Family Friendly Halloween Traditions

        (Healthy Gingerbread Date Cookie recipe down below! Click here for printable)

I love holiday traditions. I tend to treat every holiday like Easter... there's usually a basket involved. This particular holiday I veered a bit from the norm for a few reasons (aside from his food allergies).

1. Cost. Candy has become way too expensive.

2. Sugar. Enough said.

3. I don't have a problem with trick or treating per se... it's just... I am a bit uneasy teaching my child to take candy from strangers on one of the (arguably) "most dangerous" nights of the year. Teaching him to approach trunks for candy seems even less appealing. I know I'm unpopular there. sorry. 

4. We love too bake! So much.

5. We like giving to our neighbors rather than asking for candy. The catch is, we do it in the mornings. Most of them still give him candy. Totally fine. I'm just happy he reciprocated.

6. The holiday books are an absolute joy to revisit each year! Seriously...I think we do this for every holiday. We love it.

 I didn't put this in the video because it was getting a bit long, but a few other things we try to do each year include:

- Volunteering (and then staying to play) at our local farm's Harvest Festival

- Jack-O-Lantern (super original there, right?)

-And our local zoo has a Boo-At-The-Zoo. If you've never been to one, these are so fun! The animals make everything more exciting.

I hope you enjoy the video, and I've left the recipes down below. 

Thanks for reading!

Gingerbread Date Cookies

1 Cup Almond flour

2 Cups Oat flour (we grind rolled oats in a coffee grinder)

1 1/3 all purpose flour (added as needed until the dough comes together, plus more     for dusting)

1 Tbsp ground ginger

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

scant 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg (careful not to use too much)

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

8 Tbsp butter

1/8 cup olive oil

1 egg

splash of vanilla 

1/3 cup molasses

18 pitted Medjool dates

1/4 cup very hot water

Instructions:

Soak dates in hot water. Blend in blender until it makes a paste. If it needs more liquid to blend add a little more water just until it makes a smooth paste. 

Add the stick of butter to the dates in the blender and blitz away.

At this point, I like to add all the wet ingredients, the spices, the baking powder, and salt to the blender with the date/butter mixture and give it another happy blitz. Yep...even the egg. It will be fine. I promise. 

Mix the flours in a large bowl then pour in the wet ingredients from the blender.

Mix, mix, mix. 

chill in freezer for a few minutes (or the fridge for a bit longer until you're ready) 

Place parchment paper on the counter and sprinkle it with flour. Take half the sticky dough mixture from the bowl and work it with the flour, folding it into thirds adding flour as needed (like making gnocchi) until it's not dry but not sticky. Roll it out then cut your shapes and repeat until they're all happy little gingerbread men (or in our case, dinosaurs). I used a spatula to get the cookies onto the pan safely. 

Bake on parchment lined cookie sheet 1 inch apart for 9-11 minutes or until the bottom edges look lightly golden, but they are still soft on the top. 

let them cool a few minutes and transfer to wire cooling rack. Try not to eat them yet... they taste better cool. Plus, if you burn your tongue nothing tastes as good. sad. 

Frosting:

Add 2 cups Confectioners sugar to a mixing bowl and add 1 Tbsp of milk at a time until it reaches desired consistency. Add color if you wish and decorate cooled cookies to your hearts content. 

Healthy Chocolates

I used a fun silicone mold, and while the oven was still hot from the cookies, I melted dark chocolate for 5mins. Spread evenly and add your favorite healthy toppings! We wrapped them in foil and kept them in a bowl in the fridge as our Halloween candy. They taste as good as store bought, BUT at a fraction of the sugar and cost.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, FRIENDS!

Content by Casey Clark - http://cozyhomemakingvibes.blogspot.com

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