Day 4 of our Real Food Remix healthy dessert ideas for the holidays.

So far we’ve looked at a raw pistachio cream pie, homemade paleo eggnog, and a paleo eggnog cream pie.

Today, a fun an easy one that is a great idea for the kiddos to make if you have children:  Snowballs!

These little “snowballs” are 100% real food, raw food, paleo & vegan-friendly ingredients, gluten free, dairy free, and processed junk free.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups raw almonds, soaked 4 hours minimum

10 pitted medjool dates

2 tablespoons maple butter (pure maple syrup & raw honey OK too)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg

pinch of pink salt

3/4 cup finely shredded coconut

Kitchen Notes:  You can do a combination of nuts if you want.  I’d stick with about 1 – 1 1/2 cup raw almonds and then for the other cup of raw almonds you can substitute raw macadamia nuts, hazelnuts, walnuts, etc (pistachios would probably be tasty too!)

Directions

1.  Drain and dry off your raw almonds.  Place all ingredients (except 1/2 cup almonds and the coconut) into a food processor or blender and mix until all ingredients are incorporated

2.  Once everything is incorporated, add the other 1/2 cup of almonds to the mixture and blend until they just start to break up (this gives the snowballs some different size chunks and crunch of almond.. you don’t have to do this, but gives it some more texture)

3.  Once you’ve got your final mixture, pour it out onto a cutting board or on a plate.  In separate bowl, add your shredded coconut.

4.  This is the fun part for the kids:  Grab a nice big pinch full of the mixture and start to roll it around in your hands to form the circular shape and size you want.

5.  Once you’ve got the shape, place the ball in the shredded coconut bowl and get it nice and covered with your coconut “snow”

6.  Repeat step 5 until all the mixture is gone.  You should be able to make between 14-20 depending on the size of ball created.

That’s it.. simple and fun healthy dessert idea for anyone to do this holiday season.  Great for the kids, serving to guests with post dinner coffee or just to have around for a tasty, guilt-free treat.

Enjoy in moderation while following a healthy 80/20 lifestyle and eating according to your metabolic type for optimal health, energy, vitality and athletic performance.

Cheers