Eggnog

Few things scream Christmas like eggnog…

Well, there is the Christmas tree.

And the decorations.

And the cookies. (Did someone say cookies?!)

But lets get back to the eggnog!

This recipe is simple and delicious. Made from only the best ingredients, and without any "natural flavors" or other mystery ingredients found in the store-bought versions. Not only good for drinking, this eggnog rocks as a creamer replacement in your coffee, or milk replacer in your pancake recipe (eggnog pancakes say whaaat). 

Yields 2 cups of eggnog. 

Ingredients
1 cup plain almond milk
1 cup light coconut milk  from the can
2 tablespoons agave nectar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
Pinch of pink salt

Combine all of the above ingredients in a medium size sauce pan on the stove. Whisk together and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and continue whisking to keep from boiling over. Reduce the heat and return the pot to the stove, keeping it at a simmer, and whisking for an additional 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat and pour into a glass jar on the counter. Let cool, uncovered, and then tightly seal and place in the refrigerator to cool for 3-4 hours before serving. This will keep for 2-3 days.

Snowball & Thumbprint Cookies

Finally! My first Christmas cookie post of the season. I blame my being late to the cookie party on being sick for the past few weeks. Yes, weeks. Some terrible, awful got the best of Scott and I (which I am still not completely rid of) and it has inhibited me from consuming the typical amount of sugar I would have by this time in December. Despite the mound of citrus and vegetables I have been consuming alongside detoxifying juices and vitamins galore, this cold has stuck. So I finally broke down and just baked some cookies. 

Struggling to come up with the perfect thumbprint cookie dough (you know, a buttery, shortbread-like but still moist cookie that melts in your mouth) it dawned on me that I was trying to find a dough that reminded me of another favorite Christmas cookie of mine, snowballs. So I had a crazy thought, and took my snowball cookie dough and turned it into thumbprints! Holy moly guys did I strike gold with this one. I simply made the same cookie dough recipe side by side in two different bowls, one for snowballs and one for thumbprints. For the thumbprints I wanted the cookie to be slightly less dense than the snowball - and have a more rustic, nutty flavor - so I changed up the flours and decreased the overall amount of flour by a quarter cup. These cookies turned out INCREDIBLE. Better than I had imagined, and exactly what I was looking for in my thumbprints. The snowballs melt in your mouth and have the perfect level of sweetness. The thumbprints similarly melt in your mouth with a nutty, buttery shortbread like flavor paired with my two favorite preserves (raspberry and apricot). These will knock the socks off of anyone at your next cookie swap party, or holiday family gathering, or your own darn self seated on the couch with the Grinch playing and leaving you with a ring of powder sugar around your smiling mouth. I really should get a degree in constructing run-on sentences (sorry grammar police folk).

Yields 20 cookies per batch. 40 cookies total if you make both versions.

Ingredients

Thumbprints

1 cup (2 sticks) Earth Balance vegan butter

1/2 cup organic powder sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups whole spelt flour

1/2 cup almond meal

1/2 teaspoon salt

*Additional powder sugar (optional)

*Jam or preserves for filling

Snowballs

1 cup (2 sticks) Earth Balance vegan butter

1/2 cup organic powder sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 1/4 cup light spelt flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

optional 1/2 cup chopped pecans

*Additional powder sugar for rolling

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Beat the butter, powder sugar, and vanilla together until smooth. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix with a fork until the mixture resembles pea sized crumbles. Using your hands, mash the dough together until it is a thick, but workable, dough. Shape the dough into tablespoon sized balls and place on a lined cookie sheet.

If making thumbprints, press your thumb into the center of each cookie dough ball, making a well. Bake for 10 minutes (or until the bottom edges begin to brown) then remove from the oven and let cool before dunking the tops in powder sugar (optional) and filling with a teaspoon of your favorite jam or preserves. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or on the countertop for 2-3 days (for best texture and flavor).

If making snowballs, bake the cookie dough balls for 10 minutes (or until the bottom edges begin to brown) and let cool on the counter before rolling in powder sugar. Store in an airtight container on the counter for up to 5 days (for best flavor and texture).

