This is a delicious recipe of rum balls, coming from Romania. Romanian Walnuts Cocoa Rum Balls  are not very different from the American rum balls. To tell you the truth, besides the fact that we use butter as a binding ingredient, and no corn syrup at all (which in my humble opinion makes them a little bit better), the rest of the stuff we put inside is pretty much the same.

Rum balls are very versatile, you can make them with graham crackers, but you can also use crushed vanilla wafers, shortbread cookies, digestive biscuits, chocolate wafers or even leftover cake. 

When it comes to cocoa powder, we use either unsweetened natural or Dutch-processed. We like to add chopped dried fruits to the mixture, all kind of nuts( roasted are better), and can be covered in granulated sugar, coconut flakes, chocolate, sprinkles or anything else we have available around. We sometimes add in the middle a little pitted cherry, or an almond.

Roasted nuts have more flavor than raw ones, therefore the rum balls will taste better. Also these little pieces of heaven are better the next day, when all the flavors from all the ingredients have time to get friendly with each other. If you make them for a party, it is a good idea to make them with some time in advance. They keep well in the refrigerator for few weeks, in an airtight container.

Walnuts Cocoa Rum Balls Recipe

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This recipe of walnuts cocoa rum balls recipe comes from Romania. Rum balls can be made with graham crackers, crushed vanilla wafers, or even leftover cake.

Prep Time 45 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 1 minute

Ingredients

• 11 oz/ 300 g graham crackers crumbs(crushed vanilla wafers, shortbread cookies, digestive biscuits, chocolate wafers or leftover cake)
• 8 oz/ 225 g unsalted butter
• 7 oz/ 200 g powder sugar
• 3.5 oz/ 100 g unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3.5 fl.oz/ 100 ml heavy cream
• 3 Tablespoons/ 50 ml rum or 1 Tablespoon/10 ml rum flavor
• 1 tsp vanilla flavor
• 3.5 oz/ 100 g roasted chopped walnuts
• granulated sugar to toss the rum balls OR coconut flakes
• Optional: cherries in syrup

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F/180C.

Place the walnuts on a baking tray and roast them for about 8 minutes, or until fragrant and lightly brown.

Let nuts cool, then chopped them with a knife, or toss them in a [url href="https://amzn.to/2I5uT0Z"]food processor[/url] until finely chopped.

Place them in a big bowl.

Process the graham crackers in a food processor until finely ground.

Add them to the nuts.

In a small pot, place butter, heavy cream, sugar and cocoa and bring to a boil.

Let the mixture cool for few minutes, then add the rum or the rum flavor. Also add the vanilla flavor.

Pour the mixture over the dry ingredients. Mix everything very well.

If the mixture is soft, place it in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Using your hands, form 1 inch balls and toss them in granulated sugar, coconut flakes, chocolate sprinkles etc.

Place the rum balls in the refrigerator overnight in an airtight container.

Optional: stick a pitted cherry from syrup in the middle of the ball, or an almond, then toss in sugar.

Serve cold.