There’s something magical about gingerbread—it’s the quintessential flavor of the holidays, bringing warmth, nostalgia, and just the right amount of spice to the season. From comforting breads and indulgent desserts to creative drinks and snacks, gingerbread isn’t just for cookies anymore! Dive into this collection of holiday gingerbread ideas from my kitchen to yours. Click on the easy gingerbread recipes to explore the full recipes and bring these delicious ideas to life.
DIY Homemade Gingerbread Spice: Create your own gingerbread spice mix and discover a dozen creative ways to sprinkle it into your favorite recipes.
Gingerbread Chai Latte with Collagen: A cozy, protein-boosted latte that blends the boldness of chai spices with the sweet essence of gingerbread.
Chocolate Gingerbread Mini Loaves: Mini loaves that combine rich chocolate and spicy gingerbread—a chocolate gingerbread mini loaf perfect for gifting or indulging!
Easy Protein Gingerbread: Enjoy a slice of this wholesome quick bread packed with protein and warm spices. This gingerbread quick bread recipe perfect for breakfast, snacking, or dessert.
Low-Carb Chocolate Gingerbread Protein Truffles: One of my more decadent-seeming protein gingerbread recipes that’s actually keto, paleo, and vegan-friendly, with a balance of spice and sweetness.
Hasselback Baked Pears with Gingerbread Streusel: Elegant baked pears topped with a flavorful streusel and paired with a quick gingerbread latte. Warm, spiced fruit desserts are my favorite in cool-weather months.
Whether you’re baking gingerbread desserts or gingerbread for breakfasts to treat friends, family, or just yourself, these healthy gingerbread recipes are sure to spice up your holiday season. What’s your favorite way to enjoy gingerbread? Let me know in the comments below!
Granola Honey Sweet Potato Fries! Pre-race carb loading (or every day munching) at it’s finest – all the good stuff, so easy! Based on a single-serve recipe on page 215 my Cooking for One for Dummies cookbook that can be ordered now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or your other fine book retailer online or in person.
Baked or air-fryer sweet potato fries are one of my go-to side dishes the night before a big workout or race. Those healthy carbs from the sweet potato and honey give me energy and the prep method doesn’t make me feel heavy and gross with added oils I don’t need.
I was inspired to add honey and coarse sea salt to my fries after eating a similar dish at a steak house years ago before a 50 miles race!!! So yummy, and I know helped me make it through many of those miles in the first half.
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Adding granola was just an “ah-ha” moment, when I was curious about adding a little extra texture and crunch. A box of salty-sweet granola made with oats, ancient grains, pecans and cinnamon was sitting out, so I sprinkled some on and it was like magic. You can use any granola you want, I just happed to have THIS ONE on hand.
Sometimes I’m the only one in the family who wants a sweet potato for one, so I came up with this single-serve sweet potato fry recipe. With 368 Calories, 11g fat, 64g carb, 8g fiber, 5g protein, it’s pretty generous sized and can be split with a friend if not as hungry as I usually am!!
Granola Honey Sweet Potato Fries for Air Fryer (or Oven)
Prep Time
5mins
Cook Time
12mins
Total Time
17mins
Looking for a quick and easy granola sweet potato recipe? Simple ingredients come together in minutes in an air fryer (or conventional oven) tomake the tastiest, crunchiest, salty-sweet (swalty) fries around!! You’ll love recipe for one (or two)!
Course:
Appetizer, Side Dish
Keyword:
granola, honey, sweet potato
Servings: 1
Ingredients
10ouncesweet potatoapprox
2teaspoonsolive oil
2teaspoonhoney
¼teaspoonHimalayan Sea salt
2tablespoonsalty-sweet granola of choice
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400F or Air fryer to 360F.
Wash, dry and cut sweet potato into 1/3” thick fry-sized pieces. Place wedges in pile on baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil; toss to coat. Spread out in even layer on pan or transfer to Air fryer basket.
Bake for 25 min in oven or 12 min in air fryer, flipping half way. Will be done when turning crispy brown around edges and soft in center.
Let cool a couple minutes. Sprinkle with salt and drizzle with honey, toss gently. Sprinkle with granola!
This easy-to-make chocolate nut butter candy will have your heart at first bite! It’s a small batch dessert recipe, but there is plenty to share with your sweetheart (or not)! And, only three ingredients! Visit the 15-sec video HERE!
Rich, creamy, and studded with your favorite granola (use plain packaged granola, a fancy granola with all the fixings, or your special homemade granola recipe).
Basically, a no-bake dessert (except melting chocolate chips in the microwave for about 1 minute), you’ll find this is a quick, easy, and uncomplicated way to soothe a chocolate-lover’s sweet tooth. Plus, you may already have all the ingredients in your pantry!
This small-batch recipe is featured in my newest book, Cooking for One for Dummies (which can be pre-ordered NOW, and releases March 8, 2023).
In the cookbook, I show the Granola Chocolate Bar spread out thinly, using a silicone sheet or parchment-lined loaf pan or free-form on a lined cookie sheet.
