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”!
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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
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Sarah @ Sarah's Kitchen says
Oh yumm! That looks great!
Dini says
Thank you Sarah! 🙂
Mila says
They look so good!!! It can be a lovely gift for the holidays!
Dini says
Thank you Mila! 🙂 I’ve given homemade truffles as gifts before and people usually love them (even if it is messy looking!)
Hilda says
Those truffles look amazing – the perfect thing to fend off the cold in a North American winter. It looks to me as if you are set to do quite well in this tough climate!
Dini says
Thank you Hilda! I hope so… Ive got Rum, Brandy and work stocked up especially because I think I might be getting the cold already (again)!!
Indu says
Your truffles look amazing! 🙂
Dini says
Thank you Indu! 🙂
Sadia says
These truffles look soo good. Very appealing. 🙂
Dini says
Thank you Sadia! 🙂
Sandhya says
Dini,
I cannot stop drooling looking at these truffles. I have to make these! Thank you for the recipe.
They look gorgeous too. Would be great to give as gifts but very hard to part with them:)
Dini says
Thank you Sandhya! I found it very hard to part with them too… I had to hide them away so I wouldn’t eat what I wanted to give as gifts… 🙂
Wendy says
The flavors in your truffles sound fabulous, Dini! I am extremely impressed with your chocolate tempering! I have tried and tried, but it is just not in my skill set. I even had a chocolate making friend try to help me, but I ended up with “blooming” cookies the next day. Happily, there is a tasty and easy way for the tempering inept, like me to still enjoy your truffles. When I make your recipe, I will be covering the truffles in Chocoley compound dipping chocolate instead (unless you offer tempering lessons with a money back guarantee 🙂 ). Thank you for sharing your international experiences. I enjoyed reading about the pieces of different cultures you have incorporated into your life. 🙂
Dini says
Thank you Wendy! 🙂 I love chocolate tempering but it gets so messy and it goes wrong often too! usually what goes wrong is used as ganache or chocolate sauce! 🙂 Compound chocolate is much easier I have to agree! I just wanted to get messy with chocolate (although I hate having to clean up afterwards!!) Maybe one day we can temper chocolate together! (no charge if you can bring cookies and you don’t mind if it goes horribly wrong!) 🙂
Michelle says
These look gorgeous oh my gosh! Tempering chocolate is one thing I can’t do though, I don’t know what it is but I always mess it up!
Dini says
Thank you Michelle!! I used to hate tempering but I love it now (though it’s messy!) but you can roll it in cocoa, coconut or sprinkles too! I did a few with chocolate sprinkles and it was still yum!
sue obryan says
I forced myself to read the tempered chocolate link and now I think I can make these! They look soooo decadent!
Dini says
oooh please let me know how it goes!! I have been horrible with tempering so many times! The good thing is that even if you mess it up you can start over (provided you don’t burn or sieze the chocolate (which I’ve done!)
Loretta says
I’ll take half a dozen please, especially since they have a good “glug” of rum 🙂
Dini says
hahaha!!! Not a problem Loretta! I am slowly but surely demolishing the rest of them! I will be happy to share them with you!!
apsara says
Very gorgeous looking truffles! Just looking at them makes me happy. 🙂
Dini says
Aw thank you Apsara! 🙂 They make me happy too!!
Naina says
These look really delicious!
Dini says
Thank you Naina!
Jhuls says
I never really had experienced preparing for Christmas as I don’t observe the holiday. The preparations must be fun and crazy. I am happy to see people preparing for such occasion. 🙂 The year is soon to end and I am sad as well… and happy, too, for the new year coming. Thank you for sharing these at FF, Dini. They look gorgeous. Enjoy the party.
Dini says
Thank you Jhuls! We don’t observe the holiday either, but we celebrate it in our own way as a family! 🙂 It’s become a day about family (sort of like our Thanksgiving!)
I am very excited about the new year too! It’s been a fantastic year, and I can’t wait to see what 2015 will bring! Thank you for hosting the pa rty!!
CakeSpy says
Sounds just perfect – deep, dark, decadent little morsels!
Dini says
Thank you Jessie! They were all of that! (I’m actually having one now…)
Michelle @ A Dish of Daily Life says
Oh Dini, these look absolutely amazing! Beyond amazing!! Pinning and sharing…I so want to make these!
Dini says
Thank you Michelle! This has quickly become my favourite! You definitely need to try it 🙂