Advice for a Christmas sweet treats table

[BaconAndAvocado]

Hosting a drinks party for 40ish and would like to do some nice Christmas sweet treats rather than savoury stuff (less work and party is at 3pm so between meals).

So far I've thought of:
Mince pies (home made)
Christmas cupcakes (home made)
Christmas cake
Stollen
Gingerbread or liebkuchen
Slices of Pannettone.

Any other idea?
Not trifle.

We have a candy buffet that I put out a couple of days before Christmas. I have a lovely collection of bowls and jars and I put all our favourite sweets in it. I started it a few years ago when db and dsil were living with us and now it's a tradition. I usually get about 6-7 things plus I make a gingerbread house to go into thr middle.
would that work ?

Yule log & jam tarts

Homemade sausages rolls. Nice and savoury, easy to make in bulk.
You can also make now using raw sausage meat and raw pre made puff pastry ( and later of cranberry sauce), and roll up, brush with egg and freeze on trays. Decant once frozen separately. Then on day of party it’s an easy 20mins in oven from frozen. And just bake several trays worth at once

Medjool dates dipped in plain chocolate mmmmmm

Chocolate Brownies are my ideal chocolate sweet treat and make them ahead for best results . I did read somewhere about putting in the fridge , we normally freeze half and wrap half to eat the next day .

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/best-ever-chocolate-brownies-recipe

The whisking of the eggs and sugar is what gives the sugar crust .
I don;t use nuts but you can add walnuts or pecans .
Chunks of Toblerone Minis are nice
I add some vanilla extract
I use a foil traybake lined with parchment .

They improve after 24 hours . If you eat them too soon they are "cake" .

When we have Brownies in a cafe they never come up to the standard of these ones ! (DD is my No1 Fan here)

Are you sure?

Alcohol and sweet food doesn’t go that well. I’d stick to olives and a hacked up block of Parmesan myself

Bloody hell - mulled wine is incredibly sweet! You wouldn’t normally eat something sweet with it.

No I think that's the point. Sweet wine with sweet food, like dessert wine that's served with the pudding course.

Do your guests know that you're serving them a sweet table ?

If you invited me round for sweet things I'd eyeball you sternly if you tried to give me sausage rolls .
I'd let you off with french bread , brie , grapes and nice crisps .
And some of these
https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/sainsburys-summer-edition-ricotta-stuffed-cherry-peppers-145g

I keep meaning to try that recipe but the level of detail in the method is insane.

It looks like they've written it for programming robots, where they have to include absolutely every action and how to do it precisely or else they'll end up doing silly things like sifting the flour onto the floor.

HaHa! yes it's wordy

I put the sugar and eggs in the mixer to whisk while the butter and chocolate melts -it doesn't get hot and I don't use a Bain-Marie just a non stick pan and keep a close eye on it .
Yes to sifting the lumps especially in cocoa and the folding in.

And don't overcook but don't have it practically raw <looking at you Nigella...>