Desserts which can be made the day before

[harriethoyle]

Does anyone have any good, make a day ahead recipes, which I can make on Christmas Eve and shove in the fridge? it's as an alternative to Christmas pudding, ideally would be citrussy and not chocolatey...

TIA!

tarte au citron/lemon meringue pie

Crumbles can be made ahead and just popped in the oven when it's time to eat them

lemon syllabub?

oranges in caramel (or just a straightforward fruit salad?)

Cheesecake?

All that being said, I'd probably make a pavlova - you can make the meringue ahead, then just whip some cream and dump any kind of fruit you fancy on top right before serving. Lemon or passionfruit curd swirled into the cream add a bit of extra zing.

I love homemade sticky toffee pudding with warm toffee sauce at Christmas .

I made a white choc mint roulade last year and it was 👍

Lemon and orange syllabub.
Grandson no.2 has just requested strawberry jelly and ice cream - that's an easy one 😀

Key lime pie, lemon pastry tart, lemon & ginger cheesecake, clementine and cranberry trifle, lemon curd gateau.

Tiramisu always tastes better the next day and you could do a lemon/limoncello flavoured one rather than coffee.

Cheesecake!

You have room in your fridge at Christmas? Mum used to do chocolate mousse in small pots so you can dot them around the fridge.

Apple pie with custard - each element of this desert can easily be made separately, (frozen if that's convenient) then put together and baked when you need it.
I like to use shortcrust pastry instead of puff, and you can spice shortcrust pastry too.

A citrusy trifle? Orange jelly, mandarin segments, cake, custard. I’m sure there must be a recipe out there.

Lemon posset, could get shop bought shortbread rounds if you're short on time?

Some great ideas here, thanks all

@CatMattress I wondered about lemon meringue pie but would the pastry/meringue not go funny in the fridge once the curd was in? Or would you fill the pastry case with curd on CE and then just whip up the meringue on CD?

I'd definitely do meringue on the day. As mentioned above I would consider little individual dishes of things like mini trifles (the jubilee one was clementine wasn't it?) Or lemon syllabub/posset as it'd be easier to store them in the fridge.

Or for super easy buy meringue nests and make Eton mess!

I always make pavlova on Christmas Eve - just switch off the oven when it's done and leave it to cool in there overnight. On the day whipping cream and adding fruit is so quick. No need to take up fridge space and nice and light after a big lunch!

unfortunately my MIL is the best pavlova maker in the world! so that's out seeing I'm hosting her 😂

Cheese can be prepared the day before :-) plus a box of Quality Street for the sweet toothed

I've made this www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/easy-banoffee-pie the day before.

There was that citrus trifle which was the official dessert for the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

Lemon mousse, or
Delia's Chocolate Bread and Butter pudding - absolutely delicious, you could use panettone instead of normal bread if you wish, and apparently tastes even better if made 48 hours before, so you have the option of making it on the 23rd instead of Christmas Eve if that suits you better.

Meant to add link.

https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/main-ingredient/chocolate-recipes/chocolate-bread-and-butter-pudding