7 Sweet Pumpkin Recipes That Are Sneakily Healthy

Well, we know what we’ll be baking 18 times between now and Christmas. These are lighter muffins—you could totally eat one for breakfast or a snack—that will still make your kitchen smell like a gingerbread house. Plus, this recipe packs in, like, all our favourite fall flavours: maple syrup, pumpkin pie spice, and blackstrap molasses.

When you’re rushing from event to event during the holidays, portable snacks are everything. These energy bites are wholesome enough to eat every day, with hemp hearts and oats providing some satiety factor. Plus, there’s some subtle sweetness from pumpkin, carrot, and dried fruit.

Why choose between pumpkin and chocolate when you can have both? The chocolate flavour stands out the most here, with the pumpkin providing structural backbone for the pudding. We especially love the Almond Oat Crust as a healthier (and gluten-free) take on traditional flaky crusts, which can pack in excess amounts of butter and white flour.

Five-minute muffins made with zero flour, oil, or refined sugar? Umm yes, please. These are denser than your typical muffins, with an almost pie-like texture (thus the name). You don’t even need to dirty any bowls, because everything just gets thrown in a blender.

Now this is worth waking up for. The oats cook overnight in a mouth-watering mix of almond milk, pumpkin purée, maple syrup, vanilla and spices. Come morning, they’ve soaked up all those fall flavours. We recommend whipping up a big batch on Sunday morning to make your workweek breakfasts a breeze.

Like candied yams, this hummus is the perfect combo of sweet and savoury. It’s a super versatile dip, so feel free to serve with soft pita bread or spread on sandwiches for a pop of festive flavour.

These biscuits are a bit less sweet than most muffins, but they’re just divine when slathered with homemade jam. The nice thing about chia jam is that you don’t need pectin or added sugar to create that classic jelly consistency (though it will be a little looser than traditional jam). If you crave treats on Halloween, this orange and black combo should satisfy—without causing a sugar crash.