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