Molasses Raisin Almond Balls (Sugar Plums)

Hey All,

I made this variation of sugar plums (the kind that dance in  your head) last night in about 5 minutes and they were gone almost as quickly (by myself). Neil took a half bite and well, he didn't appreciate them. I am a bit of a sucker for molasses, which seems to be something people either love or hate. I got this recipe from Vegan Crunk (http://vegancrunk.blogspot.com/) (no i'm not vegan, nor do I intend to be) but I like to dabble. There are lots of varations of this recipe, as sugar plums are a general term. These kind of remind me of Larabars, the energy bar made from dates + spices + some kind of nut + whatever chocolate/peanut butter/flavor combo etc it's labeled as. I'm not really a date fan when they're on their own and I'm also not a fan of paying for energy bars when I can make them in tasty ball form. The next version of these that I'm going to make is with oats pulverized to a powder, but for this version my MIL gave me some almond meal to use. Thus I didn't put everything in a food processor, I just mashed with my hands. If you're going to go that route (so you don't have to clean your food processor), chop up the raisins first.

Also of note, the original recipe calls for Blackstrap Molasses, which is much more bitter and since I only had regular molasses on hand, that is what I used.

Raisin Almond Molasses Balls
makes about 15-18 balls
raw, vegan, gluten free, soy free

1 1/4 cup raw almonds
generous pinch of sea salt
2/3 cup raisins
4 tbsp molasses
1 tsp cinnamon
dash cloves/dash allspice ( I skipped these)

Grind almonds & sea salt into food processor until finely ground. Add raisins, molasses and spices. Grind until mixture sticks together and is uniform looking. Shape into balls (or press into a baking pan). Eat.

Store in the fridge, they should last a week....*should if you don't share