Can you believe it's holiday time already? Thanksgiving has passed (I hope you had a great one!) and December is right around the corner. The holidays can mean a lot of different things to different people- joy, comfort, celebration, stress, reflection, etc- but there seems to be a common thread for everyone around holiday time: food. It doesn't matter which holiday you celebrate, you probably have strong memories of a certain food or foods that you associate with this time of year. For me, I think of pumpkin pie and Christmas cookies. I reminisce about spending hours in the kitchen with my mom making our traditional assortment of Christmas cookies, faded recipe cards, and flour-coated counter tops. I remember the excitement of having a kitchen filled with Christmas cookies and the anticipation of seeing them disappear from Santa's plate....And as if our flurry of cookie baking wasn't enough, we always seemed to have tins of store bought cookies as well. The thumbprint cookie stands out to me as the one that I always chose last. Somehow that dried out jam and even drier cookie just didn't do it for me. So why would I attempt to replicate it you may ask? Because I like a challenge...and I do believe that any traditional dessert or treat can be made better in the raw (I will leave no cookie unturned!-lol). I'm happy to say that these turned out delicious! They're chewy and subtly sweet with a slight butteriness to them that defies the dairy free ingredient list AND they got rave reviews... Now these thumbprint cookies, I would reach for ;) 
Cherry Coconut Thumbprint CookiesSour Cherry Jam 1 c dried golden cherries 1 c water 1 1/2 T chia seeds 1 T raw honey (add more if you like it sweeter) Soak cherries in 1 c water for 1 hour or more or for 1/2 hour in the dehydrator (do this while making the cookie base). Add the soaked cherries to a high speed blender with 1/2 c of the soak water, chia seeds, and honey. Blend at medium-high speed until well blended but not completely smooth (good to leave it a little chunky to achieve a jam-like consistency. Use to fill indentations in cookies once done and use leftovers as you would any other jam...Or you can add to smoothies or use as ice cream topping. Yum! Coconut Cookie 1 1/2 c coconut chips 1 1/2 c raw cashews 4 T coconut flour 4 T lucuma powder 4 T raw honey 2 T extra virgin coconut oil 1-2 T water (I used 2) 8 drops vanilla stevia 1 tsp vanilla powder 1/4 tsp sea salt 1/2 tsp ginger powder Add coconut chips to food processor and grind to a powder (this will take a minute or so). Remove ground coconut to a bowl, add cashews back to the food processor and grind to a flour (wait until there is no more rattling sounds with the processor on). Add the ground coconut back to the food processor, along with the rest of the ingredients and process to form a dough. Shape dough into cookies and use your thumb or the back of a spoon (or anything else you can think of) to make indentations in the cookies. Fill liberally with jam and dehydrate at 115 degrees for 8-10 hours (you can do more or less depending on your desired cookie texture). Serve with a glass of your favorite milk and enjoy!
