The Lost Holiday Desserts Your Grandparents Secretly Hated.
Not every Christmas treat from the past brings back warm, fuzzy memories. While your grandparents may have smiled politely as these desserts were passed around, deep down, they probably dreaded them.
From heavy, over-spiced confections to jiggly nightmares, here are some holiday sweets that quietly disappeared from family tables—for good reason.
A brick-like combination of candied fruit, nuts, and booze-soaked cake, fruitcake was more of a tradition than an actual treat. While some people claimed to love it, most just re-gifted it or used it as a paperweight.
This wasn’t a salad or dessert—it was a gelatin monstrosity. Layers of neon-colored Jell-O, sometimes with mayonnaise or cottage cheese mixed in, made for a slippery, pastel-hued disaster that no one actually wanted to eat.
This sugary, nougat-like candy was supposed to be light and airy, but if the weather was humid (or the cook was unlucky), it could harden into an unchewable rock. Many kids nearly lost a tooth before learning to avoid it.
The song may demand figgy pudding, but in reality, this dense, boiled British dessert packed with suet and dried figs was more of a chore to eat than a holiday delight.
Yes, people tried to make a light, fluffy dessert out of pureed prunes and egg whites. If the odd texture didn’t scare you off, the digestive effects certainly did.
Some holiday desserts have thankfully been lost to time—and your grandparents are probably relieved!