Date Snowballs

Today began poorly. As Mr Hooper walked out the door for work, I clung desperately to his leg, begging him to pull a sicky. He refused. As the door shut behind him, I rocked gently back and forth in the corner of our living room, watching my 6.5 month old son move around the room leaving behind him a trail of destruction. The Boss has transformed into The Beast, he is crawling and pulling himself up, so I am now on strict concussion watch, his head is massive so gravity enjoys dragging it towards the floor at a tremendous rate.



To maintain moderate sanity I imprisoned him in his high chair, with the wonderful satisfaction that ultimately I have the upper hand, well at least for now, no doubt I will receive years of pay back when he is twice me size and has a drivers licence. So as The Beast writhed with frustration in his new limited dwelling, I set about making these super delicious treats. My Mum makes them often and calls them Date Slugs, I have changed the name to glam them up a bit!

DATE SNOWBALLS

4oz BUTTER

1 loosely packed cup of soft BROWN SUGAR

1 1/2 cups DATES chopped finely

1 beaten EGG

1 tspn VANILLA ESSENCE

2 1/2 cups of RICE BUBBLES, aka rice crispies.

about 1/2 a cup of shredded COCONUT for rolling

Melt butter in a pot, and add the sugar, dates, egg and vanilla. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat and stir for 5 minutes. Allow to cool until warm, don't let it go cold. Stir in the rice bubbles. Make into small balls with damp hands and then roll in the coconut.

Since this mornings 'episode' I have eaten 5 of these date snowballs and am feeling remarkably better, perhaps they are also medicinal.