Not that I don’t have any, but sometimes, making something special is required to invoke a festive spirit.
The other day, I decided to make some Rum Balls and according to Wikipedia, they are . . .
. . . a truffle-like confectionery cake of cookie butter flavoured with chocolate and rum. They are roughly the size of a golf ball and often coated in chocolate sprinkles, desiccated coconut, or cocoa.
I don’t know about the description ‘cookie butter’ 😯 however, apparently, they are much loved in various countries around the world – and the recipes vary just as much.
This is my mother’s recipe for this much-loved Australian Christmas favourite.
Rum Balls
4 oz sultanas (or mixed fruit)
10 crushed Weet-bix biscuits
2 tablespoons of rum
2 tablespoons of cocoa
400g tin of sweetened condensed milk
1¼ cups of desiccated coconut, plus extra.
method
step 1: Soak the fruit in rum overnight or for at least 2 hours.
step 2: Place all dry ingredients into a mixing bowl, add the fruit and mix to combine slightly.
step 3: Add the milk and combine completely.
step 4: Allow to stand for ½ hour before proceeding.
step 5: Take a small amount of the mixture and roll into a ball. A tablespoon of mixture is a good amount.
step 6: Coat with coconut and place into an airtight container in the fridge until ready to serve.
– ⋅ o ♥ o ⋅ –
It’s been a long time since I made Rum Balls so, naturally, I was a little impatient :). I didn’t soak the fruit overnight, and I didn’t crush the Weet-bix to a fine crumb, but sometimes a rough crumb adds a different texture.
I used my kitchen scales to measure the four 4 ounces of sultanas. I don’t us mixed fruit because I do not like a citrus peel.
Dean, begrudgingly, allowed me to use his Bundaberg Rum – lucky me! (Oh and I think I used a little more than what the recipe calls for.)
The condensed milk now comes in a 375g tin, but I thought that wouldn’t make a difference, and it didn’t, not really. The extra would have made the mixture moister, but I thought it was ok, that little extra rum balanced everything out.
I only added 1 x 250g cup of coconut to the mix.
And then I made a huge mess before the balls were put into the refrigerator. I’m not even sure you could call some of them balls, their shape was far from ball-like and that’s thanks to a hand that refused to work as I needed it to because it no longer works as it should.
I prefer to make all the balls before tossing them in the coconut.
(It does cut down on the mess – slightly.)
– ⋅ o ♥ o ⋅ –
Boy oh boy, did they bring back memories of Christmasses past.
This recipe made 24, golfball-sized Rum Balls, and I’m shocked that Dean hasn’t inhaled them all – yet.
helpful hints:
- Weet-bix is an Australian product and can be substituted with any whole-wheat breakfast biscuit such as Weetabix.
- Ensure the Weet-bix are completely crushed for a finer texture.
- I use sultanas because I don’t like citrus peel. (Yep, I said that earlier.)
- You can use any alcohol you like.
- If you want to use more than 2 tablespoons of alcohol, you will need to drain the excess liquid before combining with the dry ingredients.
- Use chopped dried apricots and white rum to make Apricot Balls.
Yes, you can download a printable version here, or by visiting my Recipes page where all recipes are listed in alphabetical order.
CLARE'S COSMOS 