Coconut and Cranberry Christmas Slice
Coconut and Cranberry Christmas Slice.
Wait hold up, there’s not chocolate in this recipe!? Yes, that’s right! I have been trying to think of a way to make a healthier White Christmas slice. And that being said, White Christmas is white, not brown. So no chocolate in the Coconut and Cranberry Christmas Slice.
Ok so it’s not exactly like a White Christmas slice. There would have been nothing healthier about it if I followed all the recipes that require a heap of white chocolate. We all know it tastes great, but all that sugar is not really what I was going for. Also I completely blitzed up the puffed rice, which is far from traditional.
Please Santa can I have a new Food Processor for Christmas?
If like me, your food processor is not amazing, you might need a little patience with the first step in this Coconut and Cranberry Christmas Slice. You need to blitz the desiccated coconut and the coconut oil together until it becomes quite smooth. I had to scrape down the sides of the bowl several times before it came to consistency I was looking for.
A Slice Instead of Bliss Balls.
If I’m honest with you, I started playing with these ingredients thinking I was going to make ‘White Christmas’ bliss balls. However once the mixture was blitzed and I stirred the cranberries through it wouldn’t form balls and just kept falling apart. If you’re keen on making some bliss balls for Christmas, check out our Cashew Coconut and Chocolate bliss balls. They are yummo! Use green and red patty pans to Christmas them up.
A slice was way faster to make though, so I’m glad it didn’t work (the kids were not in the mood for me to be spending too long in the kitchen after waking up way too early). I simply lined a baking tray with baking paper, dumped the mixture on, evenly spread it out and pushed it down with my hands. I sprinkled a little bit more coconut on top of the slice before I put it in the fridge to set. Mostly just because I thought it made it look a little more Christmassy. Silly really because we don’t get snow in Australia.
Hot Christmas.
Christmas here is usually hot. Sometimes the easiest way to decide which family member is hosting Christmas, is simply whoever has the better aircon.
I would love to be able to buy one of those ugly Christmas jumpers and rug up next to the fire singing Christmas carols (or listening, no one wants to hear me sing haha) like they do in the movies. But that’s not Christmas to us. It feels weird on the odd occasion where the weather doesn’t hit the high 30s. This year might be one of those years. We’ve only had a handful of hot days so far. I guess time will tell.
If you haven’t read my Chocolate Coconut Hummus post then you wouldn’t have seen the picture of our Christmas tree or know that we put it up in early November. I know not everyone agrees with that and traditionally we should wait until December, but something about Christmas is just too magical to keep all the beautiful things stored away for so long.
The excitement of Christmas.
The twins are becoming quite excited, not that they would remember anything about last year’s Christmas. I’ve been playing Christmas music and talking to them about Santa. It won’t be long before our Elf Jingles makes her appearance again too. The twins have been great at not touching the tree (glass balls) so I’m hoping I can keep the same rules for Jingles, if I can explain the magic to them.
Norah keeps telling me, “Santa will like it” when she draws a picture or I make something new in the kitchen. This Coconut and Cranberry Christmas Slice was the same. As soon as I mentioned the word Christmas. She said Santa would like it.
Just a little fussy.
I’m not so sure Norah and Cole liked the extra sprinkling of coconut that I put on the top of the Coconut and Cranberry Christmas Slice, even if Santa would haha. They made a giant mess wiping it all off because it was ‘dirty’. They also spent a great deal of time trying to pick the cranberries out of the slice so they could eat them on their own.
Trust me the slice is delicious, our kiddos are just a bit funny with bits in things. They love cranberries and coconut. If I made this slice without the cranberries and just served them up as a side, I think the whole lot would be demolished.
Too Yummy not to share.
Normally I don’t share things that they didn’t love the first time I gave it to them, but I think it’s too yummy not to. Plus we all know kids are not all the same . Just because the twins would prefer it a little differently, doesn’t mean another child wouldn’t love our new Coconut and Cranberry Christmas Slice just the way it is.
The kids do love the Cashew Coconut and Puffed Rice Chocolate Bars (which is basically a slice) though. There’s a few more steps to it than with the Coconut and Cranberry Christmas Slice. And there’s a little bit of real chocolate in the recipe, but it’s still pretty easy to put together. Maybe I can somehow combine the two and the twins will be more convinced.
Family traditions.
Do you have any family favourites that you make every Christmas? I’m hoping to come up with some that will become a tradition in our family. Something special that the kids will one day make for their families too (many, MANY years from now).
Coconut and Cranberry Christmas Slice
Coconut and Cranberry Christmas Slice; A delicious, healthier version of the traditional White Christmas Slice. Refined sugar free, no bake, nut free, gluten free, vegan, yummy!
Ingredients
- 150 g desiccated coconut (plus a little bit extra to sprinkle on the top) 98.1g of fat
- 3 tbsp coconut oil 60g of fat
- 3 tbsp tinned coconut milk 7.2g og fat
- 1/2 tsp vanilla paste
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 cup puffed rice
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries
Instructions
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Place the coconut and the coconut oil into the food processor and blitz until it comes together as a 'butter'. You may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl several times. Some texture is ok.
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Add the rest of the ingredients (except the cranberries), blitz until well combined and the puffed rice is completely broken down.
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Chop the cranberries into smaller pieces.
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Stir the cranberries through the coconut mixture.
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Line a baking tin with baking paper and dump the mixture on top.
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Spread the mixture evenly and press it down with your fingers.
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Sprinkle a small amount of coconut on top of the slice and push it down with you fingers (I haven't accounted for this in the total fat content, the majority of it didn't stick anyway)
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Place the slice in the fridge for an hour to set.
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Lift the slice out of the tin using the baking paper. Place on a chopping board and cut into 16 even pieces.
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Store in the fridge in an air tight container.
Recipe Notes
Total fat content: Approximately 165.3g of fat
16 serves at approximately 10.3g of fat per serve.
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