Favorite Recipes: Holiday

From Thanksgiving dishes to birthday cake, here are my favorite holiday recipes. Check out my other recipe pages for everyday savory and sweet recipes.

Cakes

Strawberry Cake by Nora Cooks: My kids love this; it is often requested for birthdays. I cut down the sugar to 1 cup. I’ve used both fresh and frozen strawberries. I used the frosting recipe for her cupcakes because I didn’t have freeze dried strawberries.

Another Strawberry Cake by The Almond Eater: I used this recipe more recently because it doesn’t require you to reduce the strawberries, which saves time. It’s also tasty, and I used her frosting recipe as well.

Carrot Cake by Nora Cooks: Took 6 carrots to make 3 cups grated. I used one cup sugar. I baked it in a 9x13 pan, so cooked it about 45 minutes.  

Chocolate Cake by Minimalist Baker: This is my go-to for birthday cakes. Very easy and tastes great. I use around 1 cup of sugar, maybe less. I usually have to cook slightly longer to get a clean toothpick.

Chocolate Cupcakes by Nora Cooks: Easy and good. I use ½ cup sugar.

Holiday Cookies

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies by Nora Cooks: We like to make these for friends and teachers. After our first batch, we decided to omit the candy cane pieces because we didn’t like chewing on them, but the peppermint extract still gave them great flavor. The dough was very thick so I added some milk to thin it. I cut the sugar slightly, from 1 cup to ¾ cup, and I’d probably cut it to ½ cup if I wasn’t giving them as gifts.

 Chocolate Crinkle Cookies by the Daily Dish: Another holiday cookie we give for gifts. The orange extract sounds good, though I’m personally not a big fan of the orange-chocolate combo so we made them plain chocolate. I’d try peppermint extract, especially for the holidays. I used 1 cup of sugar and didn’t need the full ½ cup of powdered sugar/regular sugar for the topping.

Gingerbread cookies by Connoisseurus Veg: These take more effort than I usually want in a cookie recipe, but it was fun to do with the kids.

Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies by Banana Diaries: We made these for teacher gifts, too. They were easy, but I did find the cook time to be off. I cooked them for around 20 minutes. The glaze was good, but be sure to have cookies flat when drizzling so it doesn’t pool in the middle.

Skinny Buckeyes by Happy Healthy Mama: While I hate using the term “skinny” in recipes, I do like that these are a healthier version of buckeyes. My family always made buckeyes growing up, and when the kids were little, I looked for way to make them a bit healthier. These taste very good and are much healthier than the original. I keep them in the freezer.

Here is a more traditional version of buckeyes, though I can’t vouch for this recipe. My sister doesn’t use butter, just peanut butter and powdered sugar. There are lots of variations you can try and it’s a pretty forgivable recipe. We do often have trouble dipping them towards the end, so I usually drizzle/pour melted chocolate on the last ones, or any that didn’t get enough chocolate on them.

Icing/Frosting

I like this Chocolate Frosting recipe from Nora Cooks for traditional frosting. I only needed scant 3 cups of powdered sugar and I used all 3 tbsp of milk. For carrot cake, I’d try her Cream Cheese Frosting.

While I make and enjoy regular icing with butter and powdered sugar, sometimes I like a healthier version. Minimalist Baker has a date sweetened chocolate frosting that is tasty. Make sure you get fresh dates because if they are too dried it doesn’t work well.

Chocolate Covered Katie also has a healthy chocolate frosting recipe that is good and doesn’t require dates. It did turn out a little wet so I added more cocoa powder and nut butter. Next time, I’d try less milk.

I usually use a healthier version of cream cheese icing when making carrot cake. I’m not sure what recipe I’ve used, because I usually just cream cream cheese with maple syrup and call it a day. However, it can be a bit runny. I have this recipe from Hummasapien saved to try; I think the Greek yogurt would make the icing thicker.

Thanksgiving/Holiday Meal Recipes

Vegan Gravy by Nora Cooks: This is a good, very simple recipe. Many vegetarian recipes are mushroom based, but my kids don’t particularly like mushrooms, so this works well. (That said, here is a good mushroom gravy). Make sure you whisk flour as you put it in, and keep whisking as it heats to avoid lumps.

