This guest post about low-sugar Christmas treats is from another blogger and I thought you would enjoy it.
The festive season is fast approaching and that means that the onslaught of delicious food is coming soon. Christmas is a time which is well-known for gluttony.
It’s no secret that we tend to overindulge and pig out on less than the healthiest of foods. From a full Christmas dinner to chocolate for breakfast, it’s not the time to be good! As adults, it’s our prerogative to choose what we put into our bodies.
If we want that extra slice of cake, we will eat that extra slice of cake. Therefore, it’s important to look after our children too during this festive time. If you want easy no-bake sugary treats check these out too.
We all know that eating too much-refined sugar causes a whole host of health issues in children. We also know that too much sugar drives them loopy! Not good, especially just before bedtime! The Christmas holidays can seem to stretch on for a long time, so it’s great to be able to treat the kids. We try to keep them busy and keep a close eye on the amount of sweet stuff they’re consuming.
Here are three reduced-sugar treats that you can make at home with the kids during the Christmas holidays, or in the run-up to the big day itself. There’s no need for anyone in the family to miss out on the festive food with these healthy Christmas ideas to try out in the kitchen.
Low Sugar Biscuits
We love baking biscuits in this household because they’re quick, easy and taste-safe. Children of any age can help stir, pour and knead the ingredients together without the worry of anyone eating something they shouldn’t.
Biscuits are really easy to adapt so, instead of adding in chocolate chips or golden syrup, you could try altering the recipe. An alternative is to include mixed spices and dried fruit to make sure they still taste amazing but contain less sugar.
There are plenty of recipes that advise on lower sugar content, and some that swap out caster sugar for muscovado sugar.
Christmas Chocolate Apples
It’s not Christmas if you don’t have some chocolate! Sure, it’s a sugary treat, but the amount of chocolate to fruit ratio in chocolate apples means your children are basically eating healthy snacks. The perfect low-sugar Christmas treats for anyone with a sweet tooth.
All you need to do is skewer an apple and dip it in melted chocolate. Before the chocolate cools and sets, decorate your apple with Christmas-themed sprinkles, chopped nuts, dried fruit or any other seasonal treat that takes your fancy. Leave them to set in the fridge for a couple of hours and you’ve got a tasty Christmas treat that’s 97% fruit (give or take!). You could even use dark chocolate which has a higher cocoa content and is better for you than milk chocolate.
Fruity Snowmen
This one is really fun for the younger kids to do, especially if you sit them at the table and lay all the ingredients out. If you were making this and not worried about the sugar you may use marshmallows but this is a healthier option with little to no added sugar.
Simply grab yourself a skewer and slide on 3 pieces of sliced banana. Then add half a strawberry and top it off with half a grape. Now you have a rough snowman shape.
Halved raisins can be used to add details such as the eyes and buttons, or if you want, you could also use chocolate chips.
These are best eaten straight away as the banana starts to go brown when left out for too long. If you’re using all fruit-based ingredients then these will be refined sugar-free.
If you have children that are a little reluctant to eat fruit, then drizzle a little bit of chocolate on top. This little Christmas treat is a great way to keep the children busy during the afternoon, as well as being a great little energy pick-me-up.
Buy chocolate moulds online if you want to make a more perfectly shaped figure. You could still add fruit inside and pour on chocolate to set it.
A bit about the author
My name is Rachael and these are three of my favourite low-sugar Christmas treats for kids. We have loads of fun in our kitchen and my eldest son, Luke, and I are always experimenting and trying something new.
If you are looking for more recipe ideas, or you are interested in following the life of our little family, you can pop over to my blog, Lukeosaurus and Me, to have a read.
