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Lifestyle

Get your holiday spice fix with these five seasonal snacks

This article is written by a student writer from the Spoon University at Northwestern chapter.

Flavors like chai, apple spice, gingerbread and cinnamon hit the spot as the leaves change color, when the first snow falls, and during all the moments in between. While there are hundreds of recipes specific to this time of year, sometimes you need pre-made seasonal snacks to get your holiday-spice fix. 

seasonal snacks
Zoe Malin

The following five brands offer seasonal snacks you can fill your pantry with from Thanksgiving to New Years. They’re all available online through retailers like Amazon so you can get them shipped to your dorm or home for the holidays. These snacks also make a great gift. Who wouldn’t want to unwrap a basket of high-quality granola bars, kombucha and cookies on Christmas morning?

Gr8nola Cinnamon Chai Granola

seasonal snacks
Zoe Malin

Gr8nola’s Cinnamon Chai flavor is the perfect crunchy element to add to yogurt or a smoothie bowl. It’s also delicious by itself with a splash of milk. After you eat the granola, the left-over milk tastes exactly like a chai latte.

Gr8nola offers its Cinnamon Chai flavor all year long, but it’s extra special on chilly mornings for breakfast or as a late-night snack. You can purchase a bag by ordering it online through Gr8nola’s website and Amazon, or in-person at select grocery stores. Founder Erica Liu Williams created the product with no soy, dairy or refined sugar, and made it vegan-friendly, too. Additionally, the flavor is made with coconut oil and only has 5 grams of sugar per serving.

GoMacro Maple Sea Salt, Apple Cinnamon, and Cashew Carmel Bars

seasonal snacks
Zoe Malin

GoMacro’s Maple Sea Salt, Apple Cinnamon, and Cashew Carmel bars are certifiably addicting. They taste so good that you forget how nutritious and nourishing they are, too! I throw all three bars in my backpack and snack my way through them when I need to refuel.

GoMacro’s Maple Sea Salt, Apple Cinnamon and Cashew Carmel bars are in-stock year-round at retailers like CVS, Whole Foods and 7-11. You can also order them online through GoMacro’s website and Amazon. In addition to being scrumptious and satisfying, GoMacro bars are gluten free, vegan, kosher and organic. Amelia Kirchoff and Jola Sonkin, the mother-daughter team behind the brand, made sure we can all enjoy GoMacro bars, regardless of dietary restrictions.

Rachel’s Apple Cinnamon Overnight Oats

seasonal snacks
Zoe Malin

Rachel’s Apple Cinnamon oats taste like a slice of apple pie. I love topping my oats with walnuts and coconut, but eating them without any add-ons is tasty, too. All of Rachel’s flavors are versatile, as the bags come with directions for making the oats hot in the microwave and stovetop or cold as overnight oats. No matter how you eat them, Rachel’s Apple Cinnamon oats should be a staple in your diet year-round.

Rachel’s oats are certified gluten-free, vegan and organic, as well as made with no added sugar. Founder Rachel Joseph created her company with the intent of providing foods made with responsibly sourced ingredients, and she does just that. Pick up a bag of Rachel’s oats in participating supermarkets like Jewel and Kings Food Markets, as well as some Whole Foods locations starting in January 2020. You can also order flavors online on Rachel’s website and Amazon.

Health-Ade Holiday Cheer Kombucha

seasonal snacks
Zoe Malin

If desserts, lattes and decor can be holiday themed, kombucha can be, too. That’s why Health-Ade releases its Holiday Cheer flavor during this festive time and sells it through the end of December. The drink has notes of ginger, cloves, all-spice and even a bit of cocoa. Health-Ade Holiday Cheer kombucha pairs well with a frosted Christmas cookie, as it provides lots of probiotics that help you digest the season’s plethora of sugary treats. 

Health-Ade Kombucha was founded by a rockstar team: a husband, wife and best friend. The brand has always been dedicated to high-quality kombucha and is known for its stellar flavors like Holiday Cheer. Purchase a bottle—or six—at participating Whole Foods, Walmart and Costco locations, or online through Amazon and Health-Ade’s website.

Partake Foods Ginger Snap Cookies

seasonal snacks
Zoe Malin

Sweet potato. Plum juice. Millet flour. Not what you imagine finding in a delectable cookie? Think again. Partake Foods uses wholesome ingredients to create snacks that strike a balance between healthy and indulgent. Its Ginger Snap cookies are an amazing alternative to gingerbread men around the holidays, since they have less sugar and more flavor. You can even crush up a box of Ginger Snap cookies into crumbs, add a little butter and mold the mixture into a tin to make a crust for pumpkin pie. After you have one cookie, you’ll be craving them every day and luckily, the flavor is available all year.

Partake Foods was founded by Denise Woodard after her young daughter was diagnosed with food allergies. The brands’ cookies are free from the top eight allergens: wheat, tree nuts, peanuts, milk, eggs, soy, fish and shellfish. They’re vegan, too. Get your hands on a box of Partake Foods cookies at participating Wegmans and Market District locations, as well as Partake Foods’ website.

seasonal snacks
Zoe Malin

The seasonal snacks offered by these five brands will satisfy your hankering for holiday spice flavors. Have them shipped home if the weather is too cold to get to the grocery store, or find them in participating markets across the country. Overall, it doesn’t matter how you get your hands on these seasonal snacks; just make sure you do.

Zoe Malin

Northwestern '22

Zoe is a journalism student at Northwestern who loves all things gluten free, a good soy latte, and of course, puppies.