Welcome, welcome Flourish family bakers, to another edition of: How to sneak some healthy stuff into the kids’ bellies without inciting a mealtime meltdown.

We know the struggle. It’s real. Winter is still here and who cares what happened on Groundhog Day, it’s still cold, dark and we’re all feeling cabin fever. 

With winter break on the horizon, making a mockery of the word “break” might we add, it’s time to start thinking about activities that will keep the family occupied and well-fed. We’ve got three recipes that, based purely on the merit of their high-fiber ingredients, get a check mark in the healthy column while still being certifiably delicious.

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A word of encouragement: level up the experience by turning it into an all-hands-on-counter event that you circle on the family calendar and look forward to together. To complement these three recipes, here are three ideas for enjoying both the making and the eating of your baking adventures:

• Zoom cookie baking session with Grandma (make sure she’s stocked on Flourish Flour here!).
• Surprise your cousins by stealthily dropping off cake pops on their doorstep, knocking on the door and recording their reaction as you run back to the car.
• Assemble, with love, a care package that you send to your niece across the country and have a dessert party on FaceTime when it arrives.

Let’s remind ourselves of the most life-giving mantra we’ve practiced in the past year: Bake More. Feel Better. Enjoy!

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If you’ve ever caved at Starbucks and walked out with an impromptu cake pop in hand, then you’ll love this recipe that’s as close to the real thing as it gets. Once you have all of your ingredients rounded up, the first thing you’ll do is bake the red velvet cake. When the cake is done and cooled, a can’t miss step is to remove the outside layer of the cake, which is often a little burned and will dry out your cake pops resulting in an overly crumbly pop. After that, breaking up the cake with clean hands is the perfect kitchen-helper job, one that is oddly therapeutic. When you dip the cake pops into the candy melts to form the chocolatey casing, it can be tempting to swirl the pop while submerged. Resist, friends! That’s the quickest way to loosen your cake ball from its stick and it *will* fall off. These scrumptiously rich red cake pops covered in white chocolate can keep at room temperature for up to a week in a sealed container, but we recommend enjoying as soon as bakingly possible. 

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Rich. Buttery. Flakey. Scones. Flecked with bits of rich, sharp cheddar cheese and slightly tangy spinach, these scones punch well above their weight class given their ease in preparation. By using Flourish flour and adding a modest amount of spinach to this recipe, these scones become a tasty AND high fiber (5x more fiber than traditional all-purpose flour) treat that does not sacrifice on flavor for the sake of gut health. It’s possible to have both and these scones are proof! 

When it comes to using butter in this recipe, make sure it’s cooooold, refrigerated butter so you can work it evenly into the dough. And unlike traditional recipes, you don’t have to laminate the dough (thank you, nine seasons of Paul Hollywood for knowing what that means), since this recipe allows for you to shred the cold butter into the dough itself. These delicious, savory and rich spinach and cheddar scones are best served warm on a cold day in the company (even if that means virtually) of a loved one.

You had me at white chocolate cranberry macadamia nut. These crisp, chewy, flavorful cookies deliver a yummy mixture of crunch from the coarsely chopped macadamia nuts, tang of dried cranberries and creamy decadence of white chocolate. This recipe yields 48 cookies and for good reason: you’re going to want a bunch for yourself and maybe a few to share. These cookies are flexible in their requirements, as well. Not a huge fan of almond flavor? Dial down the almond extract for additional vanilla extract. Like your cookies more cakey? Add a pinch more baking soda. And the number one reason we love these cookies is because in the middle of all these delicious flavor combos is a single foundational ingredient that gets no fanfare, but still sneaks in and delivers the healthy benefits of a high-fiber snack. That secret’s found in the Flourish flour and now the secret’s out. 

With a gut-friendly ingredient as the building block of these favorite recipes, we hope to free you up to enjoy the process of making them way more than worrying about the ongoing task of keeping the family fed and healthy as the winter season slogs on. With the yum factor cranked up to 11, here’s to hoping that these recipes fit into you and your kids’ schedules, lives and “winter break” plans for creating memories and sharing laughs. You’ve got this.

Together in baking, 

Flourish Flour Family