Average Jane Realizes Something

All through the early part of December I was wrapped up with pre-travel planning, then travel, then post-travel laundry and housekeeping.  Thus, it was kind of a shock when I realized that Christmas is coming – and it’s coming very, very soon.

I’d done a bit of shopping before my travels, but I spent a lot of time panic-shopping after work last week.  Today I completed my gift shopping, went by the liquor store to get a $20 bottle of port for Christmas Eve and finally bought some groceries so I could handle the appetizers and desserts that will be expected of me throughout the rest of the week.

I thought that rum balls would be a nice treat to give out in bundles as gifts.  Clearly I must have been suffering from a serious bout of forgetfulness about the rum ball making experience.  I’m going to share my sister’s delicious recipe with you in a moment, but don’t plunge in until you’ve read the postscript.

Best Rum Balls EVER!

2 1/2 cups finely crushed vanilla wafers (use a food processor – trust me)
6 ounces (that’s 1/2 cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup rum
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons corn syrup
1 cup chopped nuts

Mix together sugar, rum and corn syrup.  Melt chocolate chips in microwave (1 minute, stir, then one minute more) and add to syrup mix.  Stir in wafer crumbs and nuts.  Roll into 1-inch balls, then roll in sugar.

Important tips:

1. A standard 12-ounce box of vanilla wafers, ground up, makes about half again the volume of crumbs you need for this recipe.  Thus, you can increase the other ingredients by 50% and make a bigger batch.
2. It takes for-frickin’-EVER to roll all the balls even if you don’t make extra, so keep that in mind when you make your decision.
3. Let the mixture sit a while before you start making the balls.  It needs to solidify a little.  You could chill it, but I think that would be overkill.
4. You’ll want to rinse your hands in warm water periodically because they get really sticky.
5. I recommend using a spoon to roll the balls in the sugar and transfer them back out.  It keeps your hands cleaner.
6. My sister reports that the original recipe for these said something crazy about letting them sit eight days before serving.  WhatEVer!  They’re fine the next day.