Rum Balls

I love this recipe of my grandmother’s. It’s the one holiday treat the I (and the rest of my family) look forward to every year

Since we’re not fans of keeping alcohol in the house, I did attempt to make these with rum extract, but I’ll be honest, it doesn’t come as good.  For someone who grew up with these, I could tell the difference in the rum.

Ingredients:
4 cups crushed vanilla wafer cookies (a 12oz box)
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 (3.5oz) pkg of coconut
Powdered sugar
1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup rum

Directions:
In large bowl, mix crumbs, nuts and coconut. Add milk and rum, mix well. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Dip palms of hands in sugar. Shape dough by teaspoon into 1″ balls, roll in powdered sugar (rechill if mixture becomes to soft). Cover and store in refrigerator. If desired, re roll in powdered sugar before serving.

Tip: The flavor of these cookies improves after 24 hours. They may be made ahead and stored in refrigerator or freezer for several weeks

Rum Conversion
Dark Rum Liquor Conversion: For every tablespoon of dark rum called for in a recipe, you should use 2 tablespoons of rum extract. If the recipe calls for ½ cup of dark rum, it probably makes sense to go out and buy a bottle of rum, since the extra ½ cup of liquid would sink many recipes.
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Light Rum Liquor Conversion_: For every 5 tablespoons of light rum called for in a recipe, you should use 1 tablespoon of rum extract. If the recipe calls for ½ cup of light rum, you would use 1 tablespoon and 2 teaspoons rum extract for the equivalent flavor (and depending on the recipe, you would probably need to add 3/8 cup of water to keep the ratio of liquid ingredients right).
—Source: Savory Spice Shop