These intensely boozy, fudgy, chocolate rum balls (rum truffles) are the perfect indulgent treat for the holidays! They are easy, no-bake, vegan-friendly and dairy free-friendly, and perfect for gift giving too!
December has always been about the holidays for me – Christmas lights, decorations, New Year traditions, the presents, the sense of family and love, and then the food. Especially the Christmas food. A gingerbread house and pavlova are usually tradition. But so are all the classic holiday candy recipes like chocolate truffles, marshmallows, chocolate caramels, peanut brittle, honeycomb candy etc.!
Since I was raised a Buddhist, we didn’t celebrate Christmas, but we sure enjoyed the holiday spirit! We grew up with Christmas trees and Christmas celebrations all around us. Plus it was the only time of the year that we were allowed to drink a little wine as kids. Ha!
Chocolate rum balls
One of my favorite indulgent treats during the holidays was Chocolate Rum Truffles (Chocolate Rum Balls) – not too sweet but insanely fudgy, intensely flavored with rum, chocolate truffles from this particular supermarket. They were so boozy they made me lightheaded after eating just one! And now that I’m an adult, I need no invitation to make my own! 🙂 And boy, do I make ’em.
The best thing about these rum balls is that they are vegan-friendly and dairy-free friendly and of course no-bake too! My sister made these truffles following this recipe, but used vegan products to make it dairy free and vegan. And they came out perfectly!
What I love about these rum balls
- They are super chocolatey.
- Super boozy.
- They have a very fudgy texture.
- And are super easy to make.
And that’s exactly what you get with these deliciously and intensely flavored Dark Chocolate Rum Balls!
How to make chocolate rum balls
These chocolate rum balls are made with digestive cookies (or digestive biscuits) but you can easily substitute them with graham crackers if you like. Remember to process the dry ingredients together. The desiccated coconut needs to be chopped up along with the cookies.
Then process it with cocoa powder and sugar (if you like to add a touch of sweetness), and then pour in the melted chocolate, rum, butter (or coconut oil) and mix to form a soft “dough”.
The texture of the truffle “dough” is quite sticky, soft and fudgy. When it cools down it becomes less sticky and soft, and it’ll actually harden slightly too, but will still be quite fudgy.
Knead the dough slightly to make it malleable and then roll portions of it into bite sized balls.
Coating the rum balls
Now you can be a little creative at this point.
Roll it in tempered chocolate (or melted vegan chocolate) to form chocolate coated rum truffles.
Then top these with a white chocolate drizzle or nuts or coconut.
OR just roll the rum balls in cocoa powder, chocolate sprinkles or desiccated coconut (easy and quicker option) and serve ’em just like that.
I used milk chocolate because that sweetness was a nice contrast against the bitter-sweet, boozy dark chocolate rum balls.
Tempering chocolate
Tempering chocolate isn’t technically difficult, just a little more involved. For these rum balls, I chose the easiest way to temper by using “seeding chocolate”, where I first melt about 2/3 of the chocolate in the microwave in bursts until its just melted. This will bring the temperature of the chocolate up to 105°F (for me this is usually 95-105°F)
Next, the chocolate needs to be tempered and cooled down, to avoid blooming. To do this, I add “seeding chocolate” – the remaining 1/3 of the chocolate and mix it well, vigorously, to bring down the temperature of the chocolate to 84 – 86°F. Then leave this melted chocolate in a water bath (that’s around 88-90°F) to keep it at a constant optimum temperature.
Then these rum truffles were dipped in the tempered milk chocolate with a truffle dipping fork, and kept on parchment paper to set.
If you are adding any chopped nuts or desiccated coconut, you should add them at this point, while the chocolate is still wet.
Another way you can coat the truffle is by pouring the chocolate onto a marble slab, and then rolling the rum balls in the chocolate until completely coated. As the finishing touch, you can drizzle white chocolate over the dark chocolate rum balls and let it set completely.
