5 Healthy Swaps for Your Favorite Easter Treats

Easter, like any holiday, cannot be properly celebrated without sweet treats. Unfortunately, many store-bought Easter candies we might have grown up with are just crazy high in fat and sugar. Cadbury creme eggs? Just forget it! One egg alone is 20 grams of sugar and 150 calories.

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The following suggestions are healthier swaps to popular Easter treats, but still keep in mind the primal desire to eat every little candy inside those darned plastic eggs. 

Instead of: Milk Chocolate Easter Bunny 
Try: 1 cup popcorn + 1/4 cup Easter M&M's candies

We're not saying you have to avoid completely during Easter—but finding smart ways to eat less of it will save you from a sugar overload. Here, we combine kid-friendly M&M's with popcorn for a salty-sweet snack that's way healthier—and tastier—than the classic chocolate bunny. You can buy bagged popcorn (we like Angie's Boom Chicka Pop Sea Salt Popcorn), but why not go the extra mile and pop your own at home?

Instead of: Cadbury Creme Eggs
Try: 1 cup Siggi's Yogurt + 2 teaspoon lemon curd + 10 dark chocolate chips

Ditch the Cadbury Egg—and make your own creamy yogurt "egg" at home instead. Opt for plain, full-fat yogurt (such as Siggi's 4% plain yogurt), which packs the most flavor and nutrition (tons of protein and probiotics!). The lemon curd is sweet, so you'll only need a small amount. Find lemon curd at the grocery store or make it from scratch (give this easy Lemon Curd Recipe a try).

Instead of: Reese's Peanut Butter Egg
Try: Ohio Buckeyes

Yes, chocolate and peanut butter is a heavenly combo, but Reese's Easter-themed version of their wildly popular candy is a sugar bomb. Not to mention it also contains artificial flavors and unnecessary preservatives. Luckily, you can easily make a simpler—and healthier—version at home. Our rich and creamy Buckeyes feature the delicious combination of dark chocolate and creamy peanut butter, but they're lower in saturated fat and pack a healthy dose of protein.

Instead of: Marshmallow Peeps
Try: Lemon-White Chocolate Chewy Crispy Bars (+ 1 tablespoon of Easter sprinkles!)

Yes, they're nostalgic, but those vibrantly-colored marshmallow chicks are about as nutritionally flat as can be. Just two peeps pack over 30 grams of sugar—in fact, it's also the main ingredient you'll see on the package label. Our homemade chewy-crispy bars are much lower in sugar, just as gooey, and you get the addictive crunch from the crispy rice cereal.

Instead of: Easter Jellybeans
Try: Apple Fruit Leather

Jelly beans are one of those candies that lends itself to mindless munching, but the sugar can quickly add up. If you're looking for a chewy and addictive snack you can mindlessly munch, try homemade fruit leather. Our Apple Fruit Leather is tart and naturally-sweet, plus there's only one ingredient needed—unsweetened applesauce. Even better, it's so easy to make—simply dehydrate the applesauce in the oven at a low temperature for several hours until no longer wet and sticky.