Here’s Savvy Cooking’s Christmas in July Post!

Christmas recipes abound. Everyone has his or her favorite. But many times the recipes are oriented towards the kids, because they enjoy sweets so much. Yet everyone also knows that chocolate knows no age boundary. Spicing it up with another adult favorite - alcohol - makes for a delightful combination. After all, ’tis the season to be merry!

To make this fine Christmas dessert that can be enjoyed all year round, you’ll need:

2 cups of chocolate wafer cookie crumbs
3 tablespoons of corn syrup
1/3 cup of rum
1 bar German chocolate
1/2 cup of chocolate chips
3/4 cup of chocolate sprinkles
1/2 cup of powdered sugar
1 cup of ground pecans (optional)

Luckily for those who are kitchen challenged, this confection is ultra simple to make. Just toss the cookie crumbs into a bowl and pour in the corn syrup. Knead the mixture together for a minute until all the crumbs are nicely coated. At this stage, they should easily stick together.

If the weather is too hot for them to do so, you may want to cool it in the refrigerator for just a few minutes. But not too long, there’s still much to do.

Pour in the rum and blend until it’s well incorporated into the corn syrup. Then add the chocolate chips and stir gently. Toss in the powdered sugar and mix until everything is uniform. Shape the mixture into balls about an inch (2.5cm) in diameter and lay them out onto wax paper. For extra firmness, you can cool them in the refrigerator while the next steps are carried out.

Take a double boiler and bring the water to about 100F/37.8C. Slide the chocolate bar onto the top section and when it starts to melt, swivel it just a bit. Take care not to get carried away. You don’t want to slosh the water out of the bottom section. Take a wooden spoon and move the semi-liquid chocolate around until it’s completely melted.

Remove from heat and pour the water out of the lower section. You can pour the chocolate into a warmed ceramic bowl or leave it where it is. Warming a ceramic bowl is simple, just put some water into the bowl and heat in a microwave for about 30 seconds. Make sure the water doesn’t completely boil away, though.

Remove the rum balls from the refrigerator and dip them quickly into the warm chocolate. The melting point of chocolate is about body temperature, so it should solidify nicely when it comes in contact with the cold rum ball. Let the chocolate drip off for a second or two before moving on to the next one.

You should be able to make about two dozen rum balls this way. For a variation to suit different tastes, try bourbon, rye or other types of whiskey instead of rum.

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