3 Healthy Holiday Snack Recipes!
During the holiday season, it can seem super difficult to stay on track with your fitness journey and goals, especially because of all the holiday whoopsies! If you CANNOT avoid the treats this holiday season that is totally okay - WHY? For 2 reasons, one, living a healthy lifestyle is all about BALANCE, meaning you can enjoy some whoopsies in moderation, GUILT FREE. Two, today I am sharing 3 of my favourite healthy holiday snack recipes to help keep your sweet tooth at bay!
First off, what is a WHOOPSIE?
A whoopsie is A FOOD or DRINK THAT contains excessive amounts of sugar, alcohol, or a combination of both that is consumed without guilt or regret.
As part of the leansquad, I will encourage you to complete the 30-minute bodyweight workouts from the 30-Day Challenge to the BEST of your ability; what is hard for you, is LEAN for you! I will also encourage you to eat simple, lean, and tasty recipes from our meal plans that will have you feeling light and leanmazing all day long!
Along with these encouragements, I will also encourage you enjoy all of your whoopsies too; as I said, the lean life is about BALANCE, that means you don’t need to cut out all the ‘bad stuff’ instead, have it in moderation and really enjoy it when you do!
That being said, these 3 tasty recipes will allow you to have MORE of the sweet treats you LOVE without all the added sugars and processed carbs!
RECIPE 1: Salted Caramel & Peanut Butter Bark
This recipe is sooo leanlicious! If you are a fan of peanut butter, you will LOVE this healthy recipe! These bars are SUGAR FREE and Keto friendly; they are also the perfect combination of salty and sweet!
Heres how to make it:
LEANGREDIENTS:
- 4 tbsp butter (unsalted)
- 2 tbsp brown erythritol
- 2 oz peanuts
- 2 tbsp natural peanut butter (no sugar added)
- flakey sea salt
LEANSTRUCTIONS:
- In a small non-sticking pot, melt the butter on low heat.
- Add the remaining ingredients except for the flakey sea salt and mix until everything is fully combined.
- Pour the mixture onto a tray lined with parchment paper.
- Chill until the butter is completely solid (approx. 1 hour).
- Sprinkle the sea salt on top of the hardened "keto caramel" and cut it into chunks, approximately 6-7 pieces
- Store covered with plastic wrap in your fridge for up to a week.
RECIPE 2: TWIX BARS
Now this is one of my lean favourites! I have had tons of squadies make it and RAVE about how much they love these lean Twix bars! If you are a Twix bar lover, you are sure to enjoy these LEAN Twix bars! With one cracker layer, one caramel layer, and one chocolate layer, I promise, you wont be missing your average Twix bar!
Heres how to make it:
LEANGREDIENTS:
FOR THE ALMOND SHORTBREAD BASE:
- 1 ½ cups packed fine blanched almond flour
- 3 tbsp melted coconut oil (let it cool for a minute before adding)
- 2 tbsp sugar-free maple syrup (I used Walden Farms) *you can use normal maple syrup but will significantly increase sugar content and calories*
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Dash of salt
FOR THE CARAMEL PEANUT BUTTER LAYER:
- ⅔ cup creamy peanut butter (I used a crunchy peanut butter out of personal preference)
- ⅓ cup sugar-free maple syrup
- ¼ cup coconut oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Dash of salt
FOR THE CHOCOLATE LAYER:
- ¾ cup sugar-free chocolate chips (I used these) *again you can use normal chocolate chips but it will no longer be a sugar-free, keto-friendly twix bar*
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- Sprinkles *optional*
Now that we’ve got the leangredients how do you actually make these healthy, sugar free twix bars? Servings: 16 Serving Size: 1 bar
LEAN-STRUCTIONS
Well, that’s easy!! You just follow these lean steps…
- First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Then line an 8x8 inch square pan with parchment paper *make sure it’s 8x8 otherwise it may be too big*
- Next, you make your shortbread base by lean mixing the almond flour with coconut oil, sugar free maple syrup, vanilla and salt in a bowl. Mix it all together using a fork until it forms a nice crumb texture. Then press (also known as mushieee) this into an 8×8 inch square pan and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
- Towards the final few minutes, you want to start making the peanut butter caramel layer. Add the peanut butter, sugar free maple syrup, coconut oil, vanilla extract and salt to a medium pot and place over medium-low heat for approximately 2 minutes. Make sure you stir frequently until caramel starts to ever so slightly bubble. Once it’s ready, pour over your slightly cooled almond shortbread crust.