Stuffing by Connoisseurus Veg: It’s obvious but I’ll say it anyway: the type of bread you use will greatly affect this recipe. I’ve used homemade sourdough and that was delicious. I also used Onion Sage bread from the bakery at Whole Foods which was great. I added the full extra ½ cup of broth and used maybe 2 tbsp of butter. One year I used all fresh herbs which was ideal, but I’ve made it with dried seasonings too and enjoyed it still.

Lentil Loaf by Simple Veganista: Easy to make ahead of time, filling and tasty. I topped with ½ cup ketchup for the glaze.

Cashew Cream by The Kitchn: I shared this recipe in the savory recipe page because it describes how to make cashew cream, which can be savory or sweet. But if you make a sweet version, it’s a great option instead of whipped cream.

Pumpkin Pie: I used fresh roasted pumpkin for this, which made it a bit watery. So either use canned pumpkin or cut the liquid a bit for fresh.

Pumpkin Pie Bars by Minimalist Baker: Rather than making pumpkin pie, I usually make these bars. Much easier because homemade crust is a project (worth a try and delicious if you have the time and energy!). This crust is easy and tastes great.

Mashed Potatoes: I don’t have a recipe for mashed potatoes. I usually leave a bit of water in the potatoes when I’m draining them, to help mash them and so I don’t have to add so much milk/butter. I don’t usually add much butter. But mashed potatoes always use way more milk than I think! I typically add, mash, check consistency, add more milk, stir, check consistency, add more milk, etc. One thing I like to do is sauté garlic in olive oil on the side and add it to the mashed potatoes. It adds such great flavor. I’ve also added a bag of spinach for extra veggie power.

Everything Else

Harry Potter Sorting Hat Cupcakes by Banana Diaries: These were so fun! The recipe does entail a lot of steps, but it was a fun Halloween treat for the kids and I to make together. For the cupcakes, I cut the sugar to 1/2 cup and used oil instead of butter because then I didn’t need to use a mixer. It was hard to dip the hats, so I just poured chocolate on the top of them which was messy but worked. If you have a kid whose heart is set on getting Griffindor, try to remember which ones are which, or mark them somehow. We didn’t even make Slytherin ones because no one wanted to get that!

Apple Pie by Vegan Heaven: I used a 9” pan by mistake and it was fine, but I cooked it longer. I used Honeycrisp apples, and pumpkin pie spice for the spices that weren’t cinnamon. I put the crust in the fridge while I made the filling, but it didn’t take the whole hour and the crust still rolled out fine. I would look into pastry cloth or something next time to cover the counter because the dough stuck to the counter and was difficult to clean.

Candied Spiced Nuts by Minimalist Baker: These were great for teacher gifts. I used 1 tbsp oil, and only one of maple syrup too. Cooked 15-17 min. I did omit cayenne because not everyone likes spicy things, but I think it would taste amazing.

Halloween Banana Ghosts and Clementine Pumpkins by Abbey’s Kitchen: So fun and I love that it’s a healthy Halloween treat. I made this quickly on Halloween morning before school, so I didn’t melt any chocolate. I ended up using a little dab of almond butter to stick chocolate chips onto the banana ghosts for eyes, and then stuck celery into the clementines to be regular pumpkins without a face. So laziest version, but still fun and my kids liked it.

Healthy Halloween Treats by Just Simply Mom: This is a great list of different Halloween themed foods you can make, many of which are healthy. I made the apple monsters (used broken cashews for teeth, almond butter blobs to stick chocolate chips for eyes like I mentioned above) and apple mummies to add to the banana ghost and pumpkin clementines.

Jack-O-Lantern Stuffed Peppers by Sage and Celery: I haven’t personally used this recipe, but it’s an example of making a stuffed pepper carved to look like a jack-o-lantern, which I have done. It is deceptively easy (MUCH easier and less messy than carving a pumpkin) and frankly fun to do (I enjoyed trying to make different faces), and hopefully your kids will get a kick out of it. You could put anything in there- rice or quinoa, beans or lentils or meat, various veggies. Just don’t stuff it too much or the face might break.