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Earlier in the week I made these to take to a charity event called Free to Shine, that my friend Shakti Grace from The Holistic Chef invited me along to. She gave a brilliant and inspiring talk on the energy of food and had the whole audience captivated, which started with a lovely grounding meditation for the group. We had a little stall selling a bunch of goodies and the proceeds went to this wonderful charity to help get disadvantaged girls in Cambodia into school. They specifically aim to help these girls escape the grips of the sex trafficking trade by putting those who are high risk into uniforms, giving them pens and books, and sending them off to school. So far they have enrolled 127 girls and built two houses, but still have a target they need met by the end of the year. If you would like to donate to this beautiful and empowering cause, you can make a donation here.

Back to the cookies. These are raw, vegan, grain free Christmas gingerbread cookies. They are made with freshly grated ginger and a bunch of spices, and have a good dollop of one of my favourite sweeteners, organic blackstrap molasses.

Blackstrap Molasses

Molasses doesn’t seem to get as much love as other sweeteners, but he’s definitely a favourite of mine. Thick and syrupy, it is made from processing sugar cane or beets until it has thickened and crystalised. Although it is not raw, I like it because it is a far less processed version of sugar, and is packed full of nutrients.

Namely, it is a very rich source of iron, important for healthy and happy red blood cells. It also contains vitamin B6 and has a high mineral profile thanks to it being minimally processed – it contains calcium, copper, manganese, magnesium and potassium and zinc. In fact, you could a tablespoon daily as a nutritive tonic, it's that good!

Lastly, try and look for organic and unsulfured blackstrap molasses when you go to purchase, as sulphur is added to ripen green sugar cane up in order to speed up the process for harvest – it is a harsh chemical and best avoided.

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📖Recipe

Raw Gingerbread Cookies

Naturopath Lauren Glucina

Raw Gingerbread Cookies. Makes 24+ (not sure exactly - a lot of cookies went missing along the way!).

4 from 8 votes

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Prep Time 25

Total Time 25

Servings

Calories 119 kcal

Ingredients

10 large Medjool dates pitted*
1 tablespoon fresh ginger grated
½ cup coconut flour simply blend desiccated coconut till extra fine
2 tablespoons flax meal to help bind
3 tablespoons blackstrap molasses
2 tablespoons 100% pure maple syrup
½ teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of cardamom
pinch of nutmeg

+

2½ cups white almond meal fine

Instructions

Roughly chop your dates, then add everything but the almond meal to a food processor and blitz till a paste forms – it might be a bit sticky – that’s ok.
Transfer to a large mixing bowl, and add the almond meal.
Kneed the almond meal into the paste until a nice dough forms.
If it is still a little sticky to work with, pop it in the fridge for an hour or two.
Roll dough out onto a dehydrator teflex sheet ½ cm thick.
Cut little shapes out.
Press in some goji berries down the centre if you used a gingerbread man cutter.
Dehydrate at 115˚F till dry. Yes you can put these in the oven on low.