A decade ago, indulging in holiday cookies, cakes and candies also meant indulging in extra food additives and chemicals. We didn’t do this intentionally of course, but many of the products we all grew up baking with – food coloring, conventional candy, cookie toppings, packaged cake mixes, etc. – are loaded with not-so-safe ingredients that inevitably made their way onto our holiday tables.

Luckily, times have changed!

There are so many delicious, festive, and fun products on the market now that allow us to make all our favorite family recipes, but more naturally.

From naturally-derived colors for frosting, to organic sprinkles, to butter from pasture-raised cows, we can stock up on all the necessities and rest assured that we’re reducing our family’s exposure to toxic chemicals at the same time. It’s a win-win.

Below are a few of my favorite products for holiday baking. Let me know if you have any trouble finding these and I’ll help guide you to stores that carry them.

And let me know if you have any favorite products I haven’t listed here!

1. Let’s do Organic Sprinkelz. When you need to sprinkle some pizzazz on cookies or frosted cakes, these will do the trick!
2. Sun Ridge Farms Rainbow Drops. This is the first natural version of an M&M that I actually like the taste of. They’re delicious! And while they don’t come in red & green, you can of course use different colors for different baking projects.
3. Tru Joy Candy Canes. No corn syrup, no artificial color, but just as festive as conventional candy canes.
4. Immaculate Baking Company cookie dough. If you’re not a baker or don’t have time to make dough from scratch, this dough rocks. This time of year, I love the Vanilla Sugar Cookie, Ginger Spice, and Chocolate Peppermint flavors.
5. Bakol Jel Dessert. For those that just have to make their grandmother’s Jello salad every year. This is 100% natural gelatin dessert (aka Jello) and repeatedly gets my kids’ stamp of approval in the taste department.
6. Organic Valley Pasture Butter. Because organic and conventional butter are by definition different. I really believe that a cookie made with organic butter is in fact healthier than a cookie made with conventional, and this butter is hands-down the best.
7. Color Garden natural food coloring. They have every color you need, and from natural sources (unlike regular food dye which is petroleum-based).
8. Wholesome! sugars and sweeteners. Not only are these organic and fairly-traded, they really do make the tastiest baked goods.