Celebrate Easter With Paleo Resurrection Cookies

I originally published this Paleo-friendly recipe February 2011. In our home it’s a traditional way to celebrate Easter. Regardless of what your faith is, this is fairly healthy recipe to make – but the kiddos don’t have to know!  It’s full of protein and just a little sweet to satisfy. 

I see many parallels between my faith and healthy living. Not everyone is ready to jump into life change, but when you do nothing is the same! You can’t force it on anyone, they have to be ready to take ownership of it in their own time. Everyone is at a different point in their journey, no one better than another. Our confidence really comes in knowing who be belong to and who we follow. Yes, we often fall short just as we do in our pursuit of healthier living. But we can still accept ourselves right where we’re at. The joy is in the process since we’ll never be perfect, just keep heading in the right direction.

This Easter season,  I challenge you to keep an open heart and mind. My Christian faith has been a huge inspiration in leading me to healthier living.  My faith has helped me to overcome difficult times in my life, to accept myself where I’m at, to take care of the world we live in, to be alert and live a life that blesses others. 

This recipe brings together faith and wellness, as we can use it to treat our bodies as a temple of the Holy Spirit: physically by eating good food and spiritually by filling our minds with God’s word. Easter is about new life, and accepting the greatest gift ever given. If you’ve never read the Easter story from the Bible,  I encourage you to explore this amazing story to better understand love on a whole new level.   John 15:13  “Greater love has none than this, that one lay down His life for his friends”.

We’ve been celebrating Easter for years with this simple and delicious meringue cookie recipe. It’s become a tradition that all of our kids enjoy making and eating. The hollow cookie insides are a perfect representation of Jesus’ tomb on Easter morning. They’re pretty healthy too! I’ve adapted this recipe from one that I read first in Christian parenting over 15 years ago. I’m sure there are some purists out there who don’t agree with the sugar, and honestly I’ve made peace with sugar! It’s all about moderation, and I figure there are many other scary ingredients in our food than sugar (like corn syrup and artificial sweeteners which shouldn’t be in anyone’s diet). And if I’m going to bake something with fine sugar (I’ll make sure it’s organic) you can bet it will be in a recipe like this that requires specific texture for the final product. I’ve tried other substitutions (agave and raw sugar, stevia might work but I haven’t tried that yet) but none gave the hollow cookies effect like the sugar. 

You can even let the kids taste a little sugar as you’re making them (after they taste the bitter ingredients and talk about Psalm 34:8, “Taste and see that the Lord is good”, a simple child’s devotion I first heard from a dear friend of mine, Theresa Freiding, when I was a new mom volunteering in Lambs preschool) Let me know if you found any substitutions that work for you. I hope you can share these with friends and family and have a blessed holiday!