Sweet sweet Friday: Date Almond Balls

The Small Girl has got a fantastic book called The Little Mole Who Knew It Was None Of His Business, in which a hapless mole tries to find out which animal has left a poo on his head. I've seen it described as a 'plop-up' book, which gives you an idea of the nature of the mole's investigations. It really is very good, in a stinky kind of way.
Anyway, after I made these little brown balls I did a bit of housewifely tidying up and guess which book was top of the pile? I cannot mention this association to the Small Girl or she'll never eat them. Then again, that might not be such a bad thing...

 Date and almond balls
These are almost a kinder, gentler version of last week's doubly decadent treat - staying with the turducken principle but making it a little more wholesome. The idea for the rice bubble mixture came from one of those really right-on, yoga-at-dawn, homespun hessian kind of websites created by people who use pedal power to fire up their laptops, but adapted it to be a little more user-friendly. They are very easy to make - the only trick is to roll the mixture with wet hands. Fill the sink with cold water before you start, then just dip your hands in as you go.

1/2 cup good quality nut butter (I use half peanut, half almond)
90ml (6Tbsp) date syrup
2 tsp vanilla essence
2 cups rice bubbles
12-15 whole almonds
12-15 dates

Firstly, take the dates and make a small slit in each one. Insert an almond into each date and set aside.
Line a tray with nonstick paper and set aside. Fill the sink with cold water.
Put the nut butter, date syrup and vanilla in a large saucepan and heat gently until it starts to bubble. Don't let it burn!
Remove from the heat and stir in the rice bubbles. Mix well. Wet both hands, take spoonfuls of the mixture and form into a ball around one of the almond-stuffed dates. Squeeze firmly into a ball and put on the lined tray. Repeat until all the mixture is used up - you should make at least 12, though it depends on how tempted you are to taste the mixture. Put in the freezer to set for 10 minutes, then transfer to a plastic container with a lid. They are fine to eat straight from the freezer so you may as well keep them there (if you can).

Have a sweet, sweet weekend, everyone. I'll be back next week with reports from the Small Girl's birthday x