Vegan "Caramels"

Earlier this week I had a final presentation in my intellectual property class, and because my professor basically told us we would receive A's if we brought the class food, I brought food.  Not just any food, Spoon Fork Bacon's Baked Apple Pie Egg Rolls with vanilla bean whipped cream and caramel sauce.  Now, let's not focus on the fact that my presentation was on a local company using a variation of the Apple logo... because let's face it bringing apple pie was basically irrelevant to what I was talking about... the more important fact was they they were incredibly delicious, everyone loved them, and I got to sit and watch everyone rave about them and not eat any because they were full of dairy.  Curse my lactose intolerance.  Cue delicious, no sugar added, raw, vegan caramels-- I could seriously eat an entire batch of these babies.  I was skeptical, but I was proven wrong, incredibly, deliciously wrong.  Just try them.

• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 1/2 cup medjool dates, or about 8
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

In the food processor, blend pine nuts to a coarse meal.  Add dates and vanilla extract, and pulse until a homogenous paste has formed.  Remove from food processor, and flatten onto wax paper, refrigerate a few hours, and cut into squares.

Notes:

• Soaked cashews can replace pine nuts, but pine nuts are better :)  Look for them in your bulk section, they run about $7/lb and you only need about $2 worth for this recipe.  You can also get them in the baking section, but they are a lot pricier there.
• You can also use other types of dates, but medjool provide the best moisture and sweetness.

Yields ~30 small caramels

Recipe from Averie Cooks