Less than a week until Christmas! It’s a busy time of year with such a flurry of activity, excitement and shopping. With a newborn and other life circumstances, I haven’t had as much time for blogging in recent weeks, but we’ve done lots of planning for the new year. Meanwhile, I wanted to share some of our favorite Christmas treats. Healthy candy! These all make great gifts too. I recently shared my recipe for Cinnamon and Vanilla Walnuts. Below I share everything from a healthy fudge recipe to mock Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups using one of my favorite ingredients, coconut oil! And, if you haven’t already, make sure you check out my post highlighting cookie recipes, another holiday favorite treat.
This fudge is so very easy to make, it’s really almost a crime. With just a few ingredients, you can whip it together in a few minutes. A healthier fudge full of good for you coconut oil, sweetener of choice, and cocoa powder. A Christmas tradition for us. These also taste great when made with honey and butter too.
Carmel corn makes a wonderful gift. It’s addicting, so beware. With natural, unrefined sweeteners and corn syrup free, this is a better choice caramel corn. I always loved it when relatives sent us tins of caramel corn as a Christmas gift. (Those used to be so popular! Does anyone do that anymore?). Why not make a homemade version to give? Or simply make it to go along with your favorite holiday movie.
For a little less sweet of a treat, the Coconut Orange White Fudge is a very fun snack/treat too. It’s gluten, grain and refined sugar free. It has a light, bright flavor.
I also created “Mounds” candy bars origanily to help up our intake of coconut oil. They just happen to be so delicious that many of my readers make it for special treats for their children.
Along the same lines, my homemade version of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups is a lightly sweetened, full of healthy ingredients version of a common candy. A very popular recipe that many other blogs have highlighted recently.
What about you? Do you have any favorite holiday candy recipes with healthier versions? I would love to hear what you do!
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I absolutely LOVE the ‘Mounds’ bars. My kids aren’t crazy about chocolate so I just make theirs without it (leaves more chocolate for me!) Almond roca with almonds, butter & honey is another family favorite! http://thenourishingapron.blogspot.com/2010/12/almond-roca.html
Your recipe for almond roca looks wonderful!
Thanks Kimi! I’m thinking your Mounds chocolate sauce on top with a few extra sprinkled almonds could be a heavenly addition!
AHH – I knew these recipes were somewhere but couldn’t locate them!! THANK YOU Kimi!! 😀
YAY! Those walnuts look SO delicious…I might have to make them TONIGHT! Thanks for sharing these recipes….I’ve been going crazy trying to find healthier holiday treats that were gluten and white sugar free!
LOVED the cinnamon and vanilla walnut recipe, but used almonds and turned out wonderful!
I love home made sweet treats…As I have reative hypoglcemia I need to be very careful of sugars …I have been making two really healthy truffle recipes I’d love to share with every one . Chocolate truffles and Date & Orange truffles both raw,gluten free,dairy free,one can be grain free if you use agave syrup or honey ! Both absolutley delicious and no cooking involved even easier when be are all busy at this time of the year ..
http://simpleliving-sherrie.blogspot.com/2010/12/home-made-chocolate-truffles.html
http://simpleliving-sherrie.blogspot.com/2010/11/date-orange-truffles.html
cheers ! Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas filled with love,health,peace & joy 🙂
What a great selection of treats. I’ve recently made the carmel corn and a candied walnut. Tomorrow my 5 year old and I will make the PB cups and/or the mounds bars, yummy!
Thanks
I love making ‘healthier’ versions of treats for my family for Christmas! Last weekend I spent 2 days baking carmel corn, dark chocolate truffles, my own ‘almond joy’ type cookie, chocolate macaroons, peanut butter cookies, and gluten free sugar cookies. Oh – and the favorite…peppermint patties made with powdered sucanat and dark chocolate. YUM.
Now I’ll have to try that white fudge. 🙂
Yes, I have been highlighting recipes like these on my blog, it’s true! I started here: http://kmillecam.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-new-quest-make-my-own-candy-for.html
and then made slightly tweaked versions of your peanut butter cups and “mounds” cups here: http://kmillecam.blogspot.com/2010/12/peanut-butter-cups.html
http://kmillecam.blogspot.com/2010/12/joyous-almond-cups.html
I love your blog Kimi, it inspires me to make new things and provides so many good recipes that I know I can trust! We’ve also whipped up the Coconut-orange fudge already, and on the schedule for today your maple sugar shortbread and CHEESESLAVE’s round version of shortbread too. I love these holidays!!
The peanut butter cups are great, Thanks 🙂 I’m an avid young chef (for healthy food) someday I hope to come up with a recipe good enough for Pennywise Platter Thursday.
Happy Holidays to you and your family!
I have a stove-top whirly popper and I pop corn in three giant tablespoons of coconut oil and two of evap cane sugar and a pinch a salt. It is like kettle corn but so much yummier. My kids know the smell!
Kimi, you are going to get me in trouble. First the cookies, and now this! Just when I think I’ve got enough treats for Christmas, you post another list of wonderful, nourishing treats that I just can’t celebrate Christmas without. Thank you so much! My family has a tradition of making a whole lot of different kinds of treats for Christmas, and it’s hard for me to celebrate with 2-3 kinds of goodies around. With 4 kinds of cookies in my fridge right now and 4+ more on my list of things to make this week, Christmas just might be as special as when I was growing up. God bless you, and Merry Christmas!
Those cinammon walnuts are TOO perfect! I’ve been looking for homemade treats to take my boyfriends family, that fit in with my new WPF style lifestyle. I was all ready to make raw date and nut truffles when my BF took me aside and said maybe we should just buy them some REAL chocolates. HA! These walnuts will fill the stopgap between healthy and treat to perfection!
(They wont however, assist with dilemma of the 3lbs Ive gained BEFORE Christmas has even happened!)
Blessings to you and your new little family!
It’s not even close to Christmas right now, but I’m making these anyway. Those Mounds candies look to die for.