Tuesday 20 December 2011

Chocolate, Almond & Butterscotch Schnapps Christmas Balls

I am once again participating in a Blog Hop, this time its a Festive theme, hosted by the lovely lady behind http://www.84thand3rd.com , a great food blogger! I have at least 2 entries in this Blog Hop, so I better get this started! A festive favorite in my family since I was a little girl was chocolate or rum balls! I have fond memories of cooking the chocolate balls with both my mum, Aunty and grandma! The best and most fun part as a kid was rolling the balls together, getting chocolate and coconut stuck on your fingers and licking then off when you were finished!

Sweet Adventures Festive Favourites - Dec 2011

As we got older and became teenagers, it was trying to sneak a rum ball before mum or another grown up busted you! I'm sure the 1 tablespoon of rum in a whole batch was hardly enough to do anything! But with any teenager,it's the thrill of tasting something with alcohol and knowing your not really meant to be eating them!

The funny thing, is there is nothing specifically festive about these balls, but Christmas is the only time of the year that we make these delicious treats, maybe it's the coconut that gives it the Christmas feel!

This year I made some for friends, I decided to make some modifications to the original recipe, I added some almond meal and instead of rum I used butterscotch schnapps, a favorite drink of my friends I was making them for!

The worst thing for me was I made them with gluten biscuits, so I couldn't sample the mixture! But I'm writing this recipe out as gf, as I have a packet of gf arrowroot biscuits in the cupboard, to make these delicious Christmas balls with! Chocolate, almond & Butterscotch Schnapps!

 Chocolate, Almond & Butterscotch Schnapps Christmas Balls
Ingredients:
I packet gf plain biscuits (I'm using arrowroot gf biscuits)
I tin condensed milk
1/2 cup desicatted coconut
1/2 cup almond meal
 2 tablespoons of cocoa
2 tablespoons (or a slug) of Butterscotch Schnapps, to your liking
Additional desicatted coconut
Method:
1. Break individual biscuits into small pieces, place in an electric mixer and blend until there are only small pieces, a very fine substance.
2. Add remaining ingredients and mix well in a bowl.
3. Place additional coconut on a plate and have a separate plate for ready made balls.
4. (this is the messy part), remove rings and jewllrey. Using your hands, roll mixture into medium to small balls, roll in coconut and place on fresh plate. Complete until all mixture is gone!
5. Place plate of made balls, in the fridge.
6. Serve and put in a bowl, or in a box with baking paper if it's a gift and decorate with ribbon or a or a  bowl!

Note: you can also make this version without alochol, simply remove from ingredients and they are chocolate balls, still very tasty! To make the gluten version, simply use plain biscuits and follow the same method for the rest of the recipe (if your making for friends and you ate a coeliac don't be tempted to lick your fingers or the bowl! (just remember the puffer fish!)Also the original recipe did not have almond meal, just 1 cup of coconut, so if you have only coconut in the cupboard the recipe will work out fine!

Enjoy and Merry Christmas, Happy Baking xx

10 comments:

Bizzy Lizzy's Good Things said...

Delicious! Thanks so much for sharing this great GF recipe.

Unknown said...

Lizzy, so glad you liked these gf treats! They are so easy and delicious! I have a gf Christmas Pudding recipe to put up a 100+ yr old family recipe that I modified to make gf, it tastes delicious! You can't tell the difference between this and the traditional gluten pudding! Glad u liked my recipe, thanks for reading and commenting! Xx

Anonymous said...

I love the sound of these - such gorgeous festive flavours! This is my first time in the blog hop so glad to have discovered yours :-)

FeistyCelt said...

Thank you so much for sharing!

Christina @ The Hungry Australian said...

Butterscotch Schnapps!

I haven't had it in years. I went through a stage during university of doing Butterscotch Schnapps shots on nights out. Errr.... best forgotten really!

Love the combination of flavours here - so many good things inside one ball.

Very glad you joined the blog hop!

Unknown said...

Thankyou Lilttle Loaf, this is my second blog hop, a great way to discover new blogs, recipes and friends!
Christinia, I had the same experience with tequila n rum many years ago! It's funny how things stick in your mind. This combination of flavors is great tho, even you might be able to handle it!
Jennifer, thanks for the lovely comment! I love these blog hops the people you meet n blogs u see is amazing!

Jennifer (Delicieux) said...

I love the sound of this based on those flavour combinations. Schnapps always reminds me of Christmas for some reason and I really like the idea of combining them into a dessert. Thanks for sharing.

Unknown said...

That's ok Jennifer, they are great, as they are more like a snack, a sweet treat, where you eat in-between meals, without feeling like you have eaten alot! And they are so easy to make! Though I remember mum with biscuits in a freezer bag and a rolling pin, making Xmas balls! I love the mix master/blender option!

Nic@diningwithastud said...

Everything about these sound delicious!!! :D thanks so much for joining the hop!

Unknown said...

Nicci, thanks for the conpliments! I made them for Xmas and added a bit more cocoa and some icing sugar, I'm hopeless at sticking to a recipe! N I rolled half in crushed nuts n other in coconut! I had everyone else stealing my gf balls as they tasted better! Thanks again for the compliments xxx