Chocolate Rum Balls

"Hey Kid, do you like rum?"

"What's rum?  Rumplestilskin??"

Does anyone else love Big Daddy as much as I do?  So funny.  I can't have rum without quoting that line.

Anyway, tonight's cookie is something new to me- rum balls!  These were recommended by my husband's coworker.  They're an awesome no-bake, extremely rummy (har har) treat.  The dough is a cinch to put together, the rolling takes a bit more time.  These would be a hit for any chocolate and rum fans.  Like me. love love love.  Warning, despite only using 1/4 cup of alcohol, these definitely have a kick and should be enjoyed by adults only.

Here's the recipe:

Crush up 1 box of Nilla Wafer cookies, and put them in a large bowl.  Then, add the following ingredients and mix well:

• 2 tablespoons of cocoa 
• 1 cup of chopped walnuts
• 1 cup of confectioner's sugar
• 4 tablespoons of honey
• 1/4 cup of rum

All you have to do now is roll the dough into bite-sized balls, and if you prefer, coat them in extra confectioner's sugar like I did.  I put mine in the fridge to firm up, and these can be frozen as well.  They are fine at room temperature if you don't have space in the fridge. 

Let me know in the comments below if you have your own version of Rum Ball cookies- I'd love to try some other recipes for these!

Mint-stuffed Sugar Cookies

Tonight's cookie is a little "semi-homemade" treat that I'm brining to my sister's graduation party tomorrow night.  I am so proud of her and all I can think about is how my little sister is a nurse! I had a lot to do tonight and not too much time to get creative, so I did a spin-off of a recent recipe I saw on Pinterest.

These cookies are just store-bought sugar cookie dough and junior mints with sprinkles.  That. is. it.  They taste great too, I love the combination of vanilla, chocolate and peppermint.  Tasty and festive and pretty to look at, too!

I had to do some experimenting with the baking times and for me the trick was 7 and a half minutes (yes, 7 was too short and 8 was too long) at 325 degrees.  

Besides Junior Mints, you could probably stick any mini-candy in the middle of these and they'd come out good.

Have a good week, Sweets!

Need:

1 log of store-bought sugar cookie dough

2 boxes of Junior Mints

Do:  

1.  Preheat oven to 325F.

2.  Cut the log into 1/2" slices, and quarter each slice

3.  Flatten one of the dough corners in your hand, place a candy in the middle, and roll the dough around it into a ball

4.  Dip the cookie ball into sprinkles 

5.  Bake a cookie sheet for 7 minutes.  If they seem too soft, try another 30 seconds to a full minute.

Caramel-filled Sugar Cookies

Caramel and sugar- the perfect addition to a regular ol' Tuesday.  Tonight my husband shares with you another treat that he baked!  Two batches in one week?  I really found the right man.

I was off at Tuesday Night Dinner with my college sorority sisters tonight, and came home to these chewy cookies, nice and warm out of the oven.  J looked at what we had in the cabinet and found a recipe to try on his own.  His creation is a delicious, perfectly- but not overly-sweet sugar cookie, with a caramel center. I had bought the caramels a few weeks back with the intent of making a caramel apple pie.  That never happened, so I'm glad he used them for some cookies tonight!

When I asked J if he made any tweaks to the recipe or if he followed it exactly, the answer was:

"Ummm......

.............. I probably put a little more butter... a little more sugar...."  (cue puppy dog eyes)

Those ingredients never killed anyone!  Besides those two liberties, I think he followed the recipe pretty closely, so you can check that out here on Barbara Bakes to try these out.

PS - for my faithful readers who remember my old Tuesday Night Dinner posts; here's an update on tonight!  Shannon was on dessert duty and brought some chocolate chip cookies and vanilla fro-yo.  Lindsay served them on the cutest owl plates ever, sent up to Boston from her mom who knew they were a must-have for our TND tradition.  This dessert tastes really, REALLY good with some Alamos Malbec from Argentina, in case you were wondering.  (I was on wine duty!)

TND Dessert - I even got a Kappa Green owl plate - thank you Barb! xoxo