Bourbon Balls

Bourbon Balls

Can you possibly believe that Christmas is a week away? I hope you will have some special times to celebrate with friends and family and also to treat yourself to a bit of “comfort and joy.” I’m doing that right now – watching a Christmas movie and nibbling a Bourbon Ball, my favorite holiday treat.

Bourbon Balls are just delicious and obviously we could make them all year long but somehow at Christmas it just feels exactly perfect. Everyone probably has a favorite recipe, but this is the one I grew up with and it’s very traditional and best of all very easy. Being a Tennessee girl, I like  Jack Daniels  which we know cannot really be called bourbon. But try telling my guys that and it won’t win you any prizes. I also prefer not to roll any Bourbon Balls in powdered sugar. I live in a house of men, and they manage to get it everywhere, mostly on purpose. Finally, a food processor makes this recipe take seconds compared to the old fashioned method of beat the tar out of vanilla wafers with a rolling pin. So, you go ahead and make a batch, put on a good movie, and enjoy! Happiest of Holidays!

Bourbon Balls

• Ingredients

1 box Vanilla Wafers (they used to be 12 oz. now 11 oz. – sigh)

1 cup toasted pecans (more for rolling)

2 Tbsp cocoa powder

1 cup powdered sugar

2 Tbsp light corn syrup

¼ tsp salt

½ cup your choice bourbon (or Jack)

• Directions

Grind vanilla wafers in a food processor until they fine crumbs and add to a large bowl.

Toast pecans for a minute or 2 in a microwave or 10 minutes in a hot oven.

Add pecans to the food processor and pulse until they are finely chopped.

Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine.

Roll into small golf ball size rounds and roll in chopped pecans.

Makes 20

*I like to refrigerate Bourbon Balls about an hour before serving to allow all the flavors to come together.