Whew, that recipe title is a mouthful- but it’s hard to describe without hitting all of the elements. I love a sweet & savoury combo, and this is the epitome of that. It whips up super quick so you can make it to your Christmas party on time, and impress all your friends too.

INGREDIENTS

1 wheel of brie cheese
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp red chili flakes
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup sliced almonds
2 tbsp butter
salt, to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Cut all of the rind off the wheel of brie. Cut into large chunks, then add to a large bowl. Whip using a hand beater until the cheese is silky smooth. You may need to stop and scrape the sides of the bowl a few times. Spread cheese over a board or serving plate.

For the hot honey, add honey and red chili flakes to a pot. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, then remove from heat and stir in apple cider vinegar. Cool to room temperature, and strain out chilis if you prefer.

Add butter to a small saucepan and heat over medium until melted. Add sliced almonds and cook over medium heat until golden, stirring continuously. Remove from heat, add salt to taste, and stir.

Drizzle hot honey over the whipped brie, then top with toasted almonds. Serve with crackers or a baguette.

I’ve given my favourite cold brew smoothie a festive upgrade! This smoothie tastes exactly like my go-to Starbucks holiday order, sans the sugar. I recommend going very light with the peppermint extract to start as it can overpower the flavour pretty quickly- then increase it if you need to.

Jingle Bells- Kaskade

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup coconut milk (from a can)
1 cup milk of choice (I use unsweetened Oat)
2 tbsp instant coffee powder
1 banana, ripe (even better if it’s frozen)
1 cup frozen cauliflower florets
1 scoop vanilla protein powder ( I like Body Energy Club Clean Vegan protein)
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1/8 tsp peppermint extract
ice

INSTRUCTIONS

Add all ingredients to a high power blender and blend until smooth.

Spooky season is here! I’ve never been a big candy person, chocolate is much more up my alley. I love these because they are ridiculously easy, delicious, and there’s not much sugar at all. So, I can eat more of them without a large sugar crash after! ideal.

I used halloween themed moulds to make my cups, but if you don’t want to go grab some, you can use a muffin tin. Simply line each muffin tin with muffin liners, and use those as your moulds.

Love Lost- Mac Miller

INGREDIENTS

For the chocolate cup:

1 1/2 cups high quality dark chocolate, chopped (avoid using chocolate chips as they have extra wax in them)
1 tsp refined coconut oil
maldon salt or flaky salt for garnish

For the almond butter layer:

1 cup natural almond butter
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup refined coconut oil, melted and cooled
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt

INSTRUCTIONS

Melt chocolate and coconut oil together in a double boiler. If you don’t have a double boiler, heat in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds as to not overheat. Spoon about a tablespoon of melted chocolate into each chocolate mould (or muffin cup). Slowly tilt in a circle to coat the sides of the mould/cup. Place in freezer.

In the meantime, stir together all of the almond butter ingredients in a medium bowl.

Once the chocolate has frozen, spoon 1-2 tbsp of the filling into the chocolate cup. Place in freezer until almond butter is hardened, approximately 15 minutes.

Remove from freezer, and top with more melted chocolate, until each almond butter layer is covered in a thin layer of chocolate. Sprinkle with sea salt or maldon salt, and freeze until hardened.

Once completely set, store in fridge until serving. Enjoy!

I made mulled wine for the first time about two weeks ago, for my class Christmas party. It was my first time making it and I was a little unsure about how good it was going to be. I was seriously mind blown- but I mean, can you go wrong with wine, spices and sugar?  I've made it four times since then, because my friends and I can't get enough. It comes together really quickly, so it's an easy thing to make while entertaining- and impress all your friends. Don't be shy to use the cheapest bottle of wine on the shelf, we even made it with boxed wine and it was just as good. As well, this recipe can easily be doubled or tripled for a bigger batch. 

Sia- Snowman

INGREDIENTS

1 bottle red wine
1/2 cup apple juice
1 navel orange, thinly sliced into rounds
3 cinnamon sticks
2 star anise
5 whole cloves
1/4 cup fireball
1-3 tbsp honey or sugar of choice, to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Add apple juice, spices and orange to a pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a gentle boil for 10 minutes. Add wine and fireball, simmer for ~10 more minutes. Add honey or sugar to taste. Serve warm.

