Strawberry Santas

If you are looking for a no-bake show stopping holiday treat, make these simple and sweet Strawberry Santas. They are fun and festive and only require a few ingredients. They are the perfect healthy and gluten free treat for your dessert table.

Strawberries are cut then stuffed with cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla. Then the strawberries are styled to make them look like a Santa. This is the perfect dessert to make to bring to your Christmas dinner.

Get in the holiday spirit and make these Strawberry Santa’s and check our more easy holiday recipes. The kids can help and they would be a great addition to your holiday table. These colorful bites are sure to please a crowd. Also try Santa Pancakes.

Why We Love this Holiday Treat

• Easy Ingredients – This recipe requires on a few ingredients and the results are a fun, festive and sweet treat.
• Easy to make – If you need a quick and festive dessert, make these Strawberries Santas.
• Healthy Treat – This is a healthy treat that all ages love. It is even gluten-free.

Ingredients

• Large Strawberries – We like to use strawberries that are well shaped
• Cream Cheese – For the best creamy texture, make sure cream cheese is softened. You can even substitute with ricotta cheese
• Powdered Sugar – Adds the perfect amount of sweetness
• Vanilla Extract – We recommend using pure vanilla extract
• Mini Chocolate Chips – You can use dark chocolate or milk chocolate

Variations Ideas

• Use Frosting – You can easily substitute the cream cheese frosting with store bought vanilla frosting or cream cheese frosting. Whipped Cream would also work as a substitution.
• Make for Different Holidays – You can easily make these Strawberry Stuffed treat for Valentines Day by stuffing and then drizzle with chocolate. For July 4th or Memorial Day you can add blueberries for a red, white and blue theme.
• Santa’s Eyes – Instead of using mini chocolate chips, you can use raisins or chocolate sprinkles.
• Decorating Icing – If you want to get more detail with decorating the santas, you can use decorating icing.
• Additions – Add a slice of banana to the center of the strawberry base. The banana slices give the strawberry Santa a different look.

How to Make Santa Strawberries with Cream Cheese fillings

Step 1 – Clean the fresh pint strawberries. With a paring knife cut the steam side off the strawberries to make a flat surface on one side of the strawberries about ½ inch pieces.  This cut off the pointed end of each strawberry for the Santa hats (set aside).

Step 2 – In a medium bowl, beat together the cream cheese, powdered sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla extract with a electric hand mixer. You can also whisk the mixture.

Step 3 – Put the cheesecake filling into a piping plastic bag and pipe the swirl of frosting on top of the flat berry tops (we used a Wilton 1A tip to pipe the mixture onto the strawberries).  Create a large upward swirl with the cream cheese mixture.  

Step 4 – Gently top each strawberry with the reserved strawberry tops.  

• Step 5 – Then use the smallest piping nozzle (I used a Wilton 18 star tip) to pipe some of the cream cheese mixture on top of the hats. This is to make the pom poms on the strawberries. Add a small amount on the front of the large strawberry pieces to make a button.  
• Step 6 – Use tweezers to gently place the mini chocolate chips into the cream cheese mixture in between each strawberry piece to make the Santa face. 
• Step 7 – Refrigerate until you are ready to enjoy them. 

Strawberry Santas Recipe Tips

• Cream Cheese – Before mixing the cream cheese mixture, make sure you cream cheese has softened to room temperature. This allows for the mixture to not be lumpy.
• Piping Bag – If you don’t have a piping bag, you can easily use a zip lock bag. Place the cream cheese mixture in the bag and snip the corner. Use that to decorate the santa.
• Strawberries – Pat dry the cut sides of the strawberries so that the cream cheese mixture doesn’t slide off.

Can I Use Frozen Strawberries?

In this recipe we recommend using fresh strawberries instead of frozen strawberries. They will not hold up as well when the strawberries have thawed and adding the cream cheese filling.