Is your snack time calling for a little bit of holiday spirit? These healthy snacks were created to bring smiles from everyone at the table. Fun with Christmas Food 2021 Edition has wreaths, trees, snowmen, and reindeer…all created using whole foods! They’re vegan, gluten-free, and refined sugar-free snacks to make your holiday season bright.
I had so much fun with last year’s Fun with Food: Christmas Edition and festive Christmas Pancakes that I decided to make a whole new round of winter snacks for this year! Seeing you make these treats and have fun with your little ones in the kitchen is a total highlight of my holiday season. My family celebrates Hanukkah, but with all the buzz around Christmas time, we still have fun getting in the holiday spirit and naming all the cute characters and symbols that pop up in December. This Fun with Christmas Food post has wreaths, trees, reindeer, and snowmen, all created out of healthy ingredients and fun, festive touches.
Fun with Christmas Food: 2021 Edition!
Reindeer Energy Bites
I don’t think I ever realized just how cute my energy bites could be! Adding pretzel antlers, eyes made from Cheerios and vegan chocolate chips, and a red raspberry nose created the sweetest little Rudolph ready to join in the reindeer games. My No-Bake Date Coconut Energy Bites are lighter in color, so I added cocoa powder to turn them reindeer-brown. They’re the perfect start to this Fun with Christmas Food!
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Reindeer Energy Bites
- Prep Time: 10
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 24 reindeer energy bites 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
For the reindeer head
- No-Bake Date Coconut Energy Bites
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (mixed into the energy bites to make it brown)
To decorate
- pretzel twists (gluten-free if desired – I love From the Ground Up Cauliflower Pretzel Twists)
- vegan cashew icing for “glue” to help the decorations stick (if needed)
- Cherrios or other O-shaped gluten-free cereal for the eyes
- mini vegan chocolate chips for the eyes
- fresh raspberries for Rudolph’s red nose
Instructions
- Prepare the energy bites, adding 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder to the food processor to make the energy bites brown. Roll into balls. You can make the reindeer heads ahead of time and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Then, decorate before enjoying. Decoration instructions next….
- To decorate, break the pretzel twists into pieces to create antler shapes. Stick into the top of the energy ball to create the antlers. Place dots of icing where the eyes and nose will go. Place the cereal and chocolate chip onto the icing where the eyes are located. Place the raspberry where the nose will go. You can break a piece off the raspberry if the raspberry is too large. You can also use freeze dried raspberries here.
Notes
Adapted from Haute and Healthy Living
- Category: Snack
- Method: Food Processor
Keywords: reindeer energy bites
Fun with Christmas Food Banana Snowmen
Look at these holly jolly little banana snowmen! These are especially fun if you live somewhere warm and don’t get enough snow to make a snowman. Just blast Frosty on the Alexa and you can assemble your own festive snow buddies no matter the weather! This is made with all fruits that are easy to cut, which makes it perfect for younger kids to practice (safe and supervised!) knife skills.
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Banana Christmas Snowmen
- Prep Time: 5
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 6–8 snowmen depending on the size of your banana and how thick the slices are 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- 1 banana (for snowman body), peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
- 3–4 strawberries, hulled and halved lengthwise (for hat)
- 3–4 green grapes, halved lengthwise (for hat pom pom)
- 2 tablespoons raisins (for eyes)
- 2 tablespoons mini vegan chocolate chips (for buttons)
- 2–3 baby carrots, sliced into small tiny pieces (for nose)
- 1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (for snow background)
Instructions
- Arrange three banana slices on a long toothpick/bamboo spear (this is the snowman body). You can also just lay the banana slices flat on a platter or plate if you don’t have a toothpick or food spear.
- Place strawberries and grapes on top of each snowman’s body with the cut side down.
- Add two raisins to the top banana slice for the eyes.
- Add mini chocolate chips to the middle banana slice for the buttons.
- Carefully place a tiny slice of a baby carrot just beneath the raisin eyes for the snowman’s nose.
- Sprinkle coconut overtop and around the snowmen to make it look like it is snowing. Enjoy immediately.
Notes
Save the banana peel for a cute snowman scarf!
Recipe adapted from One Handed Cooks
- Category: Snack
Keywords: Christmas Banana Snowman
Christmas Fruit Tree
I am absolutely in love with all of the colors in this Fun with Christmas Food apple tree. From the pineapple star to the Vegan Caramel Sauce (or Almond Butter or Healthy Homemade Nutella!) garland, the berry and pomegranate ornaments to the shredded coconut snow, it’s all just so sweet. This would be delicious to serve with a bowl of my Creamy Vegan Cinnamon Vanilla Fruit Dip!
