ASTEROIDS...Natural treats for the Holidays

One of my favorite connections is to go to Christina Pirello's cooking classes and demonstrations with my friend Lois Brown, a hypnotherapist and massage therapist from the Princeton, NJ area. Last week we went to Whole Foods in Marlton - if you haven't been there...consider a trip!! Nothing in the store has high fructose corn syrup and other non-natural ingredients...hence their name!!
I want to share a favorite recipe...ASTEROIDS. They are fun to make and so full of Teachable Moments for adults and children alike. They start out with fairly solid ingredients, are cooked together and become liquid and then harden back into a solid! The process of rolling them into balls - a fun and sticky mess - is a cooking time for everyone to share - lots of fun, laughter and mess! Isn't that how we learn best. Here's the recipe...so simple

1 cup brown rice syrup
1 cup almond butter
1 cup grain sweetened non-dairy chocolate chips
3 cups crispy brown rice cereal
In a large saucepan, heat rice syrup and almond butter until creamy. Stir in chocolate chips until they melt. Remove from heat and stir in crispy rice until well-incorporated. Roll these into 2 inch balls (keep a small bowl of water close by so you can keep your hands moist to accept the sticky goop!) For those who would love the treat but not the mess, you can press the cooked ingredients into a shallow, square casserole dish, set until firm and cut into squares before serving.
TRY THEM. YOU WILL BE HOOKED!! And they are all natural (no, that doesn't mean that they don't have calories, but they don't have the simple sugars)