Peanut Butter Bites and Balls

These are so incredibly simple and delicious and perfect. I strongly recommend that you stop whatever you’re doing and make them. Right. Now.

(Adapted from Sprouted Kitchen)

1 cup (actually, a little less than 1 cup) cashews

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup pitted dates

½ tsp. cinnamon

heaping ½ cup natural peanut butter (and by “heaping” I mean that you over-fill the ½ cup by so much that it might be closer to ¾ cup)

semi-sweet chocolate (optional)

1. Grind the cashews in a food processor.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients and process until well-combined and fairly smooth.

3. Scoop spoonfuls of dough and roll into balls. Place on a plate and smoosh with a fork to create the internationally-recognized peanut butter cookie hash marks. OR refrigerate in ball-form while you melt a couple ounces of semi-sweet chocolate. Dip the balls in the melted chocolate.

4. Store in a sealed container in the fridge. They’ll probably keep for up to 5 days, but I wouldn’t know. They haven’t lasted longer than two days in this house.