Coconut Snowball Cookies with Cacao Nibs (No-bake & Paleo)

I'm not really a cold-weather-loving person, but wearing a puffy coat in the snow makes me feel like a little kid again. With big snow flakes and fluffy drifts, this week's storm is the perfect excuse to stay at home and bake cookies. I might be jumping the gun on holiday season here, but... When the weather outside is frightful (and you have a batch of tasty paleo cookies in your hands)... Let it snow, let is snow, let it snow!

A cross between Macaroons, these Coco-Roons, and my own artistic liberties, these cookies are no-bake. Round and sweet, they bring out my inner child even more than just the snow. It's been sub-freezing around here all week, so after mixing together the ingredients I stuck the pan outside and within minutes (literally, about 3) they were ready to eat.

Now, while I'm inside enjoying a bowl of soup and a plate of cookies, I can't help but wonder what the neighborhood bunnies think. This guy?

He looks like he could use a pair of down booties. And some earmuffs (but maybe not as badly as this guy). (Yea, I know, I'm ridiculous. But aren't his feet cold??)

Based on how fast he bounded across the street right after I snapped this photo, he doesn't want anything to do with this earmuff business.

Anyways, where were we? Right, Coconut Snowball Cookies. There babies call for 7 ingredients--that's it! They are pretty much the easiest cookies I've ever made (unless you count holiday slice-and-bake tubes from my pre-paleo days, and even still these might be easier as they require no slicing and no baking). Other than being festive, they are pretty damn delicious too. The sweet honey and coconut manna "glue" melts away as you eat them, while the cacao nibs and coconut shreds provide a satisfying crunch.

Coconut Snowball Cookies with Cacao Nibs

Published November 11, 2014 by Caitlin Sherwood

Little no-bake cookies that look like snowballs!

Serves: 15 | Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup desiccated coconut (finely shredded)
1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons blanched almond flour (see note for AIP-friendly version)
1/2 cup coconut butter (manna) (Make this at home by blending 1 cup desiccated coconut on high in a high-power blender for 1 minute, or until buttery and smooth)
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup cacao nibs (see note for AIP-friendly version)
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract (see note for AIP-friendly version)
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Melt the coconut oil and the coconut manna (in the microwave, on the stove, what ever you prefer). In a small bowl, whisk together the coconut oil, manna, and honey. Stir in the vanilla.
In a separate mixing bowl, combine the coconut, almond flour, and salt, mixing until evenly distributed. Pour the wet mixture over the dry mixture, and use a spatula to stir until well incorporated. Add in cacao nibs, stirring to distributed.
The dough should be sticky and stay clumped together when pressed into a ball. Use a round tablespoon or small cookie scoop to form snowballs, packing the mixture into the spoon and then placing the snowballs onto a cookie sheet. (Tip: scrape your spoon of excess coconut mixture each time for best results) Once you have used all of the batter, place the cookie sheet in the fridge (or outside in cold weather) until the cookies have set. Serve with a cup of hot cocoa or store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.
NOTE: For AIP-Friendly, sub out the almond flour with extra coconut and skip the vanilla and cacao nibs. Try sprinkling with cinnamon.

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This combination of almond, chocolate, and dried cherries made it’s first debut on the long-gone blog I wrote in college. That blog has long since been folded, a decision that was made on a whim following some bad advice, but if you really do some digging, you can still find the 2010/2011 remnants on Way Back Machine.

The original was a cookie bar — made without eggs, because my mom never seemed to have eggs in the fridge, so my signature cookie bar recipe was a bit like a soft shortbread made with brown sugar for a more classic chocolate chip cookie taste. It called for dried cherries, chocolate, and white chocolate. When I pressed my blog in 2011 before leaving to study abroad, it was the one recipe I was emailed for. #humblebrag

Luckily, before I hit “delete” on that site, I printed off all of my favorite recipes, and glued them into a black notebook. My cookbook.

In 2014, three years later, when I picked up blogging again, recreating a healthier version of those cookie bars was high on my to do list. These bars call for almond butter and almond flour, which build the dense, fudgy base. Eggs keep everything together. And honey gives a sweet edge where refined sugars did heavy lifting in the original. I skip white chocolate these days, because why eat white chocolate when you can eat dark chocolate?! But, if variety is the spice of your life, feel free to use half white chocolate and half dark chocolate (1/4 cup each). I use the dried cherries from Costco for this recipe, however if you can’t find dried cherries you could also use dried cranberries (I have often seen cranberries sweetened with cherry juice, which would mimic cherries in this recipe quite well).

Grain-Free Chocolate Cherry Cookie Bars

Published June 26, 2014 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 16 | Active Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup almond butter

2 tablespoon butter, melted and cooled

1/4 cup honey

2 eggs

2 cups almond flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips or chopped up dark chocolate bar

1/2 cup dried cherries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F, and line a 9x9 inch baking dish with parchment paper.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine almond butter, butter, honey, and eggs. Stir until smooth.
Add almond flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir to make a stiff batter.
Fold in chocolate and cherries until evenly distributed.
Press better into an even layer in the baking dish, and then bake for 20-25 minutes. Cookie bars should be golden and slightly puffed.
Allow to cool 10 minutes. Slice into 16 squares and serve. Store in airtight container at room temperature or in fridge.