I LOVE Christmas! I love everything about it: the decorations, the songs, the pageants, hearing the story of Jesus’s birth again every year… and of course the food! When you think of Christmas food what’s the first thing that comes mind? Well, Iif you’re like me it’s the sweets. Christmas is such a sugar-centric holiday; the parties, the festivities, the family events all center around desserts, cookies, candy and whatever else we can come up each year to give us early onset diabetes. Don’t get me wrong, I love the sweets! But in this sugary sweet time of year, I love to find ways to cut back on the sugar a bit. Indulging occasionally is fine and even healthy (what’s life without taking time to indulge!), but if there are easy ways to cut back on the sugar I am all about it. I have some recipes here that are sneaky substitutes for the real thing, replacing some ingredients with healthier alternatives.
Holiday Apple Pie
Serves 8
Ingredients
Pie crust
- 1 cup dry rolled oats
- 1/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
- 1/4 cup ground almonds
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed
- 3 tablespoons oil (use an oil such as walnut, avocado or other nut oil)
- 1 tablespoon water
Filling
- 6 cups sliced and peeled tart apples (about 4 large apples)
- 1/3 cup apple juice (no sugar added)
- 2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Directions
To prepare pie crust, mix dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, mix oil and water together with whisk. Add oil and water mixture to dry ingredients. Mix until dough holds together. Add a bit more water if needed. Press dough into a 9-inch pie plate. Set aside until filling is prepared.
To prepare filling, combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Let stand for 15 minutes. Stir and then spoon into prepared pie crust. Bake at 425 F for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 F and bake 40 minutes, or until apples are tender.
Nutritional Facts
Serving size :1 slice
Calories 204
Total fat 8 g
Total carbohydrate 29 g
Dietary fiber 4 g
Protein 4 g
These 3 recipes are from one of my favorites vegan cooks, from ohsheglows.com
Sweet Potato Crumble Casserole
8 servings
Ingredients:
For the sweet potato mash:
- 4 1/2 to 5 pounds sweet potatoes (about 4 to 5 large)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons vegan butter
- 1 1/2 tablespoons virgin coconut oil
- 2 1/2 tablespoons pure maple syrup, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon fine grain salt, or to taste
For the Crunchy Nut Crumble:
- 1 cup rolled oats (use certified gluten-free if necessary)
- 1 1/3 cups pecan halves, chopped
- 1/3 cup almond meal or almond flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
- 2 tablespoons virgin coconut oil, melted
- 2 tablespoons vegan butter, melted
- 2 1/2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
Directions:
- Peel and roughly chop sweet potatoes into large chunks. Place into a large pot and cover with water. Bring water to a boil, reduce heat to medium-high, and gently boil for 10 to 20 minutes, until the potatoes are fork tender. Drain.
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 2 1/2-quart (10-cup) casserole dish and set aside.
- Prepare the crumble topping: Pulse the oats in a food processor until coarsely chopped. In a medium bowl, stir together the chopped pecans, oats, almond meal/flour, cinnamon, and salt. Pour on melted coconut oil, melted butter, and maple syrup. Stir until combined.
- Once cooked and drained, place sweet potatoes into a large bowl.
- Mash potatoes with the butter and coconut oil until smooth. Now, stir in the maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Adjust to taste if desired. Spoon into casserole dish and smooth out.
- Sprinkle the crumble topping all over the sweet potato mixture, evenly.
- Bake, uncovered, at 375°F for 16 to 23 minutes, until the dish is hot throughout. Plate and serve immediately.
Gooey Pumpkin Spice Latte Chocolate Pudding Cake
6-8 servings
Ingredients:
- 1 flax egg: (1 tablespoon ground flax mixed with 3 tablespoons water)
- 1.5 cups rolled oats, ground into a flour (use certified gluten-free oats, if necessary)
- 3/4 cup coconut sugar (or natural cane sugar if you must)
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/3 cup finely chopped non-dairy dark chocolate
- 1/2-3/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt, to taste
- 1/2 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons almond milk
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons unsweetened pumpkin puree
- 1/2 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1 + 1/4 cup hot coffee (use decaf, if desired)
- For serving: vegan vanilla ice cream and toasted chopped pecans
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375⁰F and lightly grease an 8-inch square glass baking dish with oil.
