I’m pretty excited about these little Christmas Rum Balls. After looking through all the recipes & finding everything calling for crushed vanilla wafers, I thought I’d have to pass on these this year. BUT, I decided to use my Gluten-Free Oreo Cookie recipe that I’ve posted in the past as the base for these rum balls. I made the chocolate cookie dough, rolled it out thin on parchment paper (pretty easy to roll, actually), then baked it. Once it was cooled, I broke the cookie up and put it into my food processor, and now I have a resealable bag of gluten-free “Oreo” crumbs, that can be used for the crust in cheesecakes, ice cream (yum!), and of course, in rum balls.
Gluten Free Rum Balls
These gluten free Rum Balls are best if you can make them a few days in advance, so they have time to mellow. So, if you can, make them 5 days before you want to consume them.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups GF Oreo Crumbs (see above)
- 1 1/4 cups confectioners' (icing) sugar
- 1/2 cup spiced rum or bourbon
- 2 tablespoons white corn syrup
- 1 cup pecans or walnuts, broken (I did these fairly fine in the food processor)
Instructions
- Sift 1 cup icing sugar.
- Stir in the spiced rum mixed with the syrup.
- Add gluten-free chocolate crumbs and nuts.
- Mix thoroughly.
- Shape mixture into walnut sized balls and dredge with remaining sugar or leave plain.
- Store in an airtight container or tin.
Notes
These are best if you can make them a few days in advance, so they have time to mellow. So, if you can, make them 5 days before you want to consume them.
Source: Based on a recipe from Food.com.
betty r says
You put your mind to something and you can convert almost every recipe to GF, Jeanine! Good for you..you will not be deprived nor sick this Christmas!
Jeanine says
Thanks, Betty! Definitely NOT deprived this Christmas. 🙂 I’m thinking I should probably stop working in the kitchen already, but I love trying new recipes, and it’s the only time of year we make the really good, sweet, rich baked goods, I just can’t stop! 🙂
Alexa says
This post is worth gold… A GF oreo cookie is so useful and versatile. I will be sure to try it soon. The Christmas Rum Balls look great. My mother-in-law use to make some every year and it was always something we all looked forward to. I think of her every time I see a picture of rum balls… warms my heart.
Jeanine says
Alexa, I think I’m going to make a cheesecake in a springform pan using these oreo crumbs as the base. No one will be able to tell the difference. Definitely going to keep some on hand, you never know when you might need some. 🙂
Shoshana says
I just tried making the rum balls. They taste great, but the mixture is way to soft to roll. Is the amount of liquid listed in the recipe correct?
Jeanine says
Hmm…yeah, the amount of liquid is right. You may have to add up to 2 Tbsp extra crumbs, if you find it too wet, but you should be able to roll them. I don't recall having any issues with them when I made them, so I'm not quite sure what it could be.
Kelly says
I am prepping to make these as we speak. I couldn’t find the tapioca flour. Any suggestions. Would it be to messy to use tapioca?
Thanks so much!
Jeanine says
Hi Kelly, You will need something in place of the tapioca flour, otherwise the dough will not work. Tapioca flour is also called tapioca starch (the two are the same). You can also sub potato starch for the tapioca starch in this case, or you may even want to try cornstarch. But, since I have not tried either of these, I can not vouch for them, sorry. Let us know what you do and how it works for you!
Kelly says
I added a little more cornstarch. They came out great! However I am definitely picking up some tapioca flour to have on hand because now I am baking gluten free I see it in several recipes.
Thanks so much for this recipe!
Happy holidays!
Jeanine says
Phew, glad to hear that it worked! Yeah, I stock my pantry with brown rice, potato starch and tapioca starch, then I feel like I can do anything. lol
Cat says
I plan to try this recipe but will substitute honey for the corn syrup. Corn syrup contains GMOs.
Karen says
Can you tell me is the egg subsitute the same as the powder egg replacer or is it a liquid egg product.
Jeanine says
Karen, it’s a powder – but I think these would be easy to make without it (it’s an old recipe, I’m thinking I need to make an updated version)
Karen says
Thanks, I can get the egg replacement powder at my local bulk barn store, Looking forward to trying these out on my son as rum ball are his favorite, interested to see if he can tell if they are gluten free.
Trish Young says
just made the Oreo cookies, left out the egg substitute, and just used 2 tsp more egg in the liquids and they turned out fantastic! I was going to make these rum balls today, for Xmas, do you think they will freeze ok?
Jeanine says
Absolutely,Trish! They freeze great, and they are best made at least a week in advance to get the flavours really going. Oh, so good. Might have to add this to my list this year again. 😉
Laura says
Jeanine, thanks for posting. Nine years after your post, this recipe is still finding followers. I’m making this later today for an office party. Happy holidays!