Rum Balls

Rum Balls

I will have you know I love Rum – in desserts that is, especially the dark variety. I got this latest bottle when I was on my way back from Puerto Rico. We all went a little crazy there because its they have a duty free shop and you can buy duty free even though PR is a US territory. We bought so much (mine was all for cooking purposes) that they gave us a lovely bag to carry it all. I was wondering what I could use this wonderful rum for and thought at Christmas time these would be simply delightful.

These Rum balls are more like truffles and they dissolve in your mouth and are bursting with flavor – rum that is :-). You can roll them in any sanding sugar because it just sparkles on the ball.

I used my Kitchen Aid with the paddle attachment to do the kneading which you could do with your hands.

Recipe

•   1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, roughly chopped
•   6 oz  chocolate, finely chopped
•   3 large eggs
•   1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
•   1 teaspoon vanilla extract
•   1/2 teaspoon sea salt
•   3/4 cup all-purpose flour sifted
•   1/4 cup plus a little more of dark rum
•   Demerara or sanding sugar, for rolling

Method

Step 1 : Bake the cake

Butter a Jelly Roll/rimmed baking sheet (11×16 inch).

Melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over simmering water. Stir until the chocolate is melted. Set aside to cool a little.

Whisk eggs, brown sugar, vanilla and salt together. Stir in cooled chocolate mixture and then fold in the sifted flour. Pour this into your buttered sheet. Place it in a preheated oven at 350F for about 8 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few crumbs. Take it out of the oven and let it cool on a cooling rack.

Step 2 : Now for the rum balls

When the cake is completely cool, peel it off the baking sheet and crumble it into your mixing bowl. With the paddle attachment on start the mixer adding the rum slowly until it starts to come together to form a ball. Here is where you might want to add a little more rum as needed.

Using a cookie scoop (i used small) form little balls. Roll them in the sugar and put them on a tray. Once you are done with all the dough put the tray in the fridge until they are set and firm to the touch. Then you can transfer them to a container and enjoy them. You can serve them either refrigerated or let them sit out of the fridge for about 10 minutes before you serve them.

Irish Coffee Shots

Irish coffee cups

So my friend Lorne came up with this fabulous idea to make mini-desserts for the New Years Party. I am going to do a write-up on all the desserts I made. It was a lot of fun to come up with ideas and try to make different desserts. It was really nice to make a lot of little desserts and everyone loved trying lots of different desserts.

A little note about using gelatine. We get gelatine in a powder format in the US (in Europe and Australia you get it in sheets). To soften gelatine you sprinkle it over water and let it soak for about 4 minutes. I normally use a small cereal bowl so I get the maximum surface to sprinkle the gelatine.

For a couple of twists you can add a cocoa cream layer between layer 2 and layer 3. You can also reduce the amount of alcohol or increase especially if you want something more boozy!

This is a dessert especially for coffee lovers. I hope you enjoy it as much as my friends did.

New Years Table

Recipe

For 12 5oz shot glasses. Approx prep time 1 hour

Layer 1

• 300 ml water
• 1 sachet instant espresso powder (I used a Starbuck’s sachet)
• 1/2 cup rum or whisky
• 1/2 packet gelatine (soaked in 1/2 cup of water)
• 2 tbsp sugar

Layer 2

• 1000 ml milk
• 6 tbsp cornstarch
• 4 tbsp instant coffee
• 4 tbsp sugar

Layer 3

• 300 ml  heavy whipping cream
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp Kahlua

Chocolate block for chocolate shavings

Method

Layer 1

Sprinkle the gelatine over the 1/2 cup of water and let it bloom. Heat the 300ml of water then add the espresso powder and sugar and stir to dissolve. Add the rum and then the gelatine and stir till the gelatine dissolves. Pour it carefully into the shot glasses. Let them cool on the counter and then refrigerate them while you continue to the next step.

Layer 2

Dissolve the cornstarch in about 100 ml of milk. Heat the rest of the milk, sugar and instant coffee until hot (not boiling). Add the cornstarch milk and lower the heat. Stir constantly until the mixture begins to thicken and then keep it on for 1-2 more  minutes till it thickens a little more.  Turn off the heat and stir occasionally as it cools so it does not form a skin. Once it is cool you can spoon it into the glasses or use a piping bag. Return to the refrigerator.

Layer 3

Whip the cream till it starts to thicken. Then slowly add the sugar until it just starts to form thick peaks. Add the Kahlua and fold into the cream. Spoon that over layer 2 or pipe it over layer 2.

Using micro-plane shave a block of chocolate onto the whipped cream. Refrigerate until ready to server.