Holiday Tip # 5: Christmas Cookies for Kids?

Trying to instill healthier eating Paleo habits upon the whole family, including the kids, doesn’t leave much room for baking cookies, or does it?

Certainly Toll House cookies aren’t all that Paleo, but an afternoon spent baking holiday treats with the kids might be just that perfect occasion to use what I’d consider marginally Paleo foods, like all those nut flours used to make Paleo treats, in order to make Paleo friendly versions of family favorites.

Incidentally, I always feel it’s necessary to mention that the nut flours and paleo concoctions that we might tend to create are not meant to be eaten on a regular basis.  Three snacks a day coming from a blend of dates, coconut oil, almond butter, sweet potato, cacao and honey (one reader’s version of a Paleo brownie) is not the idea of a balanced approach to eating!

However, those special occasions, such as a holiday or birthday are exactly when these ingredients come into play.

A few ways to paleo-ize your traditional baking recipes include:

• Swapping out butter for coconut oil
• Using nut flours in lieu of traditional white flour
• Adding fresh, not canned, coconut milk to substitute dairy milk
• Opting for raw cacao rather than processed, alkali treated, soy-lecithin emulsified chocolate

As long as you keep to the general frame work and follow the flavor profile of a recipe and use a little creativity, you’ll find it fun and easy to create healthier, paleo versions of all those customary faves, while at the same time creating an annual holiday tradition to share with your little ones.