Today, for a Valentine’s treat, I thought it would be cute to do in a heart-shaped ramekin! This creates a “thicker” result. If going this route, use an approximate 10-oz Crème Brulé-style ramekin or two smaller 6-oz low-side ramekins. I’m kinda a ramekin collector freak, they are so fun and can be used for lots of smaller-scale recipes for one or two; using to hold prepped ingredients while making a recipe; for holding your everyday snacks for portion control.
Approximate macros for sugar-free chip version (will vary some based on nut butter and granola choices): 191 calories, 13g fat, 14g net carb, 3g protein
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PRO TIPS FOR GRANOLA CHOCOLATE BARK
Tip 1: There is so much flexibility, you can mix and match ingredients to suit your dietary preferences (for example there are lots of swaps if looking for low carb dessert ideas):
Chocolate: I used sugar-free dark chocolate chips, but feel free to substitute traditional chocolate chips. Also, try milk chocolate, white chocolate, cinnamon chip and all the other flavors out there!
Nut Butter: The only real requirement is to use a natural-style nut butter and NOT the solid kind with hydrogenated fats and sugars. I used a cinnamon-flavored almond butter in my recipe today, but peanut butter, walnut butter, cashew butter, protein-boosted nut butters and most all types of blends will work!
Granola: For convenience, use packaged granola from your favorite brand. Of course, homemade granola is excellent too! If you don’t want to use granola, swap in an equal portion of things like coconut shreds, toasted chopped nuts, dehydrated or freeze-dried fruit pieces, little candies of choice, etc.
Tip 2: For less mess making granola bark, it’s highly recommended to oil the ramekin or, if using a baking sheet, use parchment paper or a silicone matt. You can also make in silicone candy molds, but I haven’t personally experiment with that.
Tip 3: Don’t skip the sticking in freezer step to firm up the chocolate bark before eating. Store leftovers in fridge.
Granola Chocolate Bark (Small Batch with Low Carb Options)
Prep Time
5mins
Total Time
35mins
Treat yourself (and a sweetheart) to this share-sized dessert that features only three ingredients (chocolate, nut butter, and granola)! Easy-peasy, the only ‘cooking’ is melting chocolate chips in the microwave! A fun Valentine’s Day treat, or for chocolate bark any day of the year! Low carb and sugar free options, very flexible.
Course:
Dessert, Snack
Keyword:
candy, chocolate, holiday, low carb, valentines day
Servings: 4
Calories: 191kcal
Ingredients
1/3cupchocolate chipssugar-free, if desired
¼cupnatural-style nut butterpeanut, almond, cashew, etc.
½cupof your favorite granolaany type or your own toppings
Instructions
In a small microwave-safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips on high in 30-second intervals, stirring between each, until the chocolate is melted and smooth.
Stir in nut butter until smooth. Pour the chocolate mixture into a 10 to 12-ounce low ramekin*
Sprinkle granola evenly over the top of the chocolate mixture and press down lightly so that it stays put. Freeze for 30 minutes to 1 hour, or until the bark has firmed up.
Slice into pieces; store the leftovers in the refrigerator.
Recipe Notes
* Instead of a ramekin, spread chocolate mixture out thinly on a silicone mat (on baking sheet) before topping with granola. After freezing, break up into free-form pieces. You can also use silicone baking and candy molds for a different effect.
Approximate macros for sugar-free chip version (will vary some based on nut butter and granola choices): 191 calories, 13g fat, 14g net carb, 3g protein
Lemon, Blueberry & Almond Granola is perfect for breakfast with milk or on yogurt — or for eating straight by the handful as a snack. I’ve used my kitchen hacks (like using alternative sweeteners and adding collagen powder) to moderate carbohydrates, boost protein and create a nutritious food to fuel my goals.
Preparing homemade granola is surprisingly easy . . . and super economical. Oats are inexpensive and can really stretch your food budget a long way — the biggest expense in homemade granola is the array of mix-ins like nuts, dried fruit, seeds and such. But you still get more goodies in your batch than you’d find in a more expensive bag of packaged granola.
Check out this video tutorial on how to make Lemon Blueberry Almond Granola!
As hinted, this lower-carb, higher protein Lemon, Blueberry & Almond Granola uses a few favorite products — a honey alternative (or any zero-carb syrup will do) and unflavored collagen. And, so many wholesome, good-for-you ingredients in this low carb blueberry granola.
I’m a long-time user of collagen hydrolysate from Great Lakes Wellness. They have quite a few flavors, but the unflavored (green can) is very versatile for everything from mixing into coffee to using as a protein multiplier in recipes like this homemade granola with collagen.
LEMON BLUEBERRY & ALMOND GRANOLA – Lower Carb and Packed with Protein!
Crunch, lightly sweet and wholesomely satisfying for breakfast or a snack, this easy homemade granola recipe features oats, dried blueberries and almonds — and also sugar swaps and collagen powder to keep the carbs lowered and protein up!
Botanically a fruit, embraced as a vegetable, the vibrant and vitamin-packed tomato is tops when it comes to versatility. Tomatoes are enjoyed at the annual rate of 31 pounds per person, eaten raw on salads and as a key ingredients in sauces, salsas and many soups. Even my tomato-avoiding son gets his fair share in the form of ketchup!
Tomat-O, tomat-OH, what is your favorite way to eat tomatoes? Please share in the comments below. Also, who’s training for what — I’m looking for some fall half marathons! XOXO, Jennifer
