If you’re looking for the easiest 4-Ingredient Christmas treat, these Chocolate Rum Balls are it!
Rum balls take less than 20 minutes to throw together OR even less if you get the kids involved! NO BAKING required and NO need to melt any CHOCOLATE! These little rich and decadent Chocolate Rum Balls are our very own quintessential Christmas treat in Australia, where chocolate and coconut meet condensed milk and crushed wafers or cookies!
A hint of rum makes these the BEST treats to give as gifts OR serve to your guests!
RUM BALLS
Easy to make, I bet you have the ingredients necessary in your kitchen cupboards to make these right now!
The rum part to be optional in this recipe, as many of our readers aren’t comfortable giving treats with alcohol to their kids. Of course, these balls are AMAZING with or without rum! Or you can make half a batch with rum (1 tablespoon is enough for a half batch), and half a batch without! I’ll leave that part totally up to you.
Biting into these Rum balls is one blissful bite after the next.
What You Need To Make Chocolate Coconut Rum Balls
- Condensed Milk: for the sake of saving some serious calories, I used Nestle Reduced Sugar Sweetened Condensed Milk, but you can use any type, really.
- Desiccated (or finely shredded) coconut.
- Cocoa powder.
- Plain sweet cookies: the type you dunk into your tea or coffee. Vanilla wafers, milk arrowroot, or even plain chocolate cookies.
- A couple tablespoons of rum: as I mentioned earlier, this is optional and can be added to only half of the batch instead of the entire batch if you’re hesitant to serve them to children. Having said that, most of us grew up eating Rum balls at Christmas parties and we turned out fine! You can also use whisky or bourbon.
How To Make Rum Balls
- Place your cookies in a large ziplock bag and crush them with a rolling pin. You could also crush them in a food processor if you wish! We prefer the rolling pin method because we love some larger cookie pieces in our balls!
- Then, add all of your ingredients into a large bowl
3. You can start off mixing with a wooden spoon but may need to use your hands once the mixture becomes too thick. Once it’s thick, please don’t add any more liquids to it! It needs to be thick enough so once it refrigerates, it sets into a truffle-like ball.
4. Then, roll into a ball by the tablespoonful
 5. Roll each rum ball in coconut and place them on a tray to refrigerate.
Good LUCK not eating any Rum balls while you make them.
That’s it! The easiest truffle Rum balls recipe on the planet without needing to melt any chocolate. Perfect for gifts OR as an after dinner mint without the mint!
More Christmas Treats!
Churro Nutella Christmas Tree
Hot Fudge Chocolate Pudding Cake
Quick Soft Cinnamon Rolls
Rum Balls
Ingredients
For Chocolate Coconut Balls:
- 9 ounces (250 grams) vanilla wafers/cookies, or plain chocolate cookies
- 14 ounces (400 grams) sweetened condensed milk (I use Nestle)
- 3 tablespoons rum (optional)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I use Hershey's)
- 1/2 cup finely shredded or desiccated coconut
- pinch of salt
For Coating:
- 3/4 cup finely shredded or desiccated coconut (or more)
Instructions
- Set up a work station with a large ziplock bag and rolling pin (or a food processor); a large bowl for mixing; and a shallow bowl with 3/4 cup of coconut for rolling in.
- Place the cookies in ziplock bag, seal and crush with the rolling pin. Alternatively, crush in the food processor until fine crumbs form. It's ok if there are some slightly larger pieces.
- Add the crushed cookies, coconut, cocoa powder, condensed milk, rum and vanilla to the large bowl. Mix the ingredients well using a wooden spoon, then your hands once it gets too thick. (If mixture is too thick, mix in 1-2 tablespoons milk).
- Scoop out a tablespoonful of mixture and roll into a 1 - 1 1/2 inch ball, then roll in coconut until completely covered. Place on a baking sheet or tray and repeat until all the mixture has been rolled into balls.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Blitzo says
Hey Karina, this recipe looks amazing! Can I use any type of alcohol instead of rum.
Karina says
Hey Blitzo! Yes you can.
Michele Loo says
Hi are there any substitutes for condensed milk? Thank you.
Jodi Fraser says
So good! They definitley need more alcohol to cut through the sweetness of the condensed milk. Next time I’ll chill the mix before rolling into balls so they don’t lose their shape in the tray.
MB says
This recipe looks pretty good! Anyone know if I can use Italian Biscotti in place of the vanilla wafer cookies or is that too much?
Karina says
That should be fine!
Selman says
Not to bad think it needed a little more rum for that rum flavour definitely going to try this again.
Rena' says
These we’re off the chain, I love Coconut rum, so I used 4tbls, OMG! Just saying!!
Karina says
Rena!
Thanks for sharing. These are my favorite also! So glad that you like them. Thanks for following along with me! xo
Elayne Smith says
I want to add crushed/chopped nuts (such as pecans) to this recipe. Do I slightly reduce amt of van wafers or just add nuts? Any suggestions?
Karina says
Hi Elayne! You can just substitute, say, 1/3 cup of wafers for 1/3 cup of crushed nuts. Delicious! Love that idea.
Helen says
Used purchased chocolate wafer crumbs. Saved time. Also used sweetened condensed coconut milk and some rum flavouring for these. Delicious.
Karina says
Helen!
Great idea. Sound really good. Thanks for sharing and for following along with me! xo
Shelby says
Would rum extract work with these? I have no idea what kind of rum to use but I have extract in my pantry !
Karina says
Shelby!
Yes, that sounds great. That should work just fine. Thanks for following along with me! xo
Linda says
What can I use instead of the coconut?
Karina says
Hello Linda,
Thanks for the question. For a substitution for the coating, you could always use powdered sugar. The coconut inside the mