Indulge in a delightful holiday treat with our video tutorial on how to make Chef John's Chocolate Rum Snowballs. Immerse yourself in the rich flavors of chocolate and rum, expertly combined to create perfect snowball-shaped confections. Chef John's step-by-step instructions ensure a sweet success, making these treats a festive favorite for your holiday gatherings. Share the joy of homemade goodness this season!
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00:00 Hello this is Chef John from FoodWishes.com with Chocolate Rum Snowballs.
00:07 That's right we're putting a seasonal twist on the classic Rum Ball, which is
00:13 one of the easiest and most delicious no-bake cookies ever. Plus when you show
00:18 up at a party carrying a plate of these, when you enter the room you get to say
00:22 "Let's get ready to Rum Ball!" And speaking of getting ready, the first thing we'll
00:29 do is add one package of Nilla wafers to the bowl of our food processor. And yes
00:34 any similar cookie will do, as long as the cookie you use is absorbent enough
00:38 to soak up rum, which is the cookies main job here. And then to that we will add
00:43 some powdered sugar, and not quite as much as in most of the recipes, but
00:48 don't worry these are plenty sweet enough. We will also add some high
00:52 quality unsweetened cocoa, followed by some mini dark chocolate chips. And if
00:58 you can't find those you could just chop up bar chocolate, that will totally work.
01:02 And then what we'll do before we toss in the last couple ingredients, is pop on
01:07 the lid and pulse this on and off until our mixture is finely ground. And if
01:12 you're thinking I can't make these because I don't have a food processor,
01:15 well you know what you do have. Friends or neighbors that do have food
01:19 processors, but don't have Chocolate Rum Snowballs. And if you guys get together
01:24 both your problems are solved. But anyway once that's set, we will add some maple
01:30 syrup, which I prefer to the more traditional corn syrup. And then last but
01:34 not least, the star of the show, some dark rum. And the perfect amount here seems to
01:40 be just over a third of a cup. So what we'll do is start with that, and we'll
01:44 pulse this on and off. And then if it seems too dry, we can always add a little
01:49 bit more. But do not be too quick to add the additional rum, because when we first
01:54 start pulsing, it's gonna seem very dry. And like it's not gonna come together.
01:58 But you'll see in just a few more pulses, it usually does. And if everything goes
02:04 according to plan, what we'll end up with is a relatively stiff but moldable
02:09 texture, that we are able to scoop and roll into balls. So that was looking just
02:14 about perfect. And I went ahead and transferred it into a bowl. And the
02:18 reason we want to go slow with the rum, is because if we add too much, and this
02:22 is too soft, our balls will not hold their shape. And nobody, and I mean nobody,
02:27 wants a saggy chocolate rum snowball. So be very careful not to add too much. And
02:33 that's it. We will simply scoop out portions, and roll them into nice smooth
02:38 balls. And of course the size is up to you, but these are fairly decadent. So you
02:44 don't want to go too big. And this right here is what I consider the perfect size.
02:48 So I went ahead and did these 12, which I'm actually gonna wrap and chill for a
02:52 little while. So I can show you an extra fancy method for making the snowballs.
02:56 But before we get to that, let me show you the totally not fancy method. And
03:01 that would be simply tossing your rum balls in powdered sugar, until they're as
03:05 lightly or heavily coated as you want. Which is probably the most common method
03:09 for finishing these. Which I think looks great, and definitely like a snowball. And
03:14 if we happen to package that as an edible gift, I think the recipient would
03:18 be very impressed. And if you're just not into the whole snowball appearance, you
03:23 could if you want just roll these in cocoa instead. And just call them rum
03:27 balls. But it's winter, so I'm going with the powdered sugar. But anyway that's
03:32 method one. And I'm gonna go ahead and take a bite, before I move on to method
03:37 two. Which really was incredible. And if you enjoy chocolate and rum, you are
03:42 gonna absolutely love these. Just so good. And I'm gonna go into more detail about
03:48 the taste and texture, after I show you this second method. And for that all we
03:52 need is some melted white chocolate. Which you can just do in a bowl over
03:56 some hot water. Or if you want a microwave. Although some types of white
04:01 chocolate will actually burn if you use that method. So I do prefer this setup.