Final chocolate rum ball recipe notes
These dark chocolate rum balls are not for the faint of heart! They have an intense chocolate flavor from the bitter-sweet chocolate and cocoa powder. And as soon as you get past that, you’re hit with the warm, intense, boozy flavor of rum! 🙂
If you don’t have rum, you can even make these with bourbon for bourbon truffles too.
These would be the perfect after-dinner treat for adults during holiday gatherings. Little bite-sized morsels of rich indulgence. These rum balls are like a digestif, a dessert and a coffee accompaniment all in one. They make excellent gifts during the holiday season too. These truly are “amaze-balls”!
Looking for more recipes?Sign up for my free recipe newsletter to get new recipes in your inbox each week! Find me sharing more inspiration on Pinterest and Instagram.
Ingredients:
Rum Truffles
- 14.2 oz / 400g cookies I prefer using Digestive cookies but vanilla wafers or even graham crackers will work too
- 1/3 cup of unsweetened desiccated coconut
- 3 tbsp natural cocoa Dutch processed will work too
- 2 tbsp melted butter or coconut oil
- 6 oz / 170g bittersweet chocolate chips or chopped from a block – Vegan for DF version
- 3/4 cup plus 1 tbsp rum
- 1-2 tbsp white sugar
To Coat
- 1 lb / 450g melted and tempered chocolate optional
- plus extra chocolate if needed
- Desiccated coconut
- Chocolate sprinkles
- Melted White chocolate – to drizzle
Instructions:
- Melt the bittersweet chocolate and butter and 1/4 cup rum in a heatproof bowl in the microwave (in 30 sec bursts) till nice and smooth. Let it cool slightly.
- In a food processor, process the cookies, coconut and cocoa powder and sugar till it’s completely crushed and is in fine crumbs
- Add the melted chocolate and butter mix, to the cookie base while running the food processor until it’s mixed through. Scrape the sides in between to ensure that it mixes evenly.
- Add the remaining rum and mix it through until you get a slightly sticky ball of “dough”.
- Place the truffle “dough” in a bowl and knead for a few seconds until completely mixed through, and smooth.
- Let the dough rest and cool down. It should become less sticky and less soft but still fudgy.
- Make 1 – 1 1/2 inch balls from the dough and place them on a parchment paper.
- You can roll these in coconut or chocolate sprinkles and serve them just like that if you prefer.
- If you’re coating the rum ball truffles in chocolate – you can melt candy coating wafers or temper the chocolate according to the following directions.
- Pour half of the chocolate on a cool marble slate or kitchen counter top and roll each of the rum balls in the melted chocolate OR dip the truffles in the melted chocolate.
- Shake off the excess gently and place them back on the parchment paper.
- Before the chocolate coating sets – sprinkle some nuts, coconut or sprinkles. Or drizzle some white chocolate once it sets.
- Serve at room temperature or cold. Enjoy!
- You can store these in the fridge for at least a week in an airtight container.
Tips & Tricks
“This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.”
More Christmas recipes you’ll love
- Easy homemade chocolate truffles
- Peppermint chocolate truffles
- Bourbon gingerbread truffles
- Chocolate beer truffles
- Santa Claus cupcakes
- Cheesecake stuffed gingerbread cake
- Gingerbread cupcakes with eggnog filling
- Homemade eggnog
- Eggnog pound cake with eggnog glaze
If you liked this intense dark chocolate rum balls (rum truffles) recipe, don’t forget to subscribe for new (and free) recipes by entering your email address on the side bar (and get all these recipes delivered straight to your inbox), so you don’t miss out on a thing. You can find me on FACEBOOK, TWITTER,INSTAGRAM, PINTEREST, YOU TUBE and GOOGLE-PLUS too.
Jess says
I’ve made these for years, even subbing with df and gf ingredients so my dad can enjoy them too (do need another pack of biscuits/cookies but that’s all good) and they turn out amazing. I also do a mix of dipped in melted chocolate and dipped in coconut. Omg I’ll never use any other recipe. 🙂
Rathina says
Hi Dini, I made these for a little Christmas get together this weekend and they were fantastic. I’ve never made rum balls before or tempered chocolate or dipped anything in chocolate so it was all very new. But your instructions were very clear and they turned out amazing.
