Pecan Rum Balls

Happy Leap Day!

In honor of this very special "bonus" day, I'm bringing you a very special recipe--one of Mr. K's top secret recipes he makes annually to give out during the Christmas season.  He's been making rum balls for his family for years, and they're hit with everyone who tries them.  His standard recipe calls for regular cocoa and spiced rum (like Captain Morgan's), but this year he experimented and used dark cocoa and dark rum (Meyers) for one of the batches.  The dark rum definitely adds a stronger boozy yummy rummy flavor to the mix! 


Pecan Rum Balls
Yield: 3-4 dozen, depending on size

12 oz. package vanilla wafers
1 cup pecan bits
1 1/2 Tbl. cocoa powder
2 Tbl. Steen's Cane Syrup (can use corn syrup, but it's not quite the same)
3 oz. spiced rum or dark rum
powdered sugar for rolling

Crush vanilla wafers in a food processor.  Add pecan bits and process again to a fine crumb texture.  Mix in cocoa powder.  Transfer to a 1 gallon zip top bag.  Stir together syrup and rum, then add to crumb mixture in bag.  Seal bag and use your hands to work the liquid into the crumbs.  You will end up with a mixture that is similar to damp sand--it will hold together if you squeeze some in your hand, but it will fall apart if you try to roll a ball with your hands.  Mixture may be used now, or allowed to rest overnight.

Using your fingers, pinch off a small portion of the mixture and press it into a ball shape.  Aim for a 1 or 2-bite size ball, about 1" across.  Once all the mixture is used, return the rum balls to the zip top bag and add a bit of powdered sugar.  Seal bag and gently work the bag to coat the rum balls in powdered sugar.  Depending on the humidity and how moist the rum balls are, they may absorb all the sugar.  If that's the case, just add more sugar and continue coating the rum balls.  (The ones pictured above have 2 or 3 coats of sugar on them.)