Christmas holidays are a time for coming together and happiness, but also a time of rich and festive meals.

Many of us go overboard during the holidays and easily put on a couple of extra pounds, but there is a remedy for this problem.

Instead of classic fatty and unhealthy cakes, make healthy cakes which even people on strict diet can eat.

If you do not want to be so radical, you can combine traditional and healthy cakes, which will surely be great for many people.

1. Vanilla and almond crescents

Ingredients:

• a cup of minced almonds
• ¾ of a cup of unrefined sugar
• 1 + 1/3 cup of integral flour
• 1 cup of white flour
• ¾ cup of cold pressed sunflower or coconut oil
• ¼ cup of water
• 1-2 tablespoons of real vanilla

Preparation:

Heat the oven to 175 degrees C. Mince sugar and almonds, mix them with flour and a pinch of salt, add oil, vanilla and water.

Form the dough into a crescent with thicker middle part and thin endings. Place them in a greased tin and bake for 12 to 15 minutes until they become light brown.

You can sprinkle these cakes with unrefined sugar powder if you wish.

2. Coconut and raisins balls

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of raisins
• ¼ cup of almonds
• ¼ cup of raw pumpkin seeds
• 1/5 cup of raw sunflower seeds
• 2 cups of cocoa
• 4 cups of coconut flour
• half a cup of vanilla

Preparation:

Soak almonds and seeds in water over night. Dry them and blend them in a mixer or a blender.

Add raisins, cocoa, vanilla and coconut flour, and blend again until a thick and solid mass is formed.

Use that thick mass to form little balls and roll them in coconut flour.

3. Vegan chocolate truffles

Ingredients:

• 240 grams of vegan creamy cheese
• 2 cups of unrefined sugar powder
• 2 cup of dark chocolate
• minced almonds, nuts or coconut flour (optional)

Preparation:

Put cheese into blender and gradually add sugar as you blend the cheese.

Melt the chocolate and add to the mixture. Blend the mixture again until you obtain a dense and unified mass.

Put the mixture into a fridge for two hours.

Form little balls and roll them into coconut flour, nuts or almonds and then put them back into the fridge.

4. Chocolate oat biscuits

Ingredients:

• 2/3 of cup of maple syrup
• ¼ of cup of cold pressed sunflower oil
• 5 cups of cocoa
• 1 tablespoon of Ceylon cinnamon powder
• ½ of cup of peanut butter
• 1 cup of oat flakes
• 1 tablespoon of real vanilla

Preparation:

Mix maple syrup, oil, cocoa and cinnamon over a mild fire. Let the mixture simmer for three minutes, stirring continuously.

Remove from the fire and add peanut butter, oats and vanilla and mix until you have created a uniform mass.

Form cookies with a spoon and then let them cool.

You can make your own peanut butter, all you need is 55 grams of unsalted fried peanuts and 2.5 tablespoons of cold pressed sunflower oil or honey.

Blend everything into a smooth mass and add more oil if you need to make the mixture softer.

5. Integral flour gingerbreads

Ingredients:

• a cup of integral flour
• 2/3 of cup of rye flour
• 1/3 of cup of honey
• 1/3 of cup of cold pressed sunflower oil
• lemon peel
• ¼ of tablespoon of baking soda
• ceylon cinnamon
• clove powder
• cardamom

Preparation:

Heat and mix honey and oil until they merge.

Mix in all ingredients and wrap them into a plastic bag and leave in the fridge for at least 2 hours, even better for one day.

Form cookies and bake them in a preheated oven at 170 degrees C for 15 to 20 minutes.

You can cover these cookies with chocolate frosting. You can replace cardamom with cashew.

6. Ginger cookies

Ingredients:

• • half a cup of unrefined sugar
• • 1 tablespoon of ginger powder
• • 1 tablespoon of Ceylon cinnamon
• • ½-1 tablespoon of baking soda
• • half a cup of molasses
• • ½ of cup of soy milk
• • 2 + ½ cups of integral flour
• • a pinch of salt

Preparation:

Mix sugar, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Add molasses and soy milk and blend the mixture. At the end, with constant blending, add flour.

Spread the dough on flour-covered surface. It is desirable to make the dough very thin to make cookies crispy.

Form cookies and put them on a flour-covered greased tin and bake in an oven at 175 degrees C for about 20 minutes.

Leave the cookies for five minutes and then put them into a bowl.

7. Italian Christmas bread

Ingredients:

• ½ of cup of warm water
• 2 teaspoons of dry yeast
• ¼ of tablespoon of saffron
• ½ of cup of soy milk
• ¼ of cup of unrefined sugar powder
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• ¼ tablespoons of minced anise
• 2 tablespoons of real vanilla
• 1 tablespoon of real almond extract
• a pinch of salt
• 1 and a half cups of integral flour
• 1 cup of white flour
• ¼ of cup of wheat germs
• ½ of cup of raisins
• ½ of cup of dried apricots
• optional – ½ of cup of fried almonds or pine nuts

Preparation:

Put saffron and yeast into warm water for ten minutes.

Add sugar and oil into hot soy milk and mix it. When the milk cools, mix it with water, saffron and yeast.

Add lemon peel, anise, vanilla, almond extract, salt, germs and a cup of flour and blend everything.

Put the dough on the table, add dried fruits and mix them in on a flour-covered surface with oiled hands for 5 to 10 minutes.

Put the dough in a lightly oiled container. Cover it and leave it for an hour, until it doubles in size.

After that mix it again and place it in a greased tin. Cover the dough with cloth and leave it for 20 minutes until it raises again.

Bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees C for about 45 minutes. After that, remove the bread from the tin and leave it to cool.

8. Vegan nut cake

Ingredients:

• 250 grams of integral flour
• 250 grams of white flour
• 1 dcl of cold pressed olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of salt and 2 teaspoons of unrefined sugar
• 2-3 dcl of soy milk
• 1 fresh yeast

Stuffing:

• 250 grams of minced nuts
• 180 grams of unrefined sugar
• soy milk

Preparation:

Put two tablespoons of sugar into a cup, mince yeast and cover it with warm milk and leave the mixture on a warm place. Mix that mixture into flour.

Add salt, sugar, lemon and soy milk and make a smooth dough and leave it to raise.

Make stuffing with nuts covered with hot soy milk and add sugar. When the dough doubles in size spread it 1 cm thick.

Fill the dough with stuffing, roll it and place it on a greased tin and leave to rise for another 30 minutes.

Bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees C. Instead of nuts you can use poppy, carob or chocolate.

9. Cherry and millet cake

Ingredients:

• 400 grams of millet
• 1 l of apple juice
• 3 packs of agar agar
• 500 grams of cherries
• 200 grams of unrefined sugar

Preparation:

Cook millet in apple juice. If the mixture becomes thick, add juice or water. 

Pour the mixture into a baking container and straighten it. Arrange cherries and cover them with sweetened agar agar.

You can replace cherries with any other fruit, such as kiwi, peaches, strawberries, blueberries, mulberries or blackberries.

 

How to make your favorite cookies healthier

In order to make your cookies healthier, follow these simple rules:

• Instead of margarine, use coconut oil and instead of refined oils use cold-pressed oils.
• Replace white sugar with unrefined brown sugar or stevia, honey, molasses, maple or agave syrup.
• Instead of eggs, use linen seeds with water, bananas, yoghurt, corn or potato starch.
• Replace one part of white flour in the recipe (approximately 30-50%) with whole grain flour.

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