Healthy Holiday Dessert Food Swaps and Recipes

The air is cool, the sales bins of CVS are full of Halloween candy, and the holiday season is gearing up. Thanksgiving will be here in a blink of an eye. Every year the same overheard conversations about holiday weight gain. The holidays are meant to been fun, and spent enjoying the days with our loved ones. The key is finding balance when family time is spent eating.

One area where you can really make some conscious choices are the desert table. Pie crusts full of shortening. Chocolate cakes loaded with refined sugars. Taste delicious, but when you become a dessert eating zombie, not what your heart needs after eating those yummy, buttery potatoes. What if I said you can swap in some health, and keep those holiday traditions alive?

It’s totally possible. Have you ever tried black beans instead flour? This is an excellent substitute when making holiday brownies. Use black bean puree instead of flour, and fill your loved ones with healthy protein instead. You can also pull a fast one ,and use tofu in your pecan pie. Yes, tofu to make a healthy vegan maple pecan pie. This means no butter, no eggs, no corn syrup, no processed white sugar.

There’s no reason to eat unhealthy during holiday feasting. It really comes down to how we make our foods. The dessert table gets loaded down with refined sugars, syrups, and shortenings when it doesn’t have to be so. It’s a matter of reenvisioning what our holiday traditions are about.

I can’t take credit for all these food swaps and recipes, but I wanted to show you there’s a world of possibilities with some experimentation. There’s nothing wrong with grandma’s infamous peach cobbler. Maybe if she knew all the health benefits of chia seeds, she also would have used them instead of eggs. Don’t even get me started on the pumpkin pie made with garbanzo beans. If I have to be honest, as a kid, I used to be able to scarf down a whole one by myself. Please don’t judge me.

Save this healthy baking substitutions jpg to your photo library or google drive, and see what creativity this inspires. Cheers to a healthy and happy holiday. Hope your family enjoys these recipes as much as mine did. They didn’t even know they were eating vegan sometimes, but we’ll keep that our little secret.

Flourless Black Bean Avocado Brownies {Vegan and Gluten Free}

• 1 large flax egg
• 1 - 15oz can low sodium black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 medium to large ripe avocado
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/3 cup vegan chocolate chips, plus 2 tablespoons for sprinkling

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 8×8 inch baking pan.
• Place flax egg, black bean, avocado, vanilla, and brown sugar and process in a food processor until smooth. Add in cocoa powder, coconut oil, baking soda, and baking powder and process again until smooth. Batter will be thick. If batter is way too thick and won't process, you can add in a tablespoon or two of almond milk. Fold in chocolate chip or sprinkle onto batter then transfer to prepared pan and use a spatula to spread evenly to sides. Sprinkle top of batter with 2 tablespoons of remaining chocolate chips.
• Bake for 22-30 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out somewhat clean.

You may be able to sub the brown sugar for honey, agave or maple syrup. Reduce to 1/3 cup.

Healthy Vegan Maple Pecan Pie

• 6oz extra firm tofu, drained
• 1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla soymilk, cold
• 1 tsp vanilla paste
• 2 tbs brown rice flour (other flours may work)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1 cup granulated sweetener (1/4c sucanat, the rest erythritol)
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 2 tsp molasses
• 1 cup pecans, chopped
• one whole grain pie crust, cold
• pecans, for topping (optional)

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
• In a blender or food processor, puree the tofu, soymilk, vanilla paste, brown rice flour and salt. Pour all of it into a bowl and set aside.
• In a small bowl, add the coconut oil and set aside.
• In a medium-sized pot over medium heat, whisk together the granulated sweetener, maple syrup and molasses. Whisk occasionally for about 10-15 minutes (sugars should completely dissolve). Let the mixture bubble/boil lightly for ~30 seconds, remove from heat and whisk in the coconut oil. Whisk in the tofu mixture, then stir in the chopped pecans.
• Put the cold pie crust onto a cookie sheet and pour the filling inside. Decorate with pecans if you like, then bake for about an hour, until edges and pecans are a rich dark brown color (but not burnt!) and filling bubbles lightly. Let cool on a wire cooling rack.

Peach Cobbler Recipe

• 3 cups peaches, peeled and chopped
• 2 cups almond flour
• ¼ cups coconut flour
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp sea salt
• ¾ cup honey
• ½ cup grass fed butter, softened or ghee
• 2-3 drops almond extract
• 3 tbsp chia seeds
• 9 tbsp warm water
• 1 tbsp coconut vinegar

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
• Grease an 8x8 pan with coconut oil
• Pour peaches into the pan
• Mix the almond flour, salt and baking soda in a bowl
• In a separate bowl, mix the butter, honey and extract
• Combine both mixtures.
• In a separate small bowl, combine the chia and hot water and allow to sit and thicken for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, add to other mixture.
• Once well combined, add vinegar and stir.
• Pour batter onto peaches and bake for 30-45 minutes.

Pumpkin Pie

• 1 cup garbanzo beans aka chickpeas
• 3/4 cup of pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup of almond milk, unsweetened vanilla (or milk of choice)
• 1 heaping tbsp peanut butter
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder optional
• 1/2 cup of packed brown sugar
• 1 egg white (or flaxseed egg)
• 1 tsp of pumpkin pie spice (may substitute with cinnamon)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• graham crackers crust

topping optional for sweetness:

• 1 egg white
• 2 wedges the laughing cow light swiss
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp chocolate chips

• Pre-heat oven at 350 degrees.
• In food processor combine all ‘filling’ ingredients. Blend until smooth. Note: The garbanzo beans will need some liquid to blend well.
• Pour into crust
• Combine topping ingredients except chocolate chips in a food processor. Blend well until smooth. Drizzle on top for a marble appearance. Sprinkle with chocolate chips.
• Bake for 30-40 minutes depending on oven. 
• Let cool. For best results, cool for several hours until room temperature.