Christmas Chocolate Rum and Raisin Balls

Now this recipe doesn't exactly fit into the health food category but it's Christmas time so it's a time to treat friends and family. I usually like to make something yummy for gifts at this time of year and this time I decided to make rum balls because I used to make them as a kid. But the search for a recipe didn't yield any recipes that I liked. I knew I wanted them to be chocolatey with real chocolate and not cocoa powder and I wanted them to have quite a lot of rum in them as well and also not be too sickly sweet. So I decided to invent my own recipe in an effort to achieve this goal.

The basis of the mixture is basically a dark chocolate ganache mixed with Arnotts Chocolate Ripple biscuit crumbs, with rum soaked raisins added. I finished the balls in two types of coatings. The first one, some good quality cocoa powder, and the second, some moist flaked coconut. I hope the rum balls have a texture that is fudgey and biscuity with luscious intensely rum flavoured raisins every now and then but I wont know until Christmas Eve if I've made a winner or not because I'm not going to eat any until then.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Rum and Raisin Balls

Ingredients:

500 gms bittersweet dark chocolate
250 mls heavy cream
4 cups of chocolate ripple biscuits crumbs
1 cup of raisins (soaked overnight in 1/2 cup of good quality dark rum)
a splash more rum
moist flaked coconut
good quality dark cocoa powder

Method:

Chop the chocolate into small pieces of about the same size. Bring the cream to almost boiling point and then pour over the chocolate, stirring until all the chocolate is melted and smooth. Add the biscuit crumbs and the raisins that have been soaking overnight, together with the remaining rum, as well as a splash more rum. Then mix it all together until it reaches the desired consistency which should be like a loose cake batter.

Scoop mixture into a 1/2 tablespoon measure and roll into a neat ball. Repeat until all the mixture is gone. Leave to set slightly and then roll half in cocoa powder and half in coconut or whatever else you like. eg. chopped nuts.

Makes about 110 rum balls

If you make this recipe don't worry if the mixture appears too soft you can put it in a cool place for a few minutes or in the fridge and it will harden up enough to be able to roll into balls. You should probably store these in the fridge and take out a few hours before you need them. The cocoa covered ones also could need to be re-dipped to make the surface look nice again.