Rum Balls Recipe

The easiest Rum Balls Recipe makes a classic no bake holiday dessert treat. It’s perfect to make as a handmade gift, hostess gift, cookie exchange, or as an after-dinner sweet treat! Chocolatey, and rich, store these traditional bite sized snacks in the refrigerator for several days for an even better flavor!

These rum balls are made with vanilla wafers, pecans, cocoa, confectioners’ sugar, and rum, and they’re the perfect festive truffle ball for all your holiday events. They take less than 20 minutes to make, and are a fun project for the family to make together.

I first published this recipe in 2010, but it was time for an update! I’ve updated the pictures, the recipe, the information, well, just about everything. I wanted to bring the recipe back to Grandma’s original recipe, so I’ve done that and made suggestions for changes for you.

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Please let me know if you have any questions about this recipe. I read all the comments myself and I try to help as soon as I can. I have readers from all levels of comfort and experience in the kitchen on my site, and I’ve tried to answer some of your questions already in the post. But if I’ve missed anything, please feel free to leave a comment and ask.

How to make rum balls

Rum balls are incredibly easy to make. They’re a great recipe to take to a cookie exchange or potluck for when you don’t want to turn on the oven.

First, you’ll need to crush the vanilla wafers.

I think the easiest, fastest, and least messy way to do that is in the food processor. Just pulse a few times until all the crumbs are small and about the same size.

If you don’t have a food processor, like Grandma’s instructions say, put the cookies into a ziptop bag, close it, and use a rolling pin to crush the cookies. Leave a small opening in the top of the bag so that the bag doesn’t burst open and shower your kitchen in cookie crumbs.

Next up, toast and chop the nuts.

To toast pecans, place them on a baking tray and place in 350° F oven for about 10 minutes or until they start to smell toasty and they turn golden. Keep an eye on them while they’re in the oven to make sure they don’t burn. Give them a good chop so they are small and even in size.

Mix it all together and form the balls.

Place the cookie crumbs, chopped nuts, powdered sugar, and cocoa in a bowl and mix well.

Combine the corn syrup and rum in a small bowl, and add to the crumb mixture. Mix well.

Using a small cookie dough scoop or a tablespoon, scoop out portions of the dough mixture and press into balls. Using your hands, roll the balls in the confectioners’ sugar, coating evenly.

The powdered sugar will harden and help keep the dough in the shape that you want.

You can dip the rum balls in chocolate or white icing and decorate as desired.

Other changes

Grandma’s recipe was always fun, and everyone loved it! I think the recipe is really fun to play around with.

They can be made with other kinds of crushed cookies too, like graham crackers, digestive biscuits, Biscoff, or shortbread cookies like Lorna Doone.

I like to use {affiliate link} Dark cocoa as the flavor is more mellow and chocolatey, and the color is really pretty. But you can use any kind of unsweetened cocoa here.

Don’t want to use corn syrup?

Whether it’s because you can’t get corn syrup where you live, or because you don’t want to use it. Yes, you can use something else instead of the corn syrup. Do keep in mind that the light corn syrup called for in the recipe is not the same as high fructose corn syrup.

Use honey, maple syrup, or any liquid sweetener of your choice here.

Do rum balls get you buzzed?

Can you get buzzed off of rum balls? Probably not. There’s only a third of a cup of rum in the recipe, and that’s combined with the other ingredients. So, I’d guess that the chance of overindulging is low.

Use your best judgement. If alcohol affects you a lot, maybe best to use a non-alcoholic liquid.

Let’s just say, make sure you don’t drive after eating these, and you might want to keep the kids away.

Storage tips

How long will rum balls last in fridge?

Rum balls can be prepared ahead of time and stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

And they actually taste better when they’re made in advance. The flavors get a chance to get to know each other, and the vanilla wafers absorb the rum, making them super luscious.

This is a great make-ahead recipe for holiday parties or for gift giving. Make them when you have time, and stash them until you need them.

Can You Freeze Rum Balls?

Yes, you can store rum balls in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Place them in an airtight container with parchment paper between the layers so they don’t stick together.

To serve, let them thaw at room temperature overnight. You may want to re-roll them in powdered sugar to freshen them up a bit after freezing.

Decorating rum balls

Grandma’s original recipe left the rum balls with just a coating of powdered sugar.

They’re great in their simple form, or you can go a step further and decorate them.

Roll them in additional coatings

Colored sprinkles are always festive. Red and green for Christmas, team colors for football parties, orange and black for Halloween, or all the bright colors for a birthday party.

Use cocoa powder, crushed nuts, shredded coconut, instant coffee, crushed vanilla wafers, or any combination of these to roll them in.

Chocolate dipped

These treats are even more fun when dipped chocolate, white chocolate, or white icing. Or just drizzle them with melted chocolate if you’re not up to dipping them.

For a fun Snowball Rum Ball, dip them in white icing and roll in coconut flakes.

White Icing Recipe: mix 1 cup powdered sugar and about 2-3 tablespoons whole milk, until a creamy soft consistency is reached. And, you can add vanilla extract to the icing to add extra flavor.

Mini cupcake liners make a fun presentation for rum balls as well.

Looking for more great cookie exchange ideas?

Check out these recipes for Bourbon candied pecans, No bake peanut butter bars, Lemon sugar cookies, peach cobbler cookies, Rocky road cookies, and lime meltaways.

These make great Christmas gifts and hostess gifts. And, they’re great for just snacking on.

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