Raw Gingerbread Men: A guest recipe from Julie at Raw Bites!

Happy Raw Wednesday to everyone! Like I promised, here is a healthy cookie recipe that will calm your sugar cravings and keep you feeling satisfied with its protein and nutrients. This recipe was sent to me by the fabulous Julie Titus, found of Raw Bites Happy Food in Los Angeles, CA. You may remember seeing her in the Cupcakes + Art event post from a few weeks ago, pictured with her adorable daughter and tasty raw cupcakes (as seen below).

Julie started Raw Bites as a graphic designer, mother, traveler, humanitarian and gourmet food fanatic. She has a passion for making and sharing raw food to heal, empower and sustain daily life for everyone. Her mission, as her company profile says, is to “make raw, happy food accessible, affordable, and convenient for ALL people, without exception”. Her humanitarian work is extremely admirable, consisting of regularly vending coconuts to raise money for Smile Train, sponsoring a child to receive a much needed cleft palate surgery, visiting Guatemala every year to support Safe Passage, a NGO empowering women and providing nutritional support and education for children living in the slums surrounding the municipal trash dump of Guatemala City and donating food regularly to different charity events.

All in all, Julie is an amazing person, extremely nice, and a maker of delicious food. Her company is a catering service, a consultancy on raw lifestyle and chocolate, and a green company (having a zero trash policy when vending and sources biodegradable packaging). So, if you have a chance, and are interested (which you should be!), check out the Raw Bites Happy Food Site and order some delicious items! From now until Valentine’s Day, reader’s of this site get a 25% off of any order if they mention *VEGANYACKATTACK* when they contact Julie!

Now, onto this delightful recipe! I love holiday cookies, and this one was no different; what shocked me, though, was the face that many of the usually stubborn gentleman that were over for the holiday kept stealing these lil’ suckers right off of the plate! If that doesn’t sell this recipe for you, I don’t know what will. Try these out for yourself and be impressed!

Here’s the recipe in Julie’s words:

Ingredients:

• 12 Dried, Pitted Dates (I soaked mine for a couple of hours)
• 1.5 Cup Raw Almonds (I soaked mine for a couple of hours)
• 1 tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 tsp. Himalayan Salt
• 3 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
• 2 tsp. Ground Ginger
• 1 tsp. Freshly Grated Ginger Root
• 1/2 tsp. Ground Cloves
• 1 Tbsp. Palm sugar (I used Raw Sugar)
• 1/8 Cup Maple Syrup