Raw Gingerbread Energy Bites

When I first started thinking about all of the holiday goodies in the world and which ones I wanted to make (and share) this season, I jumped to gingerbread pretty much from the start. Even though I already have this recipe for grain-free gingerbread men on the site, I wanted to share another recipe because the cozy combination of spices is just quintessential wintertime for me. 

What I hadn't thought through yet, was how many sweets come with the holiday season, and how every year I wish for those classic holiday flavors in a healthier form. It was right around the time that I began researching for a chewy gingerbread cookie that my friends over at Made in Nature asked me if I would help them with some holiday recipes. Ding! It was as if the stars had aligned and everything came together. Of course. Why not make a chewy gingerbread bite using dates? 

I went to the Made In Nature test kitchen this morning... The end result is delicious.

These raw gingerbread cookies are something I would take climbing or skiing, but I also just grab one out of the fridge when I need a little something sweet. Heck, I'd even take a batch to a holiday cookie swamp-- it's always so nice to have something a little healthier in the mix. 

Made in Nature provided me with product and compensation for this blog post, but the recipes and opinions are all my own. Working with brands to develop wholesome recipes is one way I keep Foraged Dish going! Made In Nature helps me stock the pantry and keep the blog going. I only work with brands that I truly enjoy and use.  

Raw Gingerbread Energy Bites

Published December 15, 2016 by Caitlin Sherwood

Yield: 12   |    Active Time: 20 minutes

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Ingredients:

6-ounces pitted Deglet Noor dates

1/2 cup pecans

1/2 cup unsweetened desiccated coconut

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated on microplane

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients in a food processor and run until the a sticky crumb forms. Everything should stay together when pinched between two fingers.
2. Roll mixture together by the tablespoonful to make a single bite. Place on a plate and repeat until all of the mixture is used.
3. Store in an air-tight container in the fridge.

Grain-Free Gingerbread Men

Holidays were sweet at my Mom's house--between the occasional sweet bread and a few biscotti, there was always a pile of sugar cookies, which we would decorate one by one with softly colored icing and plenty of sprinkles. 

Prompted by the holiday carols on the radio and the snow outside, I've been thinking about holiday cookies a lot lately. Is there anything sweeter than an afternoon inside, decorating cookies while humming little songs? 

These cookies are crispy and snappy. They're full of warm gingerbread spices, which makes them perfect for dipping in a cup of coffee or hot chocolate. Best of all, they'll fill any craving for holiday sweets or cookie decorating afternoons. 

While there are a lot of frosting recipes out there, and quite few recipes for Paleo Royal Icing, I actually just decorated these with straight coconut butter. It's simple, it's easy, and it's super creamy. Coconut butter on a spoon? Yuum! Coconut butter on a cookie? Double yum! Personally, I find the cookies sweet enough. If you want to decorate these cookies with something more traditional, go for it! To be totally honest: plenty of these cookies were eaten before they finished cooling down, which means they never got frosted at all! Oops. 

One last totally honest tidbit: one year I dressed up as a gingerbread man for Halloween. My parents had to talk me out of eating my candy buttons before the 31st. I couldn't have been any older than 5, what could you expect? #EmbarrassingMoments. 

Grain-Free Gingerbread Men

Paleo, Primal, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free    |   Caitlin Sherwood    

Thin and crispy, these gingerbread men have all of the snap of the traditional cookie.

Yields: 24   |    Total Time: 30 active minutes

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Ingredients:

• 1-3/4 cups almond flour
• 1/4 cup arrowroot powder, plus extra for rolling out cookies
• Pinch salt
• 2 tablespoons butter or coconut oil
• 1/3 cup coconut sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 cup coconut butter

Directions:

1. In a food processor, combine the dry ingredients (flour, arrowroot, baking soda, salt, spices, sugar).
2. When dry ingredients are well combined, add the butter/coconut oil to the food processor. Pulse several times, until butter is incorporated but not fully mixed in. Add the egg, and then continue to pulse until dough comes together into a sticky ball.
3. Remove dough from food processor. Roll into a ball and then flatten into a disk shape. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in fridge for 30 minutes.
4. When ready to bake cookies, preheat over to 350°F. Cut two pieces of parchment paper the size of your cookie sheet. Sprinkle one piece with arrowroot powder. Take dough out of the fridge, and unwrap. Place dough on piece of parchment paper, and sprinkle with more arrowroot powder — just a small amount, it keeps the dough from sticking too much. Place the second piece of parchment on top, and then use a rolling pin to roll dough out to a 1/4 of an inch thick. Peel off top parchment paper carefully. Now, using cookie cutters, cut cookie shapes about 1/2 inch apart from each other. I use the reverse cookie-cutting method to make my cookies, because this dough is fragile: Use cookie cutters, and then remove the excess bits (i.e., don’t try to move the cookies them selves) from the parchment. Then, transfer entire sheet of parchment paper to cookie sheet and bake until cookies are puffy and golden — 6-8 minutes. Allow to cool 5-10 minutes before moving to a cooling rack. Repeat this process until the dough has been used!
5. Once cookies are completely cool, melt the coconut butter. Spoon melted coconut butter into a frosting bag fitted with a fine frosting tip, and decorate cookies as desired.

Note: as coconut butter melts in warmed temperatures (around 76°F degrees, you may need to keep decorated cookies in the fridge. This will depend on how warm you keep your house (mine is much lower than 76°F, so I keep them on my counter top in an airtight container.