It is difficult to imagine the holidays without armies of home bakers descending on kitchens all across the nation. Even for those of us minding our health, the question is not: to bake or not to bake, but rather: what to bake? Making holiday pastries does not have to mean suicide by butter, cream, and sugar. There are numerous recipes for mouthwatering treats which are made with mostly wholesome ingredients. It is also important to maintain some self-restraint during the festivities and avoid gorging ourselves on vast amounts of the goodies. One helping per event is a better choice.

Traditional, yet healthful, holiday fare can consist of various kinds of fruit-and-nut bars; whole wheat pastry flour cupcakes, or oatmeal cookies loaded with nutritious nuts, raisins, dates, cranberries or coconut; apple crisp, made with raisins and honey instead of sugar. Other holiday cuisine solutions include the use of whole or multigrain bread for your turkey stuffing rather than its nutritionally-challenged cousin white bread. When only a small number of guests are invited to your dinner party, don’t buy a turkey the size of a killer whale. If you buy such a beast, you will be stuck with meat leftovers lasting until the 4th of July! This encourages overeating or developing a case of turkey fatigue and throwing food away. A possible solution would be a roasted chicken or Cornish game hens. Make your own fresh cranberry relish (in minutes), instead of using the lifeless, processed, gooey canned variety.

Lucky us! We live in a democracy where we can choose what we put in our mouths! Here are some recipes for delicious and nutritious treats to get you started. Happy and healthy holidays!

APPLE CRISP

5 medium apples (not Granny Smith!)

2 teaspoons lemon juice

¼ teaspoon ground cloves ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ cup raisins

¼ cup light brown sugar

Honey

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Core, peel and slice apples thinly into a large bowl. Add lemon juice and mix well to coat. Add spices and raisins: mix well. Pour into a greased 8 x 8 x2-inch dish. Drizzle some drops of honey on the apple mixture. Bake 35 minutes or until apples are tender, but not mushy. Serve warm with a scoop of quality frozen vanilla yogurt, if desired.

QUICK-FIX

HEAVENLY

RASPBERRY-CHOCOLATE-TOPPED FROZEN YOGURT

Quality vanilla frozen yogurt

12 ounces frozen raspberries, thawed

Bittersweet or semisweet chocolate bar, chilled

TO MAKE THE RASPBERRY SAUCE:

Yield, about 1-1/2 cups

In large fine-mesh strainer, puree berries over a bowl with the back of spoon. Scrape the sauce from strainer underside as well. Mashing process takes about 10 minutes, resulting in tangy sauce with a BIG raspberry flavor and without the little hard seeds. No need to sweeten the sauce because it is served over sweet desserts, such as fruit salads, frozen vanilla yogurt, or a pound cake. For the chocolate shavings, use vegetable peeler: Pass the peeler along the narrow side of the bar repeatedly until you have about ½ cup worth of shavings per serving. To assemble dessert: Into individual serving dish, place scoop of frozen yogurt. Pour raspberry sauce over frozen yogurt, then gently spoon chocolate shavings over the sauce.

EASY CRANBERRY SAUCE (RELISH)

Yield: about 4 cups

1 (12-ounce) bag fresh or frozen cranberries, thawed if frozen

1 cup water

3/4 cup raisins

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon ground allspice

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest (peel)

2 tablespoons honey, or more to taste

Pick through cranberries and discard overripe ones and debris. Rinse cranberries in a colander under running water. Drain. In a medium saucepan, combine the raisins, water, and cranberries. Cover, bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low, and cook slowly until most of the berries have popped (about 10 minutes), stirring occasionally. Mix in the cloves, allspice, and cinnamon, and cook 2 more minutes. Remove from burner and mix in orange zest and honey. Taste and add more honey if desired. Cool completely and refrigerate in airtight container for at least 24 hours to allow the sauce to congeal.

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Judy E. Buss is a syndicated eating-for-health columnist and blogger, speaker and nutritional cooking instructor.