years old said to me when I got back in from golfing. "Mrs. T. those cupcakes were so delicious, you want to know how delicious they were?" How delicious were they Dave......"They were so delicious, I wanted a cigarette afterwards!" LOL

My wife has made a Yule Log Cake for Christmas gatherings

It is a fairly complicated recipe with many steps, but basically it involves making a thin cake in a jelly roll pan, and then slathering it with chocolate espresso icing and rolling it.

lukki, I missed your post earlier. Thank you for the recipe. Those will be a hit with the youngsters....of all ages.

Blfenton, I’m sure they’ll turn out yummy, you can’t go wrong with cheese cake and pecans!

Bobbie, you’re welcome!!! Ho! Ho! Ho!