- Plan ahead because most booze candy/cookies become more flavorful after sitting for 2 to 3 days. Some recipes even suggest sitting for 2 weeks before serving.
- Sift confectioners' sugar and cocoa powder.
- Cookies, even vanilla wafers, come in different sizes so measure before you crumble. Measure 1 cup whole cookies; then, count the number of cookies in it. Why bother? For example, this Bacardi Rum Balls recipe calls for 1.5 cups, "about 50 cookies." Using Nabisco Nilla® Wafers today, I measure 1 cup equals 15 cookies, or 22 to 23 cookies for 1.5 cups. Big difference!
- Don't pulverize the ingredients! For consistency, think panko not flour. (After snapping 1 cup of the the cookies in half or quarters and pulsing on/off 6x in the Krups Speedy Pro, the Nilla® Wafers yield 3/4 cup crumbs.)
- I use Krups Speedy Pro to finely crush the cookies and to chop nuts, dried fruits and chocolate chips.
- If you do not have a food processor or blender, you can crush the cookies in a resealable plastic bag using a rolling pin or mallet.
- If you use a larger food processor, you might like to try processing each ingredient in 1 step rather than 2 as I do here.
- Kitchen tools handy for apportioning the crumb mixture include a
- Melon baller (3/4-inch)
- Small cookie scoop
- Meatballer (1.5-inch)
- Refresh appearance of the candy/cookies by re-rolling them in confectioners' sugar.
- Place each candy/cookie in a grease-proof liner before boxing gifts. Scout after-Christmas sales for solid-color liners you can use throughout the year. Sources include
- Williams Sonoma (glassine "Candy Cups")
- Wilton ("Mini Size Baking and Party Cups" or "Candy Cups")
- Hobby Lobby ("Petit-four Cases")
- For best flavor, serve at room temperature. If you choose to refrigerate, remove them at least 30 minutes before serving.
Recipes:
Bourbon Balls
Chocolate Balls
Irish Whiskey Balls
Bacardi® Rum Balls
Last Updated December 10, 2012
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