I made these for a get-together with friends last Tuesday and I’m lucky I got one when I did because they went fast! They’re a rich, boozy, and decadent treat that’s perfect for fall!
……
(makes 18 rum balls)
Ingredients:
50 vanilla wafers
½ cup pecans
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cloves
¼ cup Sailor Jerry Rum
2 Tbs pumpkin puree
¼ cup granulated sugar for rolling
……
(1.) Place vanilla wafers in a food processor and (2.) process into fine crumbs. Pour into a large bowl and set aside. (3.) Next place the pecans in the food processor and (4.) pulse until finely diced.
(5.) Add to the bowl with vanilla wafer crumbs along with powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and ground cloves. Stir until all ingredients are mixed. (6.) In a separate small bowl, stir together Sailor Jerry Rum and pumpkin puree. (7.) Pour into dry ingredients and stir until completely mixed in. Place ¼ cup granulated sugar in a small bowl and line a large cookie sheet with wax paper. (8.) Using a tablespoon, scoop out evenly sized portions of the mixture and roll in between your hands to form balls. Roll in sugar and then place on wax paper lined cookie sheet.
Repeat with remaining mixture. When finished, place the cookie sheet in the refrigerator to chill the rum balls for 1 hour.
Serve cold or at room temperature.
Enjoy!
Nena H. says
Omgoodness! These look delicious! If making a batch without rum for kiddos, what would you recommend in its place? 🙂
Sasha says
Thank you Nena! For making non-alcoholic rum balls I would use 2-3 Tbs of water and then add sugar and rum extract until the flavor is close to what actual rum tastes like. Make sure you buy alcohol-free extract since most rum or vanilla extracts have alcohol in them. I hope this helps!
Kim (Feed Me, Seymour) says
I’ve heard things about how absolutely delicious rum balls are and I have them on my Christmas treats list. But pumpkin spice ones? They sound even better than I can imagine!
Vincent X says
Thanks Sasha, these look delicious! Looking forward to try ’em out.
Sasha says
Thank you!
Kitty McDevitt says
Going to make this tonite!!! Thank you!!!
Sasha says
Let me know what you think! I’ll definitely be making more for our Friendsgiving on Sunday!
Emily says
My boyfriend is allergic to pecans. Do you think this would work with almond meal?
Thanks 🙂 Also…love the site! Everything looks amazing!
Sasha says
Thank you Emily! I think walnuts would be a great substitute to the pecans. It still holds the same texture and crunch without the allergic reaction! Happy cooking! 🙂
Faker Baker says
I wanted to double the alcohol content in these (cuz all my friends are lushes… I am too obviously) so I decided to add half of the equivalent of the wafer cookies im addition to what you allready add…only I used gingerbread instead! It made about 24! I also decided to half the amount of spices used (because of the gingerbread)so I could just about double the amount I made in total. I don’t know what the originals taste like but these ones are amazing…tho I am a little buzzed! 😉
(I also decided to buy italian biscuits (milano) cuz they’re lower in fat and cheaper and I used straight canned pumpkin puree, not pie filling)
Faker Baker says
Oh you call for the pumpkin puree, sorry!
Sasha says
Double the rum? You sound like my kind of person! Haha and I love the idea of using gingerbread cookies.. I just baked a huge batch yesterday so I’ll be trying out your variation of the rum balls to see what they’re like! I’ll be doing a chocolate variation of these in the next week so stay tuned! 🙂
Jamie Pafford says
Made these without nuts for my husband since he can’t eat nuts. Had to add more crushed wafers and powdered sugar. Let me say they were absolutely fabulous!! All who have tried these LOVE them! I have passed out this recipe to tons of friends. This will be added to my yearly thanksgiving and Christmas treat list. Thanks!
Darlene says
Thank you Thank you for posting these. YUMMO! I do have a question. How do you store these and how far ahead can you make then?
Sasha says
Of course Darlene! I put mine in a sealing container (just line with wax paper so they don’t stick) and refrigerate them until ready to serve. They will typically keep for a week and the rum flavor seems to get stronger the longer they sit!