Photo Credit: Richard Wood, Creative Commons 2.0 Generic

The holidays are notorious for all the delicious, but unhealthy and sugary, treats. However, there are plenty of healthy treats that can be substituted that’ll  satisfy your sweet tooth.

A classic treat to eat is banana bread however it can be packed with sugar.

However, sophomore Megan Marty and her family finds a new twist on banana bread that doesn’t even use sugar.

“My mom and I usually make sugar free banana bread,” Marty said. “We substitute the sugar with agave, which is (from) a plant.”

Many worry that by substituting or getting rid of an ingredient altogether would change the taste of final product.

Marty said that by changing this one simple ingredient, sugar, the bread is not only healthier, but there’s no difference in the taste.

Marty isn’t the only creating new and improved recipes. Emma Brown, sophomore, has a twist on pumpkin pie that her along with her parents make during the holidays.

“My mom is vegan so she often makes healthy treats,” Brown said. “She’ll make this pumpkin pie but with no crust. It tastes exactly like pumpkin pie.”

Brown said that her mom will take pumpkin paste along with other spices and bake it in a bowl until the outer edge turns crispy.

Her family also has a traditional apple dessert.

“My mom will also bake apples with cinnamon and a little bit of sugar to make a pseudo apple crisp,” Brown said.

But just because it’s healthier, doesn’t mean that the treats can’t be just as delicious.

Junior Alexandra Ahmad finds ways to personalize her treats to be gluten free.

“I … like dark chocolate peppermint bark because it’s a holiday classic, just without the white chocolate,” junior Lexi Ahmad said. “Dark chocolate is full of antioxidants and … is with small crumbles of candy cane, it makes the perfect holiday treat.”

She also finds way to revamp her snacks to fit all cravings, while making sure to not use too many “junky” ingredients.

“My favorite (healthy holiday snack) is the a popcorn mix because it’s super simple and you can personalize it to what you like best,” Ahmad said. “I love to add candy cane crumbles and small dark chocolate chips. It’s awesome because it’s gluten free.”

The amazing thing about constantly being around technology is that recipes can be easily found online.

On www.sarahbakesgfree.com, baker Sarah introduces frosted peppermint chocolate cookies. However, these cookies are vegan and gluten free.

Another favorite during the holiday season especially amongst those who celebrate Hanukkah is challah.

A nice way to make it special during the holiday season is to add fresh fruit into the recipe creating an apple-raisin challah.

The recipe uses less than a half cup of sugar for each loaf and incorporates fresh apples for a nice, tart finish. This can be found at www.epicurious.com.

This holiday season, you can easily find easy substitutes for all those sweet treats that you love, while still maintaining that great taste.