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 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.