With delicious cookies, nuts and alcohol these Rum Balls are the perfect holiday treat you don’t want to miss, easy to whip up and quicker to devour.
These Rum Balls have been a favorite of mine for many many years. My mother used to make them every Christmas, of course since they contained alcohol I couldn’t have any.
But that all changed once I got older and they have been on our holiday spread for the length of my adulthood and they will continue to be on there probably forever.
Everyone loves these Rum Balls, not only because they are super tasty but they are one of the easiest recipes to whip up! There is no chilling or anything for these bad boys.
Blend, mix, roll and eat. How simple is that. These go down like hot cakes and we can’t seem to keep enough around so we always end up making more and more.
That is the beauty about easy recipes, sometimes they are the most tasty recipes around, these Rum Balls are exactly one of those recipes.
We also like a variety so we like to roll our balls in powdered sugar, cocoa powder and sprinkles just to have options.
Other things that you can roll these in include coconut, nuts, cookie crumbs, etc. They really taste good with anything, but my personal fave is the powdered sugar.
Some other favorite holiday candy recipes that we have on our site include Peanut Clusters, Pecan Pralines and Oreo Truffles. All of which we make every year as well.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
- Easy pantry ingredients help this recipe whip up quickly.
- You can use any kind of rum that you like, we use Capitan Morgan.
- You can easily double or triple this batch to serve more people.
HOW TO MAKE RUM BALLS, STEP BY STEP:
- Place the vanilla wafers, pecans, powdered sugar, and cocoa powder in a large bowl, whisk to combine. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the rum, corn syrup, water, and vanilla.
- Pour the liquid into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Stir together until combined.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll 1 tablespoon-sized portions of the mixture between your hands to form a ball, place on the baking sheet, not touching. Repeat with the remaining mixture. Roll the rum balls in your choice of powdered sugar, cocoa powder, or sprinkles. Enjoy!
See how easy this recipe is? We like to use a small food processor to crush up our cookies and nuts for this recipe, it makes it super easy instead of placing in bag and crushing.
You don’t need to refrigerate these balls before rolling, you can if you like, but if you aren’t going to serve right away then I would say stick them in the refrigerator after rolling.
This Rum Ball Recipe makes about 32 balls, and like I mentioned earlier they go quickly, so if you have a large family or someone who just loves these it’s easy to make more!
WHAT ARE RUM BALLS?
Rum balls are similar to truffles but boozier. They are usually made of crushed up vanilla cookies, pecans, powdered sugar and rum. Then rolled in various ingredients like cocoa powder, coconut, sprinkles, etc.
HOW TO STORE:
If you are done serving these Rum Balls and want to save for later then you’ll want to place them in an airtight container and separate with parchment paper and place in the refrigerator.
These will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks, they can be stored either rolled in the toppings or not this way, depends on when you are serving.
These can also be frozen, again you can roll or keep unrolled and place in airtight container and separate with parchment paper and they will freeze for up to 2 months.
When you are ready to defrost you can place them on your counter top or in the refrigerator until they are fully defrosted or come to room temp.
Just look at these, looking at them make them hard to resist. And they are hard too resist because the flavors that they have in them just bland together perfectly.
As the recipe states these have rum in them, I think that is what draw people to them to begin with, I know it does for us at least.
WHAT TYPE OF RUM TO USE?
We use spiced rum in our Rum Balls and this would be Capitan Morgan, you can also use Ron Diaz, Largo Bay, Bacardi Spiced Rum or Sailor Jerry.
These are just some that we have seen and used in the past, but any spiced rum will work for these.
DO I HAVE TO USE RUM?
Technically no, you do not have to use rum in these. You can use other liquors like whiskey, bourbon and I’ve even seen some people use brandy.
If you want to go completely non-alcoholic you can use apple or orange juice as well. You will want something that is a flavor liquid that will be able to give that component to the recipe.
If you want to make ONE thing this holiday season it has to be these Rum Balls! Trust me once you try them, if you haven’t already you will never ever turn back.
Like I said we’ve had these for many years as they were made growing up and then when I was finally able to have them I couldn’t stop eating them!
They are one of those desserts that are just super tasty and addicting and you will just have so much fun with them.
TIPS AND TRICKS:
- These do not require refrigeration before rolling or consuming, but if you want a stiffer ball, you can refrigerate.
- These can be frozen, see my tips above on how to do that.
- You can substitute rum for other liquors or liquids, see my tips above.
- You can roll in many things such as coconut, powdered sugar, sprinkles, cocoa powder, nuts, etc.
- These make a batch of 32, you can easily halve or double this recipe depending on how many you are serving.
- Using a food processor is the best way to crush up your cookies and pecans.
If you want the easiest and tastiest Christmas treat around, then you need to whip up these Rum Balls, you will be so happy you did!
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If you’ve tried these RUM BALLS or any other recipe on my site, let me know in the comment section how it turned out, we love hearing from our readers! You can also follow along with me on PINTEREST, FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM to see more amazing recipes and what shenanigans I’m getting into!
Rum Balls
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups ground vanilla wafers
- 1 cup ground pecans
- 1 cup powdered sugar plus more for rolling
- 2 Tbs cocoa powder plus more for rolling
- 1/4 cup spiced rum
- 3 Tbs light corn syrup
- 2 Tbs water
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup sprinkles for rolling
Instructions
- Place the vanilla wafers, pecans, powdered sugar, and cocoa powder in a large bowl, whisk to combine. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the rum, corn syrup, water, and vanilla.
- Pour the liquid into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Stir together until combined.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll 1 tablespoon-sized portions of the mixture between your hands to form a ball, place on the baking sheet, not touching. Repeat with the remaining mixture.
- Roll the rum balls in your choice of powdered sugar, cocoa powder, or sprinkles. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Nutritional value is calculated before rolling.
- These do not require refrigeration before rolling or consuming, but if you want a stiffer ball, you can refrigerate.
- These can be frozen, see my tips above on how to do that.
- You can substitute rum for other liquors or liquids, see my tips above.
- You can roll in many things such as coconut, powdered sugar, sprinkles, cocoa powder, nuts, etc.
- These make a batch of 32, you can easily halve or double this recipe depending on how many you are serving.
- Using a food processor is the best way to crush up your cookies and pecans.
Nutrition
Tornadough Alli is not a nutritionist or dietitian, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and nutritional value is important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and values can vary depending on which brands were used.
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