When I was young, baking was one of my favorite hobbies. And baking cookies for Christmas was the pinnacle of this culinary passion.
I have such fond memories of playing Christmas music while making Peanut Butter Blossoms, Candy Cane Shortbreads, Chocolate Chippers (of course), Mint Meltaways, Almond Crescents, and more. I was happy all year to bake alone in the kitchen, but the Christmas Holiday season was extra special because I got to be in the kitchen making merry and baking cookies with my mom and my sister.
The counters would be covered with flour, sugar, peanut butter, chocolate chips, and I’d take such joy in filling tins and paper plates with a variety of Holiday deliciousness to gift to others—and some, of course, were for us. Let’s be honest. More than “some.” 🙂
I still love baking. That hasn’t changed.
But what has changed is our diet.
Over the years, we’ve needed to adjust our diets to deal with different health issues.
So gradually, and not all at once, we’ve:
- ditched the all purpose flour for gluten free flour, almond flour and coconut flour, due to numerous health issues
- stopped using refined sugar and now use stevia, xylitol, and occasionally coconut sugar and erythritol due to candida, and
- moved from margarine to coconut oil—for obvious reasons. No fake fat with artificial yellow color for my family. 🙂
Yes, things are different.
But like I said, I still love to bake.
Day 22: No-Bake Coconut Snowballs
Sometimes, however, I don’t have enough time to bake, and that’s where a treat like this No Bake Coconut Snowballs come in.
They come together in a flash and are perfect for times when you need a treat or snack at the last minute, but they’re tasty enough, and pretty enough to make for a special occasion.
And they are perfect for almost any special diet. They are totally gluten-free and grain-free, sugar-free, egg-free, dairy-free, nut-free and seed-free. In fact, they are free of all of the Top 8 Food Allergies, so they will work for almost any special diet you can think of.
If you are looking for more gluten-free resources, make sure to check out my Everything Gluten Free resource page!
No-Bake Coconut Snowball Cookies
Equipment
- food processor
Ingredients
- 3 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
- 3/8 cup 6 Tablespoons coconut oil
- 1/4 cup sweetener for a candida friendly version, I used xylitol.
- 2 scoops pure stevia extract powder approx 1/16 tsp
- 2 teaspoons vanilla I recommend alcohol free vanilla since you will not be baking these
- 3/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor.
- Combine until the mixture is blended and sticks together. (Note: if using a high-powered blender like a Vitamix, do not turn your machine on high, or you just might end up with coconut butter :).)
- Remove blended mixture from food processor / blender and form into your desired shape. I used a small cookie scoop to make the shapes in the photos. The cookies tend to fall apart easily, but if you gently press them back into their desired shape they tend to cooperate fairly well.
- Decorate with shredded coconut, cocoa or carob powder, crushed nuts or seeds, or melted chocolate. For these photos, I used my Homemade Chocolate / Carob Chips, which I put in a small plastic baggie, poked a hole in the end, and piped out. Alternatively, you could of course use an icing bag.
- Allow the cookies to firm up in the fridge or freezer. They will firm up at room temperature if your home is cool.
- Store in the fridge if your house is warm.
Nutrition
Notes:
- These are not “warm weather” cookies. By that, I mean that they don’t stay stable in warm temperatures, but you can keep them in the fridge or freezer and serve them cool in warmer weather. I personally prefer them cool.
- About Sweeteners: I mentioned using stevia and an additional sweetener. I find that when using alternative sweeteners that the final product tastes better when blending two or more kinds together, but you can of course use just one kind and double the amount.
- There is some concern regarding alternative sweeteners that has been published. I use very little xylitol and erythritol, as I feel that I need to do more research on those, but I am fairly comfortable with them. I have done a lot of research into stevia’s safety and am very confident in using that. You can read more in my post “Is Stevia a Danger to Your Health? – The Truth Comes Out.”
I hope you get time to slow down over the busy Christmas season and bake with your family. It’s a wonderful way to spend time together and make something for yourself—or for others.
And if things are just way too busy for you, I am sure you can find time to whip up a batch of these no bake coconut cookies.
Enjoy and Merry Christmas to you and yours.
Want more grain-free Christmas cookies? See all the cookies in this series!
Adrienne Urban is a wife, homeschooling mom, information junkie, and the brains and heart behind WholeNewMom.com. She grew up taking loads of antibiotics, eating processed food galore, and living in an stressful home that set her up for a myriad of health issues, including candida and adrenal fatigue. Through special diets and natural healthcare, she has navigated her family through many health problems, including life-threatening food allergies, Asperger’s Syndrome, and thyroid disease.
Hi Adrienne, Thank you so much for this recipe – it looks quick and simple but really delicious! This is my first Christmas after being diagnosed with diabetes. I was wondering how on earth I was going to be able to bake yummy Christmassy things for my family (and me!) this year but this recipe looks perfect.