I used 2 forks to dip and it got a bit messy and I had weird discs at the bottom of each ball where the extra chocolate pooled. But Everyone commented how fudgy and tasty they were and quite unique compared to traditional rumballs.
Thanks for sharing such a great recipe!
Deborah Sessions says
This is my second time making these. This time I am tripling the recipe.
My question is – can I store the truffle dough in the refrigerator or, should I keep it at room temperature to make balls the next day?
Dini says
Hi Deborah
I usually make the balls before refrigerating the rum balls (I let it cool at room temperature). The chocolate in the mix will harden in the fridge and make it harder to roll into balls.
I also allow the rolled truffles to come to room temperature before dipping them in chocolate to prevent cracking in the chocolate shell.
Hope that helps.
Stella says
Hi Dini, I tried to recreate this recipe woth 1/2 amount of biscuit, so I used 1/2 portion of each ingredient, but the dough turned out to be quite dry, not fudgy, So I ended up melting more chocolate and butter and adding more rum, but after chilling in the fridge, it becomes very chocolate-like texture instead of cake-y. Any tips? Thanks
Laurel says
Great recipe! When mixing in the rum, I did it bit by bit till the bough formed a moist ball in my food processor. In the end it only took 1/2 cup of rum. Nice texture, good flavour. A keeper of a recipe. Well done!
Mona says
I’m going to make these and wondered if you can freeze them until Christmas?
Dini says
Hi Mona
They do keep in the freezer very well. However, due to the filling contracting and expanding as they freeze and thaw out, it is possible that the chocolate coating may crack as they thaw out before serving.
Doreen says
The reviews are confusing. I agree they look great but did anyone else actually make them?
Dini says
Hi Doreen,
I can assure you these rum balls really are decadent and addictive! 🙂 These get really popular during the holidays and around Christmas time, and I’ve gotten a number of messages on facebook from readers who enjoyed them. They are easy too, so I encourage you to go ahead and make them. And if you do, I’d love to hear back from you to see how they turned out for you.
Cheers,
Dini
Bella says
Hi! Is coconut a vital part of the recipe? I have some people with allergies I know I have something to sub the coconut oil but I was wondering ab the desiccated coconut?
Thanks!
Dini says
Hi Bella, I use desiccated coconut here because I really like the coconut flavor, but it’s not crucial to the recipe, so you can leave it out if you like. Hope you enjoy the rum balls! 🙂
Angela says
I made these Rum truffles to gift my brother and he and his family enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
I wanted to share the pics with you but uncertain how to do so here.
Dini says
Thank you so much Angela!
I am so happy that your brother’s family enjoyed it! I would love to see a photo too, and I will try to look into adding that feature on my blog in the future. But in the meantime, you can still share photos with me on the facebook page of my blog 🙂
Dini
Lou Lou Girls says
Hello cute lady! I bet these little gems made a lot of people happy! Pinned and tweeted. Thank you for being a part of our party. I hope to see you tonight at 7 pm. We love to party with you! Lou Lou Girls
Ganu says
I can’t believe how easy and delicious these are!!! 🙂 thank you so much for the recipe
Dini says
Your very welcome!! Im so glad they come out well! 🙂
Justine says
I made these, oh my I am so not skilled, these though taste good lol, look awful haha, oh my, but me and the kids had great fun. Do you mind me using your pic in a post at some stage when I post my own experience today, of how they ‘should’ and ‘shouldn’t’ look lol? xx
Dini says
Hi Justine! I am so glad you made them and you and your kids liked them!! The beauty of truffles is that they CAN look messy! 😀 But I would love to see your post 🙂 you can definitely use a picture that you like, would it be ok to have a link back to this post? or my blog? if that’s ok with you? Can’t wait to see it!
Jen says
Oh my goodness those look to die for!!
Dini says
Thank you Jen!! 🙂