Raw Christmas Treats Round-Up

Being a grown-up at Christmas can be tough. Before working full-time and taking on the responsibilities that come with getting married and moving to another state, I would have had about ten Christmas treats baked by now, have eaten at least half of them, watched about eleven Christmas movies, and have tins of goodies on all of my family and friends' doorsteps. As of right now I have watched maybe two Christmas movies, made one batch of chocolate covered crunchy peanut butter balls, and have delivered zero goodies to anyone… It changes THIS week. No more putzing around with to-do lists and piles of laundry and cooking. I'm going to let the house get dirty, wear my least favorite socks and shirts leftover when it's laundry day, and bake some darn cookies. All I want to do is hang out with my husband and get fat on the couch with piles of treats while watching movies with little elves and talking snowmen and forget that I am a responsible 24 year old for a few nights. I want to sit and take way too long to wrap all the special gifts we got our family, fill tins of goodies and stand in line way too long at the post office to mail them without a care in the world. I don't care if I still have to show up to work all day for the next five days, THIS IS STILL HAPPENING PEOPLE. I refuse to let another week go by half-committed to this season. (Deep breath.)

Now that I have that off of my chest, here is a little round-up of the healthy, raw versions of my favorite Christmas treats I made last year for those of you looking to watch your refined sugar intake this season (without compromising flavor, I promise these will not disappoint). 

1. Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Balls

2. Peanut Butter & Brazil Nut Chocolate Fudge

3. Mint Chocolate Pudding

4. Snowball Cookies

5. Triple Layer Mint Fudge Brownies

Raw Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Balls

Here is another Christmas-treat-gone-healthy! If you read my earlier post for Chocolate Covered Crunchy Speculoos Balls you would have read about the peanut butter version my family makes each year. After eating way too many of the traditional good-stuff, I was determined to make a raw and healthy version of it to help me get through this week leading up to Christmas with a little less sugar in Scott and I's diet. The verdict? This healthy version is AMAZING. Have I mentioned before how much I love raw desserts? They are truly incredible, forcing you to use only the purest ingredients which makes the final product taste rich and full of flavor. That is exactly what these little balls of joy are - rich and full of peanut butter chocolate flavor.

Ingredients
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup raw cashews
1/2 cup natural peanut butter use raw if making 100% raw
4 tablespoons raw agave

1/2 cup raw cacao 
1/2 cup virgin coconut oil
2 tablespoons raw agave

Process the oats and cashews in a food processor until they resemble a fine meal. Then add in the peanut butter and agave. Process until the mixture forms a sticky swirling ball. Scoop rounded spoonfuls with a small cookie scoop into your hands and roll into balls. Place them on a plate in the freezer for 10 minutes. Mix the raw cacao, coconut oil, and agave in a cup to make the chocolate. Dip the top of each peanut butter ball in the raw chocolate and place back on the plate (chocolate side up) to harden. If the raw chocolate starts to stiffen, warm a bowl of water and place the bottom of the cup into the bowl to return the coconut oil in the chocolate to it's liquid state and continue dipping. Freeze the chocolate dipped peanut butter balls for an additional 10 minutes before transferring to an airtight container to store in the freezer until ready to serve.

Gingerbread Cookies

Finally! I have been waiting all year to make these little guys. However, making these lead me to discover Scott's hatred for gingerbread people... Really, a hatred for molasses in general... Um, WHAT. How can you dislike gingerbread cookies? Are you crazy! And molasses? I can eat that right out of the jar. Which probably isn't good (or normal), but really, not like gingerbread cookies? I could hardly believe it, so I made him eat one (you know the ones I slaved over making that day and was jumping with joy to eat) and the disgusted look on his face is imprinted in my brain for life. I probably (definitely) am being dramatic, but that just shows how much I love gingerbread anything. So for you similar cookies lovers out there, this one is for you! This is my first Christmas being vegan so it has been fun trying to veganize most of my holiday favorites. These cookies are vegan and gluten free, but if you are not sensitive to gluten, you can use all purpose flour instead of the two gluten free ones used in this recipe.

