*These cookies are raw, vegan, gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free, Paleo, and clean eating friendly.
I couldn’t let the Christmas season go by without giving you one more cookie recipe.
I’ve been a bit obsessed with raw macaroons lately and have made several kinds over the past few weeks. These Chocolate Covered Strawberry Macaroons are one of my favorites.
Macaroons are one of the easiest cookies to make and these pretty pink morsels are no exception. Because they are raw, you don’t have to worry about baking them, though I like to dehydrate mine because it gives the outside of the cookies a crisp, crunchy texture, while the middle stays soft, chewy, and almost truffle-like.
The texture of these cookies is my favorite thing about them. I figured out that by processing the shredded coconut until it starts to turn into butter (but still had shreds of coconut in it) gave the chilled cookies a rich, truffle like consistency without having to add a lot of coconut oil to the cookie.
Freeze dried strawberries add a punch of fresh strawberry flavor. I have been buying them in small bags (7 oz. each) in the food storage sections of supermarkets. One bag is the perfect amount for this recipe. If you aren’t using freeze dried strawberries that come in the 7 ounce bags, you’ll need about 1 cup of them for this recipe.
Don’t crush the berries up too finely. You want there to be little pieces of the strawberries that show up in the cookies when you scoop them out. It makes them look so pretty.
I used a Vitamix 
to make these cookies, but you could use a food processor as well. Do note that it will take longer for the shredded coconut to turn in to butter. You’ll need to process it for anywhere from 5-10 minutes.
I dipped the cookies in melted chocolate because I had some left over from another project, but if you wanted to keep the cookies truly raw you could dip them in a chocolate made of coconut oil and raw cacao powder.
You can leave these cookies raw and they will be amazing. If you do want to Dehydrate
them (which is still keeps them in a ‘raw’ state, by the way), use the lowest setting on your Dehydrator
. I use the fan setting only, which keeps any heat from melting the coconut oil and coconut butter in the cookie and doesn’t compromise their nutritional qualities.
- 5 cups Shredded Coconut (use finely shredded, unsweetened coconut)
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract or Paste
- Pinch of Fine Sea Salt
- 1 tablespoon Coconut Oil
- 2 tablespoons Almond Flour
- 5 tablespoons Maple Syrup
- 7 ounces Freeze Dried Strawberries, crushed
- ½ cup Dark Chocolate Chips, melted
- Add the shredded coconut to a high speed blender (I use a Vitamix
) and process for 1-2 minutes, or just until it begins to turn into coconut butter. There should still be shreds of coconut in the mixture, but it should start to look just a little bit like a nut butter. - Add the vanilla, salt, coconut oil, almond flour, and maple syrup to the blender and process just until the ingredients are combined. You may need to move the ingredients around with a rubber spatula a bit as the mixture will become thick.
- Add the crushed strawberries to the blender and process until just combined. If the mixture is too thick for the blade to mix it, transfer the dough to a bowl and fold in the strawberries with a rubber spatula. You want there to be visible pieces of the strawberries, so don't blend them in to the point where they break up into to small of pieces.
- Place scoops of dough ( I use a scoop with about a 1 tablespoon capacity) on a parchment lined baking sheet and place them in the fridge for 10 minutes.
- Remove and dip the bottoms of the cold cookies in the melted chocolate. Place the cookies back in the fridge when they have all been dipped in the chocolate and let set for a few minutes. When the chocolate has set, you can place them in an airtight container and store them in the fridge for several weeks.
- *Alternatively, you can dehydrate the cookies. Placed them in the Dehydrator for a minimum of 16 hours to achieve a slightly crispy outside. You can dehydrate them form much longer for an even crisper cookie. Just test one every few hours or so. After the cookies have dehydrated, dip them in chocolate and refrigerate.
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