04:04 But either way we'll drop a rum ball in, and then we'll use a couple forks to
04:09 make sure it's coated. And then once we let most of the excess drip off, we will
04:13 transfer that into some finely shredded coconut. And I'm using the sweetened kind.
04:17 But the unsweetened will also work. And once we have that thoroughly covered, and
04:22 we're able to pick it up, we'll give that a gentle pressing and final shaping. At
04:27 which point we'll transfer that to a plate or platter. And in the spirit of
04:31 full disclosure, yes this is much messier and much harder, and significantly more
04:37 time-consuming, than just tossing them in powdered sugar. But having said that, I do
04:41 think these look a little more impressive. And as you might already know,
04:45 coconut is a perfect pairing with both chocolate and rum. Oh and I should
04:50 mention, for a much more detailed demo on how to coat things with white chocolate,
04:54 you should check out our famous Nibbles of Venus video. Which yes, is that amazing
04:59 cookie featured in the movie Amadeus. Which I will provide a link to at the
05:03 end. Alright it is pretty basic, but during that recipe I show you all the
05:08 steps. And in hindsight, one thing I could have done here, would have been to pulse
05:13 this coconut in the food processor until it was a little finer. Alright these
05:16 shreds were kind of on the long side, and we're making chocolate rum snowballs,
05:20 and not chocolate rum hairballs. So we don't want these looking too furry. But
05:26 anyway it was fine. And once he's firm up, we can trim off or pull off any
05:30 unsightly strands. And that's it. Once I was finished, I went ahead and wrapped
05:34 these up. And we'll keep those in the fridge until we're ready to serve. Oh and
05:39 as long as they're wrapped tightly, the longer you make these ahead of time, the
05:42 better. Alright the longer they sit, the better they get. And then as far as
05:47 presentation goes, I'm usually never this guy. But this time I did want to be this
05:52 guy. Since I saw a moss mat at the hardware store, which I thought along
05:57 with a few twigs and leaves, would make a perfect base for these snowballs. And
06:01 once I had those placed on, I went ahead and dusted everything with some powdered
06:04 sugar, to give it that extra frosty wintery look. And also to make my
06:09 snowballs a little bit whiter, since white chocolate can have a little bit of
06:12 a yellow tinge to it. And obviously if you're not into the whole nature scene,
06:17 any kind of plate or platter will work. So you decide. I mean you are after all
06:23 the boss, of whether to serve these balls on moss. And as good as these were just
06:27 rolled in the powdered sugar, I think they're that much better with the white
06:31 chocolate and coconut. Which again pairs so perfectly with the rum and chocolate.
06:35 And speaking of the rum, yes these are fairly boozy. Alright as I've already
06:41 covered, we do have to add enough to make sure we have the right texture. So the
06:45 rum flavor is very pronounced. And even though there's not a huge amount of
06:49 alcohol in each snowball, I think you're definitely gonna feel it. Or as I like to
06:53 say, it's not enough to make you giggle, but it is enough to make you smile. And
06:58 then as far as the texture goes, these are fairly moist, but they are not soft
07:03 and mushy. Alright these have kind of like a fudge like texture, which I find
07:08 very pleasant. And there are basically two types of rum balls. Alright the one
07:13 we just made, and then the much softer, much wetter version, which simply uses
07:17 stale chocolate cake or stale chocolate brownies. And yes we did a video for that
07:22 version many, many years ago. So check that out if you want. And of course you
07:28 can use a different booze if you choose. Okay I've never said no to a chocolate
07:32 bourbon ball, but no matter which booze you use, or how you present them, I really
07:38 do hope you give them a try soon. So please follow the links below for the
07:42 ingredient amounts, a printable written recipe, and much more info as usual.
07:49 And as always, enjoy!
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