Coconut-date Rice Krispie balls

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This article was published 08/12/2010 (5507 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Day 7 of the Free Press’s 21 Days of Holiday Cookies features Coconut-date Rice Krispie Balls. We will be publishing one cookie recipe every day — Monday to Saturday — till Christmas.

Barb sent in a recipe for no-bake Rice Krispie balls, an old-time treat adapted from a recipe in Cook’s Country magazine. When she shares them with friends and co-workers, Barb brings a copy of the recipe — somebody always asks.

Coconut-date Rice Krispie balls

114 g (1/2 cup) butter

175 ml (3/4 cup) sugar

250 g (1 cup) chopped dates

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 ml (1/4 tsp) salt

5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla

500 ml (2 cups) Rice Krispies cereal

175 ml (3/4 cup) pecans, toasted and chopped

375 ml (1 1/2 cups) sweetened shredded coconut, lightly toasted

Melt butter in heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add sugar, dates, egg and salt and cook, stirring constantly, until sugar is dissolved and mixture is caramelly and brown, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla, Rice Krispies and pecans until blended. Let cool 15 minutes. Place coconut in shallow dish. Shape date mixture into 2.5 cm (1 in) balls, roll in coconut, transfer to baking sheet lined with parchment or wax paper, and refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes. (Can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.)

Tester’s notes: Quick and easy and they look good on a cookie plate. Barb warns against boiling the date mixture too rapidly — you don’t want the egg to curdle.

Alison Gillmor
Writer

Studying at the University of Winnipeg and later Toronto’s York University, Alison Gillmor planned to become an art historian. She ended up catching the journalism bug when she started as visual arts reviewer at the Winnipeg Free Press in 1992.

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