Bourbon Balls, again
One day I was sitting on the sofa wishing I had a bourbon ball. That could have been because a friend recently told a story about soldiers in WW II not being allowed to receive liquor from home, so her mother cleverly and regularly mailed bourbon balls to her sweetie overseas. Don’t you just love that?
Anyway, that could have been the inspiration or maybe it was about feeling the holiday season when we all know perfectly well that calories count for nothing. So, I got off the sofa and made some much to the delight of my family. It’s so easy.
I guess during the war long before food processors or blenders, cooks just smacked the fool out of a package of vanilla wafers to get the crumbs. I do have the luxury of a food processor and it made getting crumbs a cinch. The recipe I have always liked calls for a 12 oz package of vanilla wafers – well guess what – now a package is 11 ounces. We are being cheated out of vanilla wafers. But 11 ounces is what I had, and it worked out just perfectly. The basic ingredients besides vanilla wafers are nuts, cocoa powder, confectioners’ sugar, karo syrup, and of course bourbon.
I think my mom used to roll hers in confectioners’ sugar, but I like to roll half of mine in chopped salted walnuts or pecans. Salt and chocolate are a love affair for me. The happy end to this story is that an hour later I was sitting on the sofa eating bourbon balls. The positive effect is that I didn’t care that the Christmas tree was being put up a little lopsided. It’s all in the spirit (spirits) of the holiday season. This is such a lovely treat with no actual cooking involved. Make some for the holidays or just because you are sitting on the sofa reading this and now you want one now! Enjoy!
Ingredients:
I package vanilla wafers crushed or ground in a food processor
1 cup ground pecans (or walnuts) unsalted
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
2 Tbsp light Karo syrup
½ cup bourbon
For rolling – confectioner’s sugar and chopped salted pecans (about ¼ cup each)
Directions:
In a large bowl combine ingredients for Bourbon Balls – vanilla wafers through bourbon.
Roll into balls slightly smaller than a golf ball.
Roll half in confectioners’ sugar and half in chopped salted nuts.
Refrigerate.
I think these keep for a pretty long time in the refrigerator, but I can’t swear by it. They go quickly at my house!
