Post #273733 by JenTiki on Tue, Dec 19, 2006 2:25 PM

On 2006-12-19 14:09, GentleHangman wrote:
I made VampiressRN's Bourbon Balls recipe except that I substituted 1/4 cup each of Appleton Estates Rum and Saint James Hors D'Age rum for the Bourbon and used finely chopped walnuts instead of pecans. Holy cow!
I wonder if one could substitute part of the corn syrup with a dash of Orange Curacao and a dash of Orgeat(and omit the finely chopped walnuts nuts - or, better still, use finely chopped almonds?) to convert these to "Mai Tai" balls? Could one spritz the near-finished balls with fresh lime juice before rolling in the powdered sugar? Hmmmmm, I wonder . . .

Having made a few batches of rum balls in the past week, I believe the corn syrup is necessary for texture and body, that I don't think you'll get if you substitute more fluid liquors. Also, I would think mixing very finely grated lime zest with the powdered sugar might be a better choice than spritzing the balls. If the balls are too wet when you roll them, the sugar will simply soak into the ball and not do a great job of keeping them separate from each other in the container.

If I were looking to make Mai Tai balls, I think I would simply replace a bit of the rum with the orange curacao and add about a 1/4 to 1/2 a teaspoon of almond extract for the almond flavor. You can definitely switch out the walnuts for almonds.

I used ginger snaps (instead of Nilla Wafers) and almonds for my latest batch to make Ginger Almond Rum Balls. I'm still waiting for those to "ripen" to taste the final outcome, but so far so good.

{edited to add:} One other tip: I've found that if you let the rum ball batter sit in the fridge overnight covered, it is much easier to make into balls the next day using a melon baller. Sometimes the fresh batter is just too loose and gooey making it not only difficult, but very messy, to roll into balls.

[ Edited by: JenTiki 2006-12-19 14:33 ]