Gingerbread Cashew Bites

Heyooo, happy Monday! This is a pretty crazy week for me but I’m super excited to share these tasty gingerbread cashew bites with you all. I love these bites because they taste just like gingerbread cookie dough, except minus the stomach ache. Don’t lie, you know you always eat too much of the cookie dough. We’ve all been there. I love snacking on these bites during the day between meals or in the evening after dinner when I need something a little sweet to satisfy my sweet tooth.

In other news, we got our last “real” snowfall in Minnesota last week and I’m not really sure how I feel about it yet. I have been loving this 40-50 and no snow thing because I got to ride my bike outside and not freeze to death. However, I am trying to get better at cross country skiing so if it’s going to be cold there may as well be snow. This was not snow though, it was an icy catastrophe of death. Ice under snow = no bueno.

My sister is flying in from Ireland this week so I’m excited to spend a few days with her in Minneapolis before we go to my brother’s graduation from COLLEGE.. which  makes me feel really old. We are going to see Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets with the Minnesota Orchestra which is going to be sososososososooooo awesome. If you’re not a Harry Potter fan then you can just leave.  Harry Potter for life.I’m excited to take her to work out and eat all the tasty food in Minneapolis. I love my new apartment location because it’s close to Uptown and Eat Street AKA all the good food! Hopefully the weather isn’t too cold and we can walk around.

Hope you guys are getting out and enjoying some fun holiday activities that do not involve the mall. Mall parking lots before Christmas are my worst nightmare.

 

Gingerbread Cashew Bites

Author: Dana Zychowski

Active Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Servings: 24 bites

Recipe Type: Snack, Dessert

 

Ingredients:

 

• 1 cup raw cashews
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1-3 TBSP coconut or almond flour
• 6-7 fresh medjool dates
• 2 TBSP unsulphered blackstrap molasses
• 1 TBSP maple syrup
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp ginger

 

Directions:

In a food large processor, combine cashews and oats and pulse until cashews and oats are roughly ground.  You should have a few small chunks of cashews but for the most part the mixture should be ground down. Add 6-7 fresh, pitted medjool dates and pulse until fully combined. The dates should break down and you will have a thick paste, scrape down the sides of the food processor as needed.

Add the maple syrup, molasses, cinnamon and ginger and pulse to combine throughly. Depending on the size of your food processor, this may take a while. The mixture should be rather sticky at this point and you should have no dry patches of oats. Add your coconut flour in 1/2 TBSP increments, mixing to fully combine in between additions until you achieve your desired rolling consistency.  I added 2 TBSP to this recipe but you may find you need more or less depending on your ingredients and desired consistency.

Use a tablespoon or ice cream scoop to separate the mixture and roll into 24 bite sized balls. Store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to one month and the fridge for up to one week.