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My copy of this recipe is titled “Christmas Casserole Cookies”, but we never ever called them that. They were gooballs! Gooey, sweet in an insane kind of way, nutty, sticky gooballs!

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1 C sugar
• 1 C dates, chopped
• 1 C coconut
• 1 C almonds, thinly sliced
• 1 ts vanilla
• ¹/₄ ts almond extract

Procedure

1. Beat eggs and sugar together, then add remaining ingredients and stir until thoroughly mixed.
2. Turn the batter into an ungreased 2 qt casserole. Bake at 350F about 30 minutes; the eggs and sugar will bubble while the dates will essentially dissolve into mush when stirred.
3. Remove from oven and immediately stir with wooden spoon, scraping the gooey mixture from the bottom of the casserole.
4. Let the batter cool until you can handle it. Coat your palms with cooking spray. Scoop up the batter by heaping tablespoonfuls and form into small (1” diameter) balls. Roll in granulated sugar.

Tips and tricks

1. It helps to have a friend handy when rolling out gooballs; one person scoops and molds, the other pours sugar, transfers finished gooballs to a container, and periodically refreshes the palms of the molder with cooking spray.
2. Leave gooballs out overnight if they seem too squashy; they will air-dry and harden a bit. Not too long, though, or they will turn to rocks.
3. Pour the extra rolling sugar into the storage container to help absorb extra moisture.