- Whisk flax and water together in a small bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to gel up.
- In a large bowl, stir together the oat flour, 3/4 cup sugar, 1/3 cup cocoa powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, chocolate, salt, and baking powder.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flax mixture, milk, pumpkin, and vanilla.
- Pour wet mixture onto dry ingredients and stir until thoroughly combined.
- Scoop the batter into the prepared glass dish and smooth out evenly with a spoon.
- In a small bowl or mug, combine the remaining tablespoon of cocoa powder and 1/4 cup sugar. Sprinkle all of it evenly over the cake batter.
- Slowly pour the hot coffee over the cocoa powder and sugar mixture ensuring that the coffee completely covers the powder and sugar. The cake will now look like a complete disaster, but this is normal. Promise!
- Very carefully place the dish into the oven, uncovered. Bake at 375⁰F for 24-30 minutes (I baked for 25 mins., but your oven might need more or less) until the cake is semi-firm on the top, but bubbly and gooey around the edges (see photo in blog post). It will look under-baked, but this is normal (we want it saucy!). If for whatever reason your cake is still watery after 30 minutes in the oven, keep baking it until it looks like the photo in the blog post.
- Let the cake cool for 10 minutes and then serve immediately with vegan vanilla ice cream and toasted pecans. This cake is best served warm straight out of the oven. I tried reheating leftovers in the oven the next day and the cake absorbed a lot of the sauce during the reheat. It was still good, but we preferred the cake the first day, fresh out of the oven. Leftovers are quite good served chilled, as an alternate suggestion.
Vegan Pumpkin Pie Squares with Gluten-Free Graham Cracker Crust
9 large squares
Ingredients:
for the crust:
- 2 cups gluten-free graham cracker crumbs (put graham crackers in food processor)
- 1/4 cup virgin coconut oil, melted
- 2 tablespoons coconut nectar syrup (or brown rice syrup)
for the pumpkin filling:
- 1 (14-ounce/400 mL) can pumpkin puree
- 1/3 cup natural cane sugar
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 1/4 cup full-fat canned coconut milk (use only the white cream portion; Chill the can overnight or for at least several hours before use. This is the white cream in the full-fat cans of coconut milk (such as Native Forest or Thai Kitchen brands). Do not use the water portion. Use the leftover cream for the whipped cream topping)
- 1.5 tablespoons arrowroot powder
- 2 tablespoons almond milk
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1.5 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- pinch of ground cloves
- pinch fine grain sea salt
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350F and lightly grease an 8-inch square pan. Now, line the pan with two pieces of parchment paper, one going each way. I like to spray the first piece of parchment paper with non-stick oil so the second piece sticks nicely and doesn't fall over.
- Prepare the crust: In a medium bowl, combine the graham crumbs, melted coconut oil, and sweetener until the crumbs are thoroughly coated in the mixture. Scoop the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth out evenly. Starting from the middle, press the crumbs into the pan firmly and evenly. You really want to press hard so the crust sticks together nicely. I use a pastry roller to roll the crust and compact it even more. Using your fingers, press in the edges until even.
- Pre-bake the crust, uncovered, for 10 minutes at 350F.
- Prepare the filling: In a small bowl, whisk together the arrowroot powder and maple syrup until no clumps remain. Add this and all of the other filling ingredients into a food processor and process until completely smooth, scraping down the bowl as needed. When the crust has come out of the oven, immediately pour this filling on top of the baked crust and smooth out as evenly as possible with a spatula.
- Bake, uncovered, for around 41-43 minutes at 350F until the filling has darkened slightly and it's semi-firm to the touch (although the filling will still be very soft and sticky!). Place on a cooling rack for about 60 minutes and then into the fridge to set overnight, or for at least 8 hours. Freezer lover's note: The freezer will expedite this process.
- Slice into squares and serve with a dollop of coconut whipped cream on top and a dusting of cinnamon and chopped pecans.
- Store leftovers in the fridge or freeze for later.