10 Healthier Holiday Dessert Recipes to Try This Season

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The holidays are right around the corner, which means sugar-topped, filled, and covered confections will be popping up around kitchen tables all over the country right about now. But just because you’re staying healthy this holiday season (or at least trying to), it doesn’t mean you can’t have some apple gingerbread cake, too. Enter these 10 healthier takes on holiday dessert favorites, from dairy-free pumpkin pie ice cream to bite-sized candied apples, to prove you can have your (vegan spelt) molasses cookies and eat ’em too.

Salted Caramel Pecan Pie Tarts
via Sprouted Routes

Can’t choose between sweet or salty? With this recipe — which is gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free AND refined sugar-free — you won’t have to. The perfect solution for the undecided, these salted caramel pecan pie tarts will satisfy everyone’s cravings. After all, picking sides is for politics — and we won’t be needing any more of that at the Thanksgiving table.

Peppermint Meringues
via SkinnyTaste

If you’re planning to go HAM on your Christmas dinner feast, but still want room for dessert, then you can’t go wrong with this recipe. These mini peppermint meringues are super light, ringing in at just 21 calories for 3.

Five-Minute Single-Serving Apple Crisp
via Pinch of Yum

This single-serving apple crisp treat — made with good-for-you ingredients like oats, coconut oil, apples, chopped pecans and more — is perfect for anyone planning a Selfgiving (that’s a thing, right?).

Vegan Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream
via Minimalist Baker

Your know what’s better than pumpkin pie? Pumpkin pie ice cream. And what’s better than pumpkin pie ice cream? Dairy-free pumpkin pie ice cream that will make everyone at the Thanksgiving table happy — at least for a minute.

Homemade Horchata
via Love and Oil

Think of this as a lighter alternative to eggnog. This dessert drink is also naturally dairy-free — and tastes great with a dash of rum!

Vegan Apple Gingerbread Cake
via Minimalist Baker

This vegan take on apple gingerbread cake packs all of your favorite fall-flavored ingredients into one recipe. (Don’t worry: We won’t tell your family it’s vegan.)

Mini Snow Candy Apples
via Le Zoe Musings

Sprinkled with coconut shavings, these bite-sized treats are the perfect way to sneak some fruit into your dessert.

Pistachio Sugar Plums
via Katie at the Kitchen Door

These pistachio sugarplums are packed with fruits and spices like sweet dates, apricots, and ground ginger, which makes them pretty darn healthy. So go ahead and reach for another (we won’t tell).

Chewy Molasses Spelt Cookies With Candied Ginger
via Oh She Glows

These are not your Grandma’s Christmas cookies: Not only are they packed with ground flax and spelt flour, they’ll also satisfy all the vegans in the room.

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