With Christmas break and exam week drawing near, there’s no better way to beat the cold and blow off stress than to satisfy your sweet tooth. Christmas calls for candy, cookies and cupcakes, and everyone knows the best way to spread holiday cheer is through food. Below I have shared a collection of simple, delicious and inexpensive holiday treats that are sure to leave a smile on your face and jingle bells ringing in your ear.

Peppermint bark is a holiday classic. All you need is some dark chocolate, white chocolate and crushed candy canes. Although you can buy this refreshing treat at the store, I believe the bark tastes better when you make it yourself. You can crush the candy canes yourself, but I use a food processor to get the pieces as tiny as possible.

First, melt some of the dark chocolate and pour it over a cookie sheet. Spread it out into an even thickness and put it into the refrigerator to harden. Then repeat with the white chocolate, pouring it over the dark layer. Sprinkle the candy canes over the white chocolate before it has hardened. Place your tray back into the refrigerator to let the bark harden for 30 minutes, and then you will have a delicious snack for after class.

If you still enjoy baking cookies for Santa, reindeer sugar cookies will have Rudolph guiding the sleigh straight to your house. To make things easier, you can buy some premade sugar cookie dough from the store. Roll your dough into balls, then flatten the balls and shape them into triangles.

Place pretzel pieces on two of the triangle corners for antlers, and red M&M’s at the corner of each nose (for Rudolph) and two green M&M’s to make eyes. Then bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes until golden.

If you want to make your baking experience into more of an event, I suggest making ornament cupcakes. These holiday treats are a favorite of mine because they are fun to decorate. Start by baking a batch of cupcakes as you would any other, using your choice of vanilla or chocolate batter. After your cupcakes have baked and cooled, use a bit of frosting to attach a gumdrop to the edge of the cupcake to make the ornament hook. Then decorate your cupcakes differently.

You can use any color or flavor icing and any type of candy or sprinkles to make each cupcake ornament different. This is a great way to get together and bake with friends.