Last year I stumbled upon a gem of a local cookbook, The Saturday Afternoon Club of Santa Rosa’s Gourmet Cookbook. Though when exactly it was published is unclear, suffice to say it was during a long-gone time when “Mrs.” was used to identify the cook. These Bourbon Balls were inspired by Mrs. John P. Murray, with a few additions to update them.
On the plus side, they don’t require cooking and pack a wallop of flavor. And, kids hate ’em.
Bourbon Balls
2 cups crushed vanilla cookies
1 cup. powdered sugar, sifted
1 cup pecans, chopped fine
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup bourbon
Chocolate coating
4 oz high quality bittersweet chocolate
2 tsp oil
Mix all ingredients and roll into balls. Roll in powdered sugar. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.
Melt chocolate and oil in a double boiler until just melted or in a microwave at 1/2 power for about 2 minutes. Cool to about body temperature. Dip the cold bourbon ball into the melted chocolate with a fork and place on a foil-lined baking pan. Chill 2 hours.
Uh, kids *don’t* hate ’em. As a toddler,we’d go down to Texas to visit my grandparents for the holidays, and I couldn’t get enough of them. It was many years before I mentioned to my mother that no matter what, no sweets or eggnog ever tasted as good as my Nanny’s Xmas goodies. Mom laughed and replied, “well, everything your grandmother made for the holidays was doused in bourbon, brandy or rum, so it’s no wonder!”