Festive and Feel Good: Healthy Holiday Baking Tips and Recipes

It’s the holiday season! Time for gathering, gratitude, joy, cheer, and dazzling arrays of festive foods! It’s that time of year when preparing treats is pure nostalgia in and of itself. Few activities can capture the joy and anticipation quite like the baking! So, let’s enjoy, from start to finish, all the way to the nibbles.

Don’t get me wrong: I believe there’s a place for all the goodies, including the traditional favorites made just as they always were while accomodating your unique dietary needs. But, there’s no reason festive treats can’t be delightful and ho-ho-wholesome, too. What’s more, once the heady sugar rush subsides, we realize that our palates prefer pure, natural flavors that much more. Here a few of my favorite simple baking strategies for happy, healthy holiday fun.

Swap Nut or Seed Butter for Butter and Oil

Nut and seed butters are an incredible match for cookies cookies— they add toasted nuances and either rich or mild flavor, depending on the quantity and type. They can lend a little chewiness, density perfect for brownies such as these from A Couple Cooks, or result in a tender crumb, like with these simple Peanut Butter Thumbprints from Vegan Richa . Yes, they’re high in fat—as are the fats they are replacing, but they’re also nutrient-dense. Good fat, in moderation.

I wish I could offer you a table with exact substitutions; there may be one out there, but I' haven’t found any simple equations that work for me yet—you just start to get a sense once you get going with a few recipes. When experimenting, keep in mind that the source matters:

Nut butters like almond, cashew, or peanut generally mimic the consistency of softened butter, acting as a structural binder that yields a famously chewy, substantial cookie.

Tahini, on the other hand, is a seed butter that behaves more like a thick, luxurious oil. Because it is runnier and more savory, tahini produces a uniquely delicate, melt-in-your-mouth texture and offers an earthy, slightly bitter counterpoint that balances sugar perfectly. As much as I swoon for nut butters, and I do, I have to say that tahini is my go-to ally when it comesto creating in the kitchen—dressings, granola, and definitely cookies.

Try:
My Maple Tahini Chocolate Chip cookies are the classic go-to in our house. Add M&M style candies (like Unreal gems) and oats if you like into the mix for the most delightful Monster cookies!
Chocolate Peanut Butter “Crinkle” Cookies have rich, chocolate brownie-like flavor with dancing nutty notes.
Tahini Gingerbread Cutout Cookies are a must for the holidays!

Choose Natural Sweeteners

Swapping out refined white sugar for natural alternatives is an effortless way make baked goods a bit gentler on your body. When I was starting out with freelance writing, teaching Kindergarten at the time, one of my first accepted pitches was for a shot on blackstrap molasses. It was hardly a piece—only about 150 words, I think—but I was thrilled, and fasinated by molasses. I seriously geeked out on the fun facts I found. Most notably, I learned that while the trace minerals found in unrefined sweeteners aren't necessarily abundant enough to replace your daily multivitamin, their presence—along with other plant compounds—can help aid digestion and often results in a slower release of energy compared to the sharp spike of the ultra-processed.

There is so many natural sweetener alternatives to choose from. Of these, here are my top three:

Medjool dates are my standout hero right now and probably forever. Their sticky richness offers caramel-like sweetness that binds raw treats together while the fiber content helps regulate sugar absorption. You don’t need to reserve them for no-bake bliss balls, though. Blend them into a smooth date paste for baked bites, too. You can also get granulated date sugar, but it’s so expensive I tend to reserve it for the odd recipe for which it seems an indisputable perfect match.

After dates, pure maple syrup is liquid gold, dding distinct notes of vanilla and woodsmoke that dissolve effortlessly into dressings, glazes, and cake batters. I grew up in New England—you could say it’s in my DNA. Plus, my grandfather took up maple sugaring as a hobby in retirement and have the most charming little maple sugar house in the backyard. One of my fondest memories of him was of getting to go back there as he made syrup on a snowy day. He took a bowl, scooped up freshly fallen snow, and ladled hot, steaming syrup over it. Best wintry treat ever!

If you need a granular option, coconut sugar is a fantastic choice; it boasts a warm, toffee-like profile that mimics brown sugar perfectly, making it an easy 1:1 swap for cookies and crumbles without the intense sweetness of white sugar.

