Rum Balls

One of my favorite things to buy from the local bakery growing up was always their giant rum balls.

I can remember being about 10 or 11 years old thinking I was pretty badda**. 

I'd come home from the bakery and brag to all my friends that I was allowed to have alcohol. 

I'm sure our mother must have been rolling her eyes and shaking her head thinking "Boy, I sure hope she's not bragging to her teacher at school about that."

I decided to try and recreate those rum balls from our childhood. I didn't make them the giant size that the bakery used to...I probably only would have got 4 - 5 balls out of this recipe... I decided to go teeny tiny and got about 3 dozen. 

A heads up about these - they are rummy. Like..."whooooweeeee" rummy.

If you are looking for subtle then you might want to try another recipe. 

Rum Balls

Ingredients

1 cup icing sugar

1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs

2 Tbsp baking cocoa

1 cup ground pecans

3 Tbsp finely chopped pecans

4 oz semi-sweet chocolate, grated

1/3 cup dark rum

1 tsp vanilla

Decorations

1 cup chocolate sprinkles

Directions

Mix the icing sugar, graham crackers, baking cocoa, pecans, and grated chocolate together.

Stir in the rum and vanilla until well mixed.

Chill for about 20 minutes, until firm enough to handle. (** SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST**)

Use a small cookie scoop or pinch off a ping pong ball sized amount of mixture and roll into balls. Roll the balls in the chocolate sprinkles. 

Set on a cookie sheet lined with plastic wrap. 

Chill for at least an hour before serving.

You can store these, covered, in the fridge for several days or freeze them for up to a month.

These look pretty on a plate of Christmas cookies.. or on their own. 

Definitely something to keep in mind if you only have a few minutes to whip something up for guests or to bring to a party. I think these took me half an hour to make - and that includes the chill time for the dough before rolling.

NOTE - UPDATED - I've made this recipe a million more times and just wanted to say - instead of chilling for 20 minutes, go ahead and start rolling the balls as soon as you have mixed everything together. It may be a bit more sticky but, if you are using a cookie scoop, it still works well AND the chocolate sprinkles stick waaaaay better to the balls.