These rum balls are a blend of liquor, chocolate, pecans and cookie crumbs, all rolled together and coated with sprinkles. The perfect dessert or gift option for the holidays that’s sure to be a hit with family and friends.
There’s nothing better than homemade treats, especially around the holidays. I like to offer peanut brittle, chocolate covered Oreos, elegant eggnog cake, or these delightful little rum balls to my guests.
When the holidays roll around, I spend plenty of time in the kitchen making festive treats. These no-bake rum balls take just minutes to put together, and they’re the perfect blend of nuts and chocolate.
These rum balls are one of my favorite Christmas desserts along with peppermint bark, Christmas crack, peanut butter blossoms, cake truffles and reindeer chow.
Table of Contents
Rum Balls Ingredients
This rum balls recipe is made with vanilla wafer cookies (such as Nilla brand), pecans, chocolate chips, rum, powdered sugar, light corn syrup, vanilla extract, salt and sprinkles.
How Do You Make Rum Balls?
Making rum balls is all about mixing the flavorful ingredients into a pool of melted chocolate. First melt some chocolate in the microwave in a large bowl. Stir sifted powered sugar (confectioners’ sugar) into the chocolate. Mix in dark rum, vanilla and corn syrup. In a separate bowl, take some crushed vanilla wafers, pecans and salt, and stir them together. The wafers and pecans go into the chocolate mixture and your “dough” is complete. After the dough chills a bit in the fridge, roll up the dough into balls. Dip those balls into sprinkles, then serve and enjoy.
Tips For The Perfect Candy
- Keep the dough chilled to make it easier to roll it into balls. If the dough warms up too much to roll, put it back in the refrigerator for a few minutes. You can coat your hands with a little cooking spray if you find the dough sticking to your hands.
- I use a food processor to easily crush my cookies and nuts into fine pieces.
- Chill your rum balls on a baking sheet or sheet pan.
- Use a small cookie scoop or a tablespoon measuring spoon to gather the dough for the 1 inch balls.
- Feel free to make these a couple of days ahead of when you want to serve them. The extra time helps the crushed cookies in the balls absorb the rum flavor. Store the balls in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve them.
Quick Tip
The measurements in the recipe are for the whole cookies and pecans. Measure them out first, then crush them second.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, these balls do contain alcohol. Since the rum is never cooked, the alcohol remains in the balls. Rum balls have a bit of a kick and are not for anyone under the age of 21
If you store these treats in an airtight container in a cool area, they do not need to be refrigerated. However, these balls hold together better, last longer and taste better if refrigerated. I highly recommend refrigerating these treats in an airtight container.
These treats stay fresh in the refrigerator up to 2 weeks. Serve them chilled out of the refrigerator or let them thaw on the counter. Don’t store these candies in a warm area. The balls will soften and become harder to eat if they become warm. Storing the balls at a warm temperature will decrease the time that they stay fresh.
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Flavor Variations
While these treats are delicious as-is, you can switch up the ingredients to customize the flavors to your tastes.
- Coatings: While I like the festive look of the sprinkles, you can also coat your balls in more chopped nuts, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, finely shredded coconut, or simply leave them plain. Another great option would be to dip them in dark or white chocolate.
- Nuts: You can easily swap out the pecans for almonds or walnuts.
- Cookies: Instead of vanilla wafers, try graham crackers or Oreo cookies for a different flavor.
- Alcohol: No rum on hand? You can also use brandy or cognac. You could also use bourbon to make bourbon balls.
- Non-Alcoholic: If you want a booze free version, you can substitute the rum with apple juice or orange juice, or a mixture of the two. The flavor will change depending on what juice you use.
These rum balls are a festive and fun holiday treat. They are full of complex flavors and have just the right amount of kick to liven up any party or gathering. You can even make a cookie tray with these rum balls and some of my favorite Christmas cookie recipes like Christmas wreath cookies, thumbprint cookies and snowball cookies!
More Festive Treats You’ll Enjoy
Rum Balls Video
Love This Recipe?
Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.
Rum Balls
Ingredients
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips do not use Nestle brand as they do not melt well
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons light corn syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup dark rum
- 3 cups vanilla wafers crushed (such as Nilla wafers)
- 1 cup pecans crushed
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup sprinkles
Instructions
- Melt the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Start by microwaving the chocolate for 35 seconds. Stir the chocolate and microwave it for an additional 20 seconds. Repeat until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth.
- Pour the powdered sugar into the melted chocolate through a sifter or a strainer. Stir the powdered sugar into the melted chocolate.
- Pour the dark rum, corn syrup and vanilla into the chocolate mixture. Mix everything
together until it is smooth. - In a separate bowl, mix together crushed vanilla wafers, crushed pecans and salt.
- Stir the vanilla wafer mixture into the chocolate mixture until everything is evenly
distributed. - Cover the mixture and chill it for 20-30 minutes.
- Remove the mixture from the refrigerator and roll 1 inch balls.
- Dip each of the balls in sprinkles, chill them in the refrigerator until firm and serve.
Notes
- Feel free to make these a couple of days ahead of when you want to serve them. The extra time helps the crushed cookies in the balls absorb the rum flavor. Store the balls in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve them.
- I use a food processor to easily crush my cookies and nuts into fine pieces.
- The measurements in the recipe are for the whole cookies and pecans. Measure them out first, then crush them second.
I must have done something wrong with these! I don’t like a strong boozy flavour so I reduced the rum to 1/4 cup, which I saw other recipes say is fine to do – but perhaps that was the mistake. My only other change was using a mixture of half shortbread cookies and half graham crackers in place of Nilla wafers, as they don’t sell Nilla wafers here in Canada.
The 2 issues I ran into: first, once I added the rum/syrup/vanilla mixture to the melted chocolate mixture, the liquid just pooled around the melted chocolate and wouldn’t incorporate. I had to return the mixture to the microwave a few times to liquify it further to a point where I could stir it all together.
My second issue was with rolling the rum balls: they came together nicely, but were not sticky at all. I ended up having to roll most of them in cocoa powder as it was the only thing that would stick. Crushed nuts or sprinkles would not adhere to them. I tried adding a splash of water to the balls to make them stickier, which helped a bit but not much.
Clearly I did something wrong – do you know what it might be? Could it have been the rum reduction?
The good news is…they may not look the prettiest but they taste great! LOL
It’s definitely a liquid issue, did you replace the amount of rum you took out with any other liquid?
Lol, nope! That’s probably where I went wrong. What do you recommend as a substitute? I still want a little rum, I just worry that 1/2 cup would be too much for my family’s tastes.
You could use half rum, half apple juice!