Try:
Gingerbread Bliss “Snowballs” : Oats, walnuts, homemade date paste, and spices are blitzed together, rolled, baked, and rolled in powdered sugar in these wholesomely scrumptious bites that channel notes of gingerbread cookie dough, bliss balls, snowball cookies, and powdered sugar donut holes!
Ginger Tahini Chip Cookies are essentially the same as the Maple Tahini cookies but with a warmly spiced spin perfect for the holidays. Coconut sugar and maple syrup meld marvelously with the spices.
Chai Pie: This delectable, easy, vegan, custard tart is the signature cozy beverage in pie form. The easy, press-in crust made from medjool dates, oats, cacao, walnuts is delightfully versatile, too.

Incorporate Healthier Flours

Swapping out standard all-purpose flour for nutrient-dense alternatives is one of the easiest ways to transform your favorite treats into everyday fuel. It’s a win all around: you get to add fiber and/or protein while also introducing complex, nutty flavors and textures. Some of my favorites include oat, sprouted spelt, and almond flours. Sprouted spelt flour offers a mild, sweet nuttiness and is often easier to digest than conventional wheat due to the sprouting process. Oat flour retains moisture for tender bakes, and making your own is as simple as blitzing oats in a food processor. Almond flour adds a dose of healthy fats and makes the perfect gluten-free, low-oil, low-sugar shortbread. In fact, every holiday at our house sees some variation of almond flour “shortbread”. Even a simple switch to classic whole wheat flour (or white whole wheat for a lighter touch) adds a hearty earthiness that pairs beautifully with warming spices like cinnamon and nutmeg.

Try:
Dark Chocolate Dipped Moringa Pistachio Cookies: Delightfully nutty with delicate sweetness, these Moringa Pistachio cookies are brimming with green goodness. No Moringa? Leave it out of swap in matcha. The basic dough can be tweaked in infinite ways, and is really fun to play with. This year, we’re dipping in chocolate and sprinkling with crushed candy canes.
My friend Laura at Sliced Ginger playfully incorporates matcha and pumpkin into her oat-and-almond flour Autumn Almond Cookies, superb for the holiday season.
Sprouted Spelt Flour Gingerbread Cookies, because you can never have too many gingerbread men!

Build in Veggies

Some of the most delicious and moist baked goods rely on the natural sweetness and texture that produce like zucchini, pumpkin, sweet potato, and other veggies provide. This well-known secret has advanced to a place where we no longer need to “sneak in” the veggies—we can celebrate and showcase them!

Puréed pumpkin and sweet potato are beloved in everything from pies and cakes to brownies and quick breads. Doutbless you’re already incorporating them into your holiday baking, so maybe the value of this “tip” is really just the reminder that you’re already doing great. This clever incorporation not only boosts the nutritional profile of your treats but also creates a superior texture, proving that you can indulge in something decadent while benefiting from a little extra goodness.

Try:
Date-Sweetened Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls: Sweet potato also works beautifully in these warmly-spiced, naturally sweetened, irresistible swirly rolls.
My friend Tiffany from Once Upon a Chickpea’s Sweet Potato Blondies are cozily decadent!
This Chocolate Zucchini Bread is not overpoweringly sweet, letting a little bitterness come through with delicious chocolatey richness.

Give Spice a Spotlight

Cutting back a bit on sugars can transform your holiday baking lineup, letting the vibrant, complex character of spices take center stage. When sugar dominates, it often mutes the subtle notes of ingredients like cinnamon, turmeric, and ginger. By reducing its presence, these spices are finally given the room to truly shine, offering warmth, depth, and a whole new kind of satisfaction. Not only is this a win for your palate, but it's a boon for your well-being, too! Spices like turmeric are celebrated for their anti-inflammatory properties, cinnamon can help stabilize blood sugar, and ginger is a digestive powerhouse—making this shift a delicious and nutritious upgrade.

Try:
Chai Spiced Cookies: These vegan, gluten-free treats deliver with warm, fragrant spices and just the right level of sweetness.
Golden Milk Cutout Cookies: Turmeric and ginger elevate these crisp yet meltaway shortbread-like cookies with warm, earthy flavor—one of my very favorites and so simple to make.