Christmas is a great time to splurge, but the festive season is long – and often sugar-filled. Take a break from the super sweet and whip-up these healthy alternatives with the kids these holidays.

Christmas Choc-Coconut Balls

Makes 10 

Ingredients:

10 medjool dates (seeds removed)

1 cup of LSA meal/almond meal

1/4 cup of organic coconut oil

1/4 cup cacao powder

1/3 cup of shredded coconut

Method:

1. Add dates, LSA meal, coconut oil and cacao powder and blitz in a food processor or with a stick processor until all combined.
2. Roll 1 tsp of mixture into a ball and repeat until all of the mixture is used up.
3. Roll the balls into the shredded coconut and refrigerate for two hours before serving.

Santa Strawberries

OK, more naughty than nice

Ingredients:

2 punnets of strawberries

75g of cream cheese (softened)

1/2 tsp of cinnamon

1/2 tsp of vanilla essence

1 tbs  honey or rice malt syrup

Method:

1. Cut stems off strawberries and wash thoroughly.
2. Cut the tip of the strawberry one third of the way down (for Santa’s hat – the rest of the strawberry is Santa’s body).
3. Place larger piece of strawberry on a tray (larger side down), ready for piping.
4. Combine cream cheese, cinnamon, vanilla and honey or rice malt syrup with an electric mixer until thick and smooth.
5. Fill a piping bag with the cream cheese mixture.
6. Start piping the cream cheese mixture on the larger piece of strawberry.
7. Place the smaller portion of the strawberry on top of the cream cheese to form the first strawberry Santa.
8. Pipe a little ball onto the tip of Santa’s hat and smaller balls on Santa’s body for buttons. Repeat with the rest of the strawberries.
9. Use black sesame seeds or chia seeds for Santa’s eyes.

Holiday Season Icy Poles

Makes 6

Ingredients:

Coconut water

2 kiwifruits

5 strawberries

Handful blueberries

1 peach

Method:

1. Cut fruit into bite-sized pieces and place into icy pole moulds until it is three quarters full.
2. Fill the rest of the moulds with coconut water.
3. Freeze.

Classic Gingerbread Cookies

Makes 12

Ingredients:

3 cups spelt flour

1/2 cup maple syrup

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 heaped tablespoon ginger

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/3 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Combine dry ingredients in one bowl and wet ingredients in a separate bowl.
2. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until combined (do not overwork the mixture).
3. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for one hour.
4. Preheat the oven to 190C.
5. Remove mixture from fridge and roll it out on a floured surface. Roll out the dough until it is about 0.5cm – 1cm thick.
6. Cut the dough into any shape (think stars and Christmas trees) and place onto a tray lined with baking paper.
7. Bake the cookies for roughly 10 minutes or until they are golden brown.
8. Cool cookies on a baking tray and decorate as desired.

These recipes are all from the Swisse Kids recipe series. For more great healthy snack ideas, visit the website.

This material was produced by Swisse