Ingredients
1/2 cup molasses
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cold water
2 tablespoons vegan butter
1 1/2 cups all purpose GF flour blend I use Bob's Red Mill brand
1/2 cup + 1/3 cup oat flour
1/4 teaspoon xantham gum
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger

Icing
1 cup powder sugar
2-3 tablespoons almond milk unsweetened

Stir molasses, brown sugar, water, and vegan butter together. Add in the xantham gum, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and flours. Mix well and wrap dough in plastic wrap. Refrigerate dough for 2 hours, or overnight.

Pre heat oven to 350 F. Roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness on a floured work surface. Cut out cookies with cookie cutter shapes of your choice, place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from sheet and let fully cool before frosting. For the frosting, simply mix the ingredients listed, and either dip the face of the cookies in the bowl and let the extra frosting drip off before setting aside, or spread on with a spoon or knife. Keep in an airtight container. Should last a week before going stale (if they last that long!).

Raw Triple Layer Mint Fudge Brownies

These brownies and me go way back. The fudgy, decadent, brownie with two sugary fudge layers topping it off would always send my taste buds to the moon. Not to mention there is a mint layer of fudge in there - don't even get me started on how much I crave mint and chocolate together this time of year! Therefore, I thought it made sense to include a healthy, raw recipe of these in my Christmas-treats-gone-healthy series this season. I have two words for the raw version of these brownies - OH MY. These not only compete with the real thing in flavor, but may be one of my favorite raw desserts of all time. I said it. Really creating a lot of hype I know but I have fallen in love. Here is to nutritiously eating our way through the holidays without missing out on one darn thing.

Ingredients

Brownie Layer
1 cup raw cashews
1 cup raw almonds
1/4 cup raw cacao powder
2-3 tablespoons raw agave nectar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon of water

Mint Layer
1 cup raw cashews
1/2 cup dried coconut (shredded and unsweetened)
1 tablespoon raw honey (raw agave or imitation honey work too)
1/4 cup virgin coconut oil (in liquid form)
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract (or peppermint oil)

Chocolate Layer
1/2 cup raw cacao
1/2 cup virgin coconut oil (in liquid form)
2 tablespoons raw honey or agave

Prepare an 8x8 inch pan for your brownies by lining it with parchment paper, and brush any exposed pan areas with some coconut oil. Combine the cashews and almonds for the brownie layer in a food processor and process until it resembles a coarse meal. Add in the raw cacao and pulse to incorporate. Now add the agave and cinnamon. Process until well combined and crumbly. Add a tablespoon of water and process until it starts whirling around the bowl in a ball. Transfer the mixture to your prepared pan and press out evenly, creating your brownie layer. Clean out your food processor bowl and blade.

Make the mint layer by processing the cashews and coconut until they resemble a coarse meal. Then add in the raw honey (or raw agave or imitation honey if you do not eat honey), coconut oil, and 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract/oil. Process this mixture well until it becomes smooth. Taste and add additional peppermint extract/oil if desired. Then spread the mint layer on top of the brownie layer.

Lastly, make the chocolate layer for the top by combining all the ingredients listed for the layer above, and pouring it on top of the mint layer. Make sure it coats the entire top evenly, and then wrap the pan in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for a few hours before slicing. Store the squares in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to consume.

Raw Snowball Cookies

Ah yes, Christmas cookies. While I will be posting several of my most favorite traditional cookie recipes here for the holiday season, I will also be posting a few healthy variations of them to help reduce the amount of sugar induced comas we all fall into on occasion this time of year. The first of these Christmas-cookies-gone-healthy recipes is this one for snowballs (A.K.A. Mexican wedding cookies). I almost did not believe it when I bit into this cookie. It tastes so much like the real thing I was blown away. Of course the texture is different, but the sweet buttery shortbread taste is ever present and oh so tasty!

Ingredients
1/2 cup raw pecans
1/2 cup raw macadamia nuts
1/2 cup raw cashews
1/2 cup coconut (dried, shredded, and unsweetened)
2 tablespoons raw honey

For Rolling
1/4 cup coconut (dried, shredded, and unsweetened)

Process the pecans in a food processor to break up into little pieces. Empty these pieces into a small mixing bowl to mix in later. Process the macadamia nuts, cashews, and coconut in a food processor until they resemble a coarse meal. Add in the honey and process until the mixture starts to form a sticky ball of dough. Transfer this mixture to the small mixing bowl with the chopped pecans. Incorporate the pecans in the dough mixture. Scoop rounded spoonfuls (either with a cookie scoop, or with a spoon and then roll into balls in your hands) and roll each ball in the coconut. Quickly chill them for more immediate consumption in the freezer, or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator to chill until ready to serve.

