Recipe

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These strawberry santas are always a huge hit at holiday parties and in classrooms. They're both adorable and delicious and everyone's favorite treat.

This simple recipe for strawberry Santas with cream cheese is super simple even for the noncrafty!

Easy Strawberry Santas

When it comes to Holiday crafts… I steer away from them. I’m just not that crafty. Somehow, I ended up doing these adorable and delicious strawberry Santas, because, honestly, how could you say no to this fun recipe?

While my middle son stuffed and assembled these Santas like a pro, for me, the challenge was finding the best filling. After failing with whipped cream, I remembered one of my favorite Holiday party foods: strawberry cheesecake ice cream sandwiches! Borrowing some flavors from that recipe, I knew these festive treats would be unforgettable.

Ingredients

These Santas are made with fresh strawberries (frozen strawberries don't work since when they thaw, they get mushy). I made the filling with cream cheese (thick enough to make these Santas stand up straight and tall), powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Finally, you’ll need mini chocolate chips for Santa's eyes!

How to Keep the Strawberry Santa Hat From Falling

If Santa’s hat is too large, it could fall or cave in the cream cheese filling. To keep the hat from falling, make sure it’s not bigger than a third part of the strawberry.

How to Make Strawberry Santas

Here are the steps to assemble these delicious strawberry Santa with cream cheese for Christmas:

Cut the strawberries steam off as “flat” as possible since this will be the base of our Santas. Then, cut the top third of the strawberry. This will be Santa's hat.
Prep the filling, starting with very soft cream cheese so you can mix it with the powdered sugar and vanilla easily and stuff the mixture inside a zip bag or pipping bag; otherwise, it will be pretty difficult to squeeze.
Make the Santas by topping the strawberry base (the body) with the cream mixture (Santa's face), add the little berry hat, and squeeze a little extra mixture for the pompom. Finally, make the Santa's suit buttons with more cream and add the mini chocolate chips for the eyes.

A four-image collage showing steps for making strawberry Santas.
Top left: Whole strawberries with their tops sliced off on a cutting board.
Top right: The strawberries cut into top and bottom sections.
Bottom left: A piping bag filled with cream cheese mixture beside the strawberry pieces.
Bottom right: Cream filling being piped onto the bottom half of a strawberry to assemble the Santa shape.

When to Assemble Strawberry Santas

I don’t recommend making them too far in advance: strawberries can get mushy and dye the white filling. Assemble them just a few hours ahead, store them in the fridge so the Santas can hold their shape, and they’ll be ready to go!

More Treats to Serve with Strawberry Santas

My kids’ favorite thing to serve with strawberry Santas? My delicious homemade hot cocoa, of course! When we want more than a drinkable treat, I serve these Santas with Grinch fruit kabobs, strawberry s’mores, or these 2-minute air fryer s’mores.

Strawberry Santas with Cream Cheese

Servings: 6 -8

Prep Time: 10

Total Time: 20

These strawberry santas are always a huge hit at holiday parties and in classrooms. They’re both adorable and delicious and everyone’s favorite treat.

5 from 11 votes

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Ingredients

16- ounce package fresh strawberries, washed
4 ounces cream cheese, softened at room temperature*
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Mini chocolate chips, to decorate

Instructions

Prep the strawberries:

On a cutting board, slice the stem off the strawberry (try to cut it as “flat” as possible since the Santa-berries will use that as a base).
Cut the top third of the strawberry, this will be used as the “hat”.

Prep the filling:

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla. The mixture will be thick so it’s best that the cream cheese really is at room temperature.
Place creamed mixture inside a zip bag (or a piping bag) and snip one corner off. Make this first cut a bit larger since you are filling the “faces” first.

Assemble:

Top strawberry base with cream mixture, top with the strawberry hats, and squeeze additional mixture on top of the hat.
Next, snip the opposite corner or the bag (or change your piping tip) and make a smaller opening. Use this end to decorate “Santa’s” jacket buttons.
Use mini chocolate chips or chocolate sprinkles to decorate Santa's eyes.
Serve immediately or store in the fridge for a few hours.

Store:

You can store leftover in the refrigerator up to 3 days, just keep in mind that the strawberries can get mushy and the Santa's won't be as fresh as just made.

Notes

Once you create the Strawberry Santa’s, they can’t be frozen. When frozen strawberries thaw, their texture change.
Can you use whipped cream? Yes, but make sure a) it’s very cold when you pipe it onto the strawberry, and b) you make small “hats” otherwise they will sink inside the whipped cream.
Revised: you can also use whipped cream cheese and cheesecake filling (although I haven’t tried it but one of my readers has).