10 healthy seasonal holiday sweets
by Katie Webster
November 29, 2013 (updated 4/8/20)
I know a lot of you are planning out your holiday baking today, and so I wanted to be sure to share this collection of 10 healthy seasonal holiday sweets with you just in time for that.
Here are ten recipes from Healthy Seasonal Recipes for sweets for the whole holiday season. Some are overtly holiday related, like the Peppermint Pattie Cheesecake, and some are just healthy winter desserts, like the Vegan Spiced Hermit Cookies. I also added in a few casual ideas, for any potlucks you may be attending, some gluten-free options and of course a few ideas for your cookie collection.
1. Mini Fruitcakes | whole grain, no day-glow cherries, and tiny enough to be a part of your cookie collection.
2. Peppermint Patty Cheesecake | made with a healthy secret ingredient and tastes just like a giant peppermint patty.
3. Flourless Dark Chocolate Torte | So fudgy it sticks to the roof of your mouth, Gluten-Free.
4. My famous Apricot Studded Chocolate Topped Outrageous Macaroons | These show stopping macaroons are the subject of local legend, Gluten Free.
5. Clementine Rum Balls | Another idea for your cookie collection, vegan, no-bake and boozy as heck.
6. Pecan Dried Cherry Tart with Maple | Easy whole-grain nut crust, zero corn syrup and sweetened with maple syrup.
7. Cranberry Clementine Coconut Bars | Sweet and tart with a hit of coconut, one of my all time most popular recipes.
8. Gingerbread Sheet Cake | With a cream cheese frosting on top. Best part is it serves a crowd.
9. Cherry Almond Chocolate Bark | I love adding this into my cookie collection. Plus this post includes all you ever wanted to know about how to temper chocolate. Gluten Free.
10.Spiced Hermit Cookies | These are so easy and you probably have all the ingredients. Whole-grain and vegan too!
Katie Webster
Katie Webster studied art and photography at Skidmore College and is a graduate of the New England Culinary Institute. She has been a professional recipe developer since 2001 when she first started working in the test kitchen at EatingWell magazine. Her recipes have been featured in numerous magazines including Shape, Fitness, Parents and several Edible Communities publications among others. Her cookbook, Maple {Quirk Books} was published in 2015. She launched Healthy Seasonal Recipes in 2009. She lives in Vermont with her husband, two teenage daughters and two yellow labs. In her free time, you can find her at the gym, cooking, stacking firewood, making maple syrup, and tending to her overgrown perennial garden.
This is such a great post, love this. The holidays can be healthy too! The Cranberry Clementine Coconut Bars look amazing, so bright and colourful !
Thanks so much Jessica!
Min,
Thanks so much. I am still pretty full even days after Thanksgiving! We did have a great time and wonderful food. I hope you did too.
Yum! I feel so stuffed but I’m sure I can make some room for sweets ;). This is a great round-up, as always! Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, Katie!
Wow… What a mouthwatering collection of treats. Thank you for these wonderful ideas.
Thanks so much Joshua.