Mint Chocolate Pudding

There is something about the Christmas season that makes me want mint chocolate everything. Including pudding. This little recipe crept into my mind after making my previous batch of raw chocolate pudding (here). I finally tested it out yesterday, and oh my goodness did it surpass my expectations! This one is a keeper, and it is healthy too! This pudding is raw (minus the extract and peppermint topping), vegan, soy free, processed sugar free, and gluten free. Not to mention it tastes delicious and totally satisfies that mint chocolate craving of mine this time of year.

Makes approximately 3 cups of pudding. 

Ingredients
2 ripe avocados, pealed and pitted
1 cup almond milk (I use vanilla, unsweetened)
1/2 cup raw cacao powder
3 tablespoons raw agave nectar
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract

Optional Toppings
Raw cacao nibs
Chopped peppermint/candy cane bits

Combine the above ingredients (minus the toppings) in a food processor or blender, and puree until smooth and creamy. Refrigerate and top with toppings if desired!

Chocolate Covered Crunchy Speculoos Balls

Hello all! Hope you guys had a great Thanksgiving. It was my first one as a vegan so instead of "turkey day" it was "lentil loaf day" for me, and it was delicious! That being said, I am done with Thanksgiving food and ready to move on to all the amazing sweet treats of Christmas! Finally, what I wait for all year long, chocolate covered crunchy peanut butter ball season. Ever since I was a little, I can remember rolling them with my mom. We only ever make these at Christmas, and I look forward to it all year long. This time, though, I was walking down the aisles at Trader Joe's getting the ingredients I needed (practically jumping with excitement) and there it was, speculoos (cookie butter), and I had the greatest idea. What is better than one batch of chocolate covered crunchy peanut butter balls? TWO batches, and one make with speculoos instead! Oh my, what a great experiment. These turned out amazing. If you do not know what speculoos is, it is basically a cookie in spreadable form. I know it sounds wacky, but it's true - you just have to try it! Below is my chocolate covered crunchy speculoos balls' recipe, and I added our family peanut butter one as well! Happy treat making.

Crunchy Speculoos Balls

Ingredients
11 ounces speculoos cookie butter spread (one 11oz. jar from Trader Joe's)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) Earth Balance vegan butter, softened
1 cup organic powder sugar
2 cups crispy rice cereal
17 ounces dark chocolate, melted for dipping


Crunchy Peanut Butter Balls

Ingredients
2 cups creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) Earth Balance vegan butter, softened
2 cups organic powder sugar
3 cups crispy rice cereal
17 ounces dark chocolate, melted for dipping

*I got all of the above ingredients at Trader Joe's (except for the Earth Balance vegan butter sticks I purchased at Whole Foods). One jar of TJ's speculoos cookie butter, or 1 jar of their creamy peanut butter are both perfect measurements for the above recipes! Also, their organic powder sugar and crispy rice cereal are amazing. I have rolled these in their huge Belgium dark chocolate bar, melted, since I was a little girl. These are all just my own opinions and recommendations though, not sponsored in any way!

Begin by combining the speculoos (or peanut butter) and the softened butter in a large mixing bowl, stirring well to incorporate. Next, add in the powder sugar and give it a few stirs. Now add in the crispy rice, and using your hands mix everything together. Roll balls using about two tablespoons of the mixture for each ball, and place them on a few large plates, or one large cookie sheet that will fit in your freezer. Freeze the balls for at least 20 minutes. Then melt your chocolate in a glass bowl, either in the microwave or in the stove top using the double boiler method. Roll each frozen ball in the melted chocolate, and place on a plate or cookie sheet lined with foil. I usually use two spoons to twirl the balls in the chocolate to get them fully coated. You could always stick toothpicks in the top of the balls before freezing to make it easier to dunk them in the chocolate. Once you have coated all the balls, place them in the freezer to set for at least another 20 minutes. Then store in an airtight container in either the refrigerator or freezer until ready to serve.