Just over a year ago I stumbled upon the eye-catching Instagram account of an Ottawa-based blogger called "Pequena Vegetariana". The Instagram account and blog focusses on colourful, vibrant vegetarian recipes in Portuguese and English. A few months later, I had the chance to meet the blogger behind the blog when Ana Tavares attended one of my cooking classes. Ana has been such a positive influence and has always been so supportive. I've gotten to know her better over the last year as she has since attended many of my cooking lessons and even participated in my group nutrition program.

Ana was born in Brazil and now lives and works here in Ottawa. Although she works full time as a public servant, she also has several exciting endeavours underway that she showcases on her new website. While Ana has lived in Canada since her teens, she still has strong ties to Brazil. This past summer she worked with Brazilian publishing houses Belas Letras and Imaginarium to create her first cookbook, "Comidinhas do bem", which launched in November 2017 in 235 stores across the country. It features 45 exclusive recipes created by Ana, daily positive living tips, beautiful photographs and graphics. I also played a very small role in the creation of this cookbook as I provided nutritional content for foods based on their colour. It was truly a full circle moment to be able to offer my support to Ana in creating this gorgeous cookbook. The cookbook is only available in Portuguese at the moment, but it has opened the door for some fun future collaborations between Ana and me. Stay tuned!

Recently Ana shared one of her new recipe with me and I'm thrilled to be able to pass it along to all of you. She's come up with simple and delicious Gingerbread Cookie Dough Bites that are sure to satisfy your sweet tooth this holiday season.

I’ve made this recipe a few times myself. I’ve followed the instructions exactly with great success and also made a few changes including swapping out the coconut oil and omitting the almond flour. See the notes below for details.

If you try them out, let us know what you think in the comments section below!

GINGERBREAD COOKIE DOUGH BITES

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon ground ginger or finely grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of ground cloves
2 tablespoons coconut oil
2 tablespoons almond butter
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup almond flour

Directions:

Line a baking pan with parchment paper.

In a blender mix together the oats, ginger, cinnamon and ground cloves until it resembles a flour like texture.

In a large bowl, whisk together the coconut oil, almond butter, maple syrup, molasses and vanilla extract until well combined.

Slowly add in the blender mixture and finally, add in the almond flour. By the end, you may need to use your hands cause it’ll get a little sticky.

Generously fill a tablespoon sized measuring spoon with the cookie dough mixture, roll into balls and place in the freezer. You should be able to make between 18 to 24 balls.

Freeze for about an hour, and serve cold directly from the freezer. Once frozen, you can also move them over into an enclosed container and keep them in the fridge for all your holiday cookie cravings!

Notes from the kitchen:
-If you don't want to use coconut oil, simply add extra almond butter. Rather than 2 tablespoons of coconut oil and 2 tablespoons of almond butter, go with 1/4 cup of almond butter. In making this swap, I found the recipe was dry enough that I didn’t need to add the almond flour at the end.
-Depending on the moisture or dryness of the recipe (it can vary depending on the oiliness of the almond butter, whether or not you use coconut oil, or the dryness of the oat flour), I haven’t always needed to add the almond flour. Generally near the end of the recipe I found that the mixture was dry enough that I could easily roll it into balls without the almond flour. If you find it is too moist but don't have almond flour, you could simply make a bit more oat flour and add it as needed. Oat flour is much cheaper than almond flour so this is a great cost cutting swap!