*{Recipes}* 1 so far ;)

DATE BALLS

1/2 C Butter or Margarine, softened (I used Imperial Margarine)
1 C Sugar
10 oz. Chopped Dates (I buy mine in a purple box from Walmart and it will take 1 box and 1/4 of the 2nd box)
1 lg. Egg Beaten

1 C. TOASTED Chopped Pecans
1 tsp. Vanilla
4 C. Crisp Rice Cereal
Powdered Sugar (if desired)
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Chop and toast pecans, then set aside.

Mix the first 4 ingredients in a large saucepan and then melt & stir over low/med heat for 6-8 minutes, until the sugar is completely dissolved. 

Add the toasted pecans and continue stirring for 10 more minutes. 

Remove from heat and mix in vanilla, then stir in the crisp rice cereal (I recommend a heat resistant rubber spatula to do this). 

Scoop out enough mixture to make a walnut sized ball. CAUTION:  Mixture will be HOT. I recommend putting 5-6 scoops onto a paper plate to cool a minute so that it can be tolerable to handle before actually rolling the balls in your hands. Once they've cooled for about a minute, lightly coat your hands with a non-stick spray to keep the mixture from sticking to your hands and start rolling into balls.

If you don't want to mess with the time to roll them into balls, try pressing them into a rectangular cake pan with a spatula and cutting them into bite sized squares.

If desired, add some powdered sugar into a container and roll the date balls around in it until it's coated & tap off any excess powdered sugar.