Happy Holidays to you!  Wow, is it me, or did December just fly by… Christmas is in a few days?!  I’m horrible when it comes to last minute Christmas shopping (read: still have most of my shopping to do this evening!), planning festivities, cooking, etc.

Luckily this year for family Christmas festivities I’m on cookie detail and was able to tackle a couple healthy treats over the weekend.

Rather than your standard Christmas sugar cookies, I wanted to get creative and come up with a unique spin on different cookies.  Last year I made raw maple bar bites, and this year I wanted to come up with a raw, paleo-friendly nutmeg thumbprint cookie, as well as thinking along the lines of pomanders (you know the oranges with the cloves poked in them that smell amazing?). 

So these little snowball cookies came into fruition from a combination of two things:

• I had leftover “scrap” ingredients sort of laying around.. a few oranges, a bit of shredded coconut, some cloves and left over macadamia nuts from the nutmeg cookies.
• Pomanders, a classic winter holiday thing we see… what if I could recreate that, but in flavor?

So the stars were aligned and these real food remixed “pomander cookies” were born… loaded with intense orange and clove flavor, and just sweet enough to satisfy any sweet tooth.  Definitely a cookie that packs a holiday flavor punch and really easy to make (no baking required!).

These real food remixed cookies are recipe-friendly:  raw food, paleo, vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free and made with 100% real food ingredients.

Ingredients:  makes 10-12

1 1/2 cup raw macadamia nuts, soaked 4 hours minimum in clean water

8 large medjool dates, pitted

1/2 – 3/4 cup unsweetened coconut, shredded 

2 tablespoon orange zest, grated fresh (4-6 medium size oranges)

1 teaspoon cloves, ground

pinch of pink salt

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Directions

1.  Soak raw macadamia nuts in clean water.  When done, drain, rinse and dry the macadamias and add to a food processor or high quality blender.

2.  Add all other ingredients except 1/4 cup of shredded coconut (1/2 cup total coconut in food processor, 1/4 cup for sprinkling on top after)

3.  Process until all ingredients incorporated.  Give the batter a little nibble… how we tasting?

4. Remove mixture and separate into 10-12 even little mounds.  Roll each mound with your hands until ingredients are compact into little snowballs

5.  Sprinkle with a little bit of left over coconut so each snowball cookie is evenly covered and place on a plate.

6.  Add to freezer and let them set up for about 45 minutes.  Keep stored in the fridge thereafter.

If you’re serving them to family/guests and want to beef up your “oh you fancy” game, see how I have pictures below… you can add whole cloves, oranges with cloves (pomanders) and then sprinkle a little more ground clove, coconut, and orange zest across the entire plate for some flair.  Another idea not pictured:  Take scissors and cut some small Christmas tree or wreath twigs/pine and place them around the serving plate.  

I’ll be making these cookies again this week for Christmas day festivities, along with my raw nutmeg thumbprint cookies.  They were both really tasty, 100x more healthy to processed Christmas cookie alternatives, and sure to put smiles on the faces of your family & friends!

Buon Appetito and Happy Holidays!

Do you have any questions about this real food recipe?  Don’t hesitate to ask in the comments below!