These healthy rum balls taste taste like pure Christmas! This version tastes just like the regular version but are made using nuts, dates, coconut, cacao powder and of course rum (or rum essence if that's your preference)! Rich, dark, chocolatey and boozy they're the perfect festive season snack. Plus they are no bake and take no time at all to make!
These healthy rum balls are like a boozy version of bliss balls and you'd be surprised at how well they lend themselves to the whole rum ball concept. Plus they take around a minute to mix up. The longest time you'll spend is rolling these into balls. If you have a small ice cream scoop (not a regular large one) then I would use that to make sure that they are uniform in size. They also firm up once they've been in the fridge for 30 minutes or so.
Can I use other nuts? Yes! Hazelnuts (skinned) work well as almonds (or a combo of the two). In fact using hazelnuts gives these a Nutella-ish vibe. I also like using combinations of nuts and using a small amount of macadamias works (although I wouldn't use all macadamias as they have a stronger flavour). Walnuts can be bitter but are nice in a combination of nuts.
Don't want to use alcohol? No problems just use rum essence or flavouring. Just omit the rum and add a bit of water to help bring it all together. Some rum flavourings contain no alcohol at all so check your bottle.
Coconut or chocolate hail? I like to roll these in coconut because it's a bit healthier than rolling them in chocolate hail but you go with whatever you like really!
I made a massive batch of these for the Elliott family picnic this past weekend. However there was a bit of a spanner in the works. I popped them in the freezer with plans to defrost them the day before. But we had some renovations on at the same time that weekend. Peter had arranged for some floor sanders to come on Saturday morning at the crack of dawn (okay 7:45am) to sand and varnish our kitchen and dining room. He said that we'd be able to walk on the floors around 6pm that evening. Bleary eyed we moved our kettle and the essentials to the front of the house. The bedroom upstairs is accessed through the kitchen dining room so we wouldn't be able to access the bedroom until we could walk on the floor but we only had a few hours to wait. We still had the downstairs bathroom and a second fridge we could use.
I went to an appointment around noon and then came back and Mr NQN and the floor sanding guy were standing there smiling at me. Well they had one of those crazy smiles as if they were trying to placate a mad gorilla on the loose. And I think I was the mad gorilla.
"So um we can't walk on the floor until tomorrow night at 6pm," said Mr NQN.
"Huh? What?" I said panicking, "Are you two in cahootz? Are you trolling me?" I said suspiciously. Because there's one thing Mr NQN loves to do and that's troll me and elicit a reaction out of me.
"No, no!" said Mr NQN and the floor guy looked confused like he wanted to get out of this sitch and get back to sanding the floor.
We had 5 minutes to grab our pillows and quilts and then the varnish was applied. It smelled awful and we started to open all of the windows but were told that we had to keep them shut because of the dust. We went out for dinner that night and returned and the smell was still there. After a fitful sleep we woke up and got ready for the Elliott picnic and I realised that my rum balls were in the freezer.
"My ballllss!!" I cried. I had intended to bring them to the Elliotts because these rum balls are basically a rummy version of their beloved bliss balls. Luckily I had some of my Christmas cookies in the freezer. But then I realised that it was going to be a very hot day and that I needed to get some clothes.
"Do you want me to try and climb up the stair rails?" Mr NQN said. Like a long limbed monkey man he scaled the stair railing being treating the floor below as lava. Then he called me to ask what I wanted. I directed him to a top and he procured that but when it came to finding my jeans and a skirt he was lost. "It's a pink skirt!" I said to him but to no avail. I ended up climbing up myself and finding both (never send a man in to find things, I'm convinced he is colour blind). And our reward once it came to be 6pm that evening was a rum ball in all of its glorious rummy glory.
So tell me Dear Reader, would you roll these in coconut or chocolate hail? And is it rum or rum essence for you?
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