Christmas is coming which means it’s time to say goodbye to your diet plans and get out your stretchy pants (in my family we call those our “snack pants”). For most people, Christmas is a time filled with wonderful food and lots, and lots, and lots of cookies. However, for those of us with dietary restrictions, Christmas can be kind of miserable in terms of eating well.

I remember my first Christmas eating paleo namely because it involved a lot of baked goods I couldn’t eat. My family was still getting used to my new diet, myself included, and we were all still learning how to cook things that I can eat. We hadn’t even really thought about baking until Christmas rolled around and we started pulling out our holiday cookie recipes. I quickly realized that I could eat none of them, and trial and error soon showed us that we couldn’t just swap out all the ingredients in our “normal” recipes and expect them to taste the same, or even good for that matter; some of them actually tasted like chalk.

I’ve learned a thing or two about how to ensure that holiday baking is a success when you have dietary restrictions or food allergies since that first Christmas, so here are some of my favorite (successful) holiday baking recipes for gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo, and vegan bakers. Yes, all these recipes actually work, and your baked goods will actually look like the picture when you’re done with them.

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1. Apple Galette

What’s a galette, you ask? It’s a fancy French tart or, as I like to call it, a flat pie. This sort of recipe is great because it’s simple and it works. You don’t have to worry about rolling out your dough and having it crumble apart into bits because of the lack of gluten to bind it, and you don’t need to be concerned about the amount of sugar in your filling (it’s very minimal, unlike some crazily sweet pies I’ve seen). No need to stop at apples either. Add cranberries, raisins, or nuts. You can even forgo apples entirely and pick a different fruit. Why not make a holiday spiced pear galette?

2. Cinnamon Sugar Cookies

These are a classic, and trust me when I say that this recipe is the best GF/DF/Paleo/Vegan cookie recipe I’ve ever made. Melt in your mouth good, these cookies never last long in my house…because I eat them. All of them. In two days. Anyways, you don’t have to stop at cinnamon here, either, you can add ginger and nutmeg and easily turn these into a soft and chewy gingerbread recipe. Just be forewarned that they are delicious.

3. Candied Nuts

Now, this recipe does say “Maple Cinnamon Pecans” but I’ve chosen to file it under candied nuts because you could just as easily make it with walnuts, hazelnuts, or almonds. Full disclosure, I’ve never actually tried this specific recipe, but this is exactly what I do when I make candied nuts except I usually bake them in the oven at 350 degrees for 5-10 minutes until they’re roasted as well. It’s totally up to you whether you bake them or not for the additional roasted flavor, but have fun with this! Try sprinkling them with a little salt, or let them cool and then toss them in with some dried cranberries and allergy-friendly chocolate chunks for a holiday trail mix.

4. Golden Honey Cornbread

This recipe was scalped from the side of a Bob’s Red Mill Corn Meal bag and requires substitutions in order to become allergy-friendly, but you still get the same delicious and golden product at the end. Swap out milk for a non-dairy substitute, wheat flour for almond or rice flour, egg for an egg substitute, butter for shortening or coconut oil, and start baking! Drizzle with honey and serve warm for an excellent side for dinner or dessert.

5. Peppermint Chocolate Macaroons

Freeze these macaroons after you bake them and bust them out of the freezer 10 minutes before you serve them for an extra refreshing holiday treat. The combination of mint, chocolate, and coconut makes these cookies unique crowd-pleasers with a little something for everyone’s picky palate. While you’re checking out this recipe, poke around the Against All Grain website and see if anything else catches your eye, there are a ton of paleo-friendly baking recipes.

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There you have it. Christmas doesn’t have to be a gluttonous drag for those of us with dietary restrictions, just so long as we have an open mind, empty stomach, good recipe book.