Yum Rum Balls

I made these the week Andy was away because he doesn’t like them! I rarely make foods that my entire family can’t enjoy together, so this Andy-less week was very different for all of us, in the culinary sense. Ally ate regular home food, very happily (hmmmm....!) that was supplied by her grandfather’s kitchen, one she is familiar with since birth so I figured it was symbolically comfort food for her while her dad was away! I cooked diet food for varun which actually turned out very well, he loved it and he had been living on a low carb, low protein, high fibre crap! I ate a combination of veggie leftovers, which I actually love, especially since I don’t have to cook them. I ate out a lot. I went back for the chopstick licking great sweet and sour pork at Jing (in Gurgaon) with heavenly smoked chicken and lettuce fried rice ...a few shots of jasmine tea and dark chocolate for dessert, bliss!

I have been to share this easy as hell rum ball recipe for days, especially for one dear friend. What worries me is that these were so easy that I’m scared she may wonder why she liked them so much, I guess its the dollop of love that goes into everything from my kitchen!

1 can condensed milk

3 rows/layers of butter cookies, you know from the gift tin boxes, we usually get those for Diwali and they seem to last and last till they are pledged to Tiramisu base or Rum ball mix.

5-6 tbsp dark cocoa, invest in good cocoa, only the Cadbury one qualifies in India but Hershey’s dark cocoa does a super job.

75-100 ml of dark rum, use good old Old Monk, amazing aftertaste

½ cup chopped butter roasted walnuts, i love roasting nuts in salted butter, a hint of salt adds a lot of chocolate preparations like this. Though this is an optional ingredient, for nut lovers, you can do this with hazelnuts or almonds too.

Crush the cookies in a bag, not fine, leave a slight bite to the crumbs. If I feel indulgent, I roast the crumbs in salted butter on very low fire for 3-4 minutes, but it is absolutely fine if you don’t do that. Mix the cookie crumbs with the condensed milk (this is when I add the roasted nuts), blend in the cocoa powder with a spatula, mix well, till the crumbs blend in and just a few bites poke out. Pour in the rum slowly, you don’t want the mix too runny, start with 50 ml and build up. Mix well and refrigerate (cover with plastic wrap) for 4-6 hours, this is quite like ganache and needs time to set before you can roll balls out of the mix. Once the mix is firm, roll out balls and place in mini cupcake liners. You can roll them with different coatings for additional flavouring but if I have added nuts and rum, then I don’t do a coating. Leave out the nuts and try coatings like grated coconut, chocolate sprinkles, mint sprinkles, roasted and crushed peanuts ... enjoy!