- Afterwards, place the now shortbread topped with the caramel layer in fridge for roughly 30 to 60 minutes (you want the peanut butter layer to be completely hardened). P.S. if you’re in a lean hurry you can place it in the fridge to expedite the process!
- Once the caramel topping is nearly hardened it is time to move onto making the sugar free chocolate topping layer. There are TWO ways to do this, one with the microwave and one using the stove top. My personal favourite is the stove top. You add the sugar free chocolate chips and coconut oil to a glass bowl. Next you get a saucepan or pot and fill with a small layer of water. Add the glass bowl to the sauce pan or pot on top of the water and turn heat on to medium-high. You stir the chocolate frequently until it is perfectly melted! *the other option is to add the sugar free chocolate chips and coconut oil to a microwaveable safe dish and blast on high heat every 15 seconds until fully melted. Just be ware of BURNING your chocolate!
- Pour over the caramel layer and tilt your dish side-to-side to evenly distribute the melted sugar free lean chocolate. Place in fridge for at least 20 minutes until chocolate is completely hardened and bars are cooled.
- Now, it’s the final step! Remove bars from pan and cut entire pan of bars in half, then cut each half into 8! This will give you roughly 16 healthy, leanified sugar free twix bars!!
- Lastly, ENJOY YOUR LEAN TWIX BARS! The lean life is all about balance and this is just another example of how enjoyable eating healthy and lean can really be!
RECIPE #3: Keto Reeses peanut butter cups!
This Keto reeses peanut butter cup recipe is SUPER versatile. With just the switch of one ingredient, you can change up the flavours! When it comes to the nut butters, you can choose any nut butter of your choice! If you want your keto dessert to taste more like the original reese peanut butter cups, then go with some all natural peanut butter. If you are an almond butter guy like me and CAN’T get enough almond butter, then do what I did and use well, ALMOND BUTTER!
What makes this recipe super chocolaty and smooth is 2 main ingredients: Cocoa powder and coconut oil. Cocoa powder is naturally sugar free and coconut oil is naturally very smooth and creamy. Combining these 2 ingredients will give you a smooth, chocolaty and of course LEAN cocoa keto holiday dessert!
Heres how to make it:
LEANGREDIENTS:
- 3/4 cup Almonds, raw
- 1/4 cup Rolled oats
- 2 tbsp Natural Peanut Butter ( or any nut butter of your choice)
- 1 1/2 tbsp Walden Farms Sugar free Maple Syrup
- 1 1/2 tbsp coconut oil, warmed & melted
- 1/4 tsp Cinnamon
- 2 tbsp Cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp Vanilla extract, pure
- pinch of fine grain sea salt to taste
LEANSTRUCTIONS:
- Add almonds and rolled oats into a food processor. Blend until flour forms
- Add almond and rolled oat mix into a large bowl. Add peanut butter, coconut oil, Walden Farms maple syrup, cinnamon, vanilla and salt. Lean remix it up until fully combined.
- Using lined muffin trays or silicone muffin cups, put about 1 tbsp of the mix into each cup, pressing it down until flat. Set aside.
- Whisk together coconut oil, syrup, cocoa powder and salt until fully combined
- Drizzle chocolate on top of each muffin cup.
- Place in the freezer for 30 - 45 minutes to set.
- Serve fresh out of the freezer!
There you have it squadies! 3 of my favourite healthy holiday snack recipes!
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