Fair Trade Baking for the Holidays
‘Tis the season for reflection, traditions, delicious food, and spending time with family and friends. One of the best things about the holidays are the scores of delicious treats baked for meals and parties. Incorporating more fair trade ingredients into your favorite holiday recipes is just one more step to living a fair trade lifestyle. Find product ideas and recipe inspiration below!
Olive Oil
Olive oil is a kitchen staple and is an easy fair trade swap for savory dishes and sweet snacks alike. An olive oil cake or a grapefruit pound cake offer a delicious option for better baking. Try the fair trade products from Riojana!
Fresh Fruit and Citrus
Fresh fruits and citrus offer a refreshing, classic take on seasonal desserts. Take your baking to the next level with fair trade mangoes, avocados, and berries. Try a chocolate avocado mousse made with fair trade avocados or kid-friendly raspberry hand pies. Companies like Whole Foods and Oppy provide certified fair trade produce, including Driscoll’s berries in their fair trade program.
Coconut Oil
Coconut oil is another wonderful baking ingredient that brings depth and richness to your bakes. Try incorporating it into a coconut layer cake, chewy sugar cookies, or a tender sour cream pound cake. Nutiva has a great fair trade product to use.
Chocolate
Nothing quite compares to those delicious sweet chocolate treats consumed around the holidays. And fair trade chocolate is becoming more popular and accessible. In our previous post, we shared some resources for fair trade chocolate. Use your favorite chocolate in these delightful World Peace Cookies, a mouth-watering chocolate babka, or a fair trade flourless chocolate cake.
Honey
Honey is a favorite natural sweetener for many dishes. And choosing fair trade supports beekeepers, bee colonies, and their ecosystems. For a pollinator-friendly dessert, try a honey cake, often associated with Hanukkah celebrations. Add a caramel glaze or make a strawberry and thyme honey custard tart with fair trade honey from Wholesome.
Spices
Some flavors just belong to this season - cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom. Did you know there are fair trade spice options available? Places like Frontier Co-op offer a whole range of options for all your holiday baking needs. Embrace the warmth and depth of flavor with spicy chai molasses cookies or a golden chai layer cake.
What holiday traditions are you making more fair trade this year? Where do you like to get your fair trade ingredients?