If there's anything I need in the winter, its a good hot chocolate recipe. Tea is great, but there's something just so comforting about a cup of hot chocolate when it's cold out. This is one of my favorite recipes, adapted from Amelia Patillo, which integrates superfoods into a superdelicious elixir. The best part about it is that peppermint tea gives the peppermint flavor, so you don't need to run to a store and find peppermint extract. I've been loving Wize Monkey's Minty Marvel- a local Vancouver company, they use the coffee leaf to make tea. Their story is too cool, and their business model involves creating jobs for Nicaraguan families to harvest outside of the short coffee bean season. It's also super tasty. Check their website out here!

Make It Work- Blended Babies ft. Anderson .Paak, Asher Roth & Donnie Trumpet

INGREDIENTS

2 teabags Wize Monkey peppermint tea ( or other peppermint tea) 
1 tsp maca powder (optional but recommended)
2 tbsp cacao powder
1/4 cup coconut milk, heated
1/2 tsp mushroom powder (optional but recommended)
2 tsp honey, or to taste
1 tsp coconut oil

INSTRUCTIONS

Steep 2 teabags peppermint tea in 2 cups of boiling water for ~10 minutes, covered. Remove teabags and add tea to a blender with all the other ingredients. Blend for 30 seconds on high until frothy. If it's not quite hot enough you can reheat it on a pot on the stove after blending. 

This brie is the bomb. 

When I was little, I hated all cheese- except for this one. My mom would make it for Christmas parties and it was always a huge hit. She used to make it with regular brie, but as neither of us can have cow's milk now, we've switched to using goat cheese brie: it's even better than before! 

 It's creamy, warm, delicious, and is such an easy but impressive dish for entertaining. You can make the chutney beforehand then simply warm it up before serving. I usually serve it with gluten-free crackers and/or apple slices for dipping, and of course some champagne to wash it down.

Ziggy Alberts- Runaway

INGREDIENTS

1 round goat cheese brie
1 cup cranberries, fresh or frozen
¼ cup brown sugar
1 tbsp water
2 tbsp green onions, chopped
2 tsp freshly squeezed lime juice
2 tsp pickled jalapeños, chopped finely
sea salt and ground pepper
crackers for serving
apple slices for serving (optional)

 INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a medium sized pot, simmer the cranberries, brown sugar and water until soft, about five minutes. Add the remainder of the ingredients (not including brie), stir, and add salt and pepper to taste. Line a small, round pan with parchment paper, and place the brie in the pan. Score the top of the brie. Spoon the cranberry mixture on top, and bake for about 10-15 minutes, until the cheese has melted. Enjoy while it's hot; you can always re-warm it if the cheese hardens! 

Finally home after my exams and starting to feel the Christmas spirit- the snow here helps a lot! I wanted a festive treat but hadn't had time for Christmas baking yet. Enter, gingerbread overnight oats.

If you haven't tried overnight oats before, they are one of the most low-maintenance breakfast options out there.  The night before, you throw a couple ingredients in a jar and shake it up- and in the morning, your oats are ready to go with no prep time at all! You can have them cold or heat them up a bit, it's totally up to you. 

There's a million different variations of overnight oats, but I love the festivity and spice of this one around Christmas. Molasses is central to achieving that true gingerbread flavour, so it's worth a trip to the store. Molasses is sugar which has been boiled/refined a few times. While we usually think of refined ingredients as bad, in this case it actually increases the nutritional value: molasses is rich in iron, as well as manganese and B6. Add the chia and oats in there, and you've got a nutritionally rich yet decadent breakfast.

Vince Guaraldi Trio- Linus and Lucy

INGREDIENTS

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup almond milk, or milk of your choice
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp vanilla
1 tbsp chia seeds
2 tsp molasses
pinch of salt

 INSTRUCTIONS

The night before, add all the ingredients to a jar or small container, and stir to combine. Store in the fridge overnight. In the morning, either heat up or enjoy cold. I like to top mine with sliced bananas and some slivered almonds.