Christmas Fruit Tree
- Prep Time: 10
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 1 Christmas Tree 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- 2 Granny Smith apples, cored and sliced (for the tree) [kiwi slices or honeydew also work here]
- pineapple (for the star)
- pomegranate seeds (for tree decorations)
- raspberries (for tree decorations)
- Banana (for trunk)
- Instant vegan caramel sauce or almond butter (for garland)
- Unsweetened shredded coconut (for snow)
Instructions
- Arrange apple slices in two columns that tough with the apples angled slightly down to resemble a pine tree. See photos.
- Decorate your tree with pomegranate seeds and raspberries.
- Add a 3-inch chunk of banana beneath the apple slices in the center (this is the trunk of the tree). Youc an also use pretzel sticks here.
- Add a pineapple chunk for the star. If you have a small star cookie cutter you could use that here and cut the pineapple into the shape of a star.
- Drizzle caramel sauce (or almond butter) overtop the apple slices. This is the tree garland.
- Sprinkle the tree and background (plate) with coconut for the snow. You can add a pile of coconut at the bottom of the plate/platter to look like a pile of snow. Enjoy. Serve alongside more caramel sauce and/or my vegan creamy cinnamon vanilla fruit dip.
Notes
*Soak apple slices in water with a little fresh lemon juice mixed in to prevent the apple slices from browning (if you plan to not consume immediately).
Recipe adapted from Clean and Scentsible
- Category: Snack or Appetizer
Keywords: Fruit Christmas Tree
Christmas Pita Trees with Hummus
How cute are these little pita trees?! This is one of the simplest Fun with Christmas Food options. All you need is some kind of green dip or spread! I’ve used Green Hummus, Zucchini Hummus (no chickpeas in this one!), or even Guacamole for an easy Christmas tree base. Once you have a tree with a pretzel trunk, you can deck the halls! Use cut up bell pepper or any other diced veggies you have in the kitchen. This is a really fun one for kids to help with because they can “decorate” their own trees!
Christmas Pita Trees with Hummus
Ingredients
- 2 whole wheat pitas, sliced into 16 wedges total (or for gluten-free use my homemade socca flatbread or homemade skillet pizza crust)
- 8 pretzel sticks (gluten-free if desired, we love From the Ground Up Cauliflower Pretzel Sticks) [this is the tree trunk]
- 1 batch green hummus or zucchini hummus (paleo) or guacamole
- red bell pepper, sliced or diced [decoration/garland]
Instructions
- Snap the pretzel sticks in half and stick the sharp side into the bottom of each pita slice.
- Spread green hummus, zucchini hummus or guacamole overtop the pita slices.
- Decorate with raw red bell pepper garland. Serve and enjoy immediately!
Notes
Recipe adapted from Betty Crocker
Christmas Veggie Wreath Platter with Vegan French Onion Dip
This French Onion Dip was a new addition to the blog this year, and it’s instantly become a favorite! I am always making extra Caramelized Onions and Vegan Sour Cream to have a batch of this dip in the house. It’s incredible with chips, crackers, and of course…veggies! It’s super easy to get creative with your favorites and turn them into a holiday wreath surrounding a bowl of this delicious dip. I used broccoli, cucumber, peas. radishes, cherry tomatoes, and a bell pepper bow! It’s a Fun with Christmas Food Wreath!
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Christmas Veggie Wreath Platter with Vegan French Onion Dip
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- Vegan French Onion Dip
- 1 head broccoli, cut into florets
- 1/4 of an English cucumber
- handful sugar snap peas
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes (or grape tomatoes)
- 2–3 radishes, sliced
- red bell pepper, core and stem removed, cut into ribbon shaped pieces [for the wreath bow]
Instructions
- Arrange dip in a small round dish in the center of a large round platter. Garnish with diced chives if desired.
- Add broccoli florets around the dip. Add sugar snap peas and cucumber slices. Decorate with radish slices and tomatoes.
- Decorate the top of the platter with the red bell pepper ribbon-shaped slices. The bottom of the bell pepper is perfect for the larger rounded parts of the ribbon. Serve immediately or refrigerate until serving.
Notes
Inspired by Yummy Healthy Eats
If you make any of these cute Fun with Christmas Food recipes, I hope you’ll tag me on Instagram so I can see your cute creations! You can also leave a review below this post so others can see how you liked these recipes. These festive snacks are made with vegan (dairy- and egg-free), gluten-free, soy-free, and refined sugar-free ingredients. I want everyone at the table to enjoy fun, cheery foods!
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