Date Balls

Ingredients

In a large pot, combine the dates, sugar, and margarine over medium-high heat. Cook for 5 min., stirring constantly.
Add the rice milk and aquafaba. Cook for 5 more minutes, stirring constantly and rapidly.
Remove from heat and add the vanilla. Stir to combine, and then pour in the rice cereal. Stir until date mixture and rice cereal are well combined.
Allow to cool slightly (~5 min). Form mixture into balls and roll in coconut.

Optional: add 1/2 c. chopped nuts along with the rice cereal.
The traditional things to roll these date balls in are powdered sugar or coconut. I don't use the powdered sugar because I think it makes the cookies too sweet. Even the coconut makes it a bit overly sweet if you use sweetened coconut so I use unsweeteened coconut. My mom also rolled some in pistachios one Christmas and that went really well with the dates. I don't do that for the ale because I want them to be nut-free.
If your mixture won't form up into balls, or you are feeling kind of lazy like I was this year, you can pour the mixture into a greased 9 x 13 pan. Pat the mixture smooth and top with the unsweetened coconut. Pat the coconut into the mixture and let cool until firm (~1 hr.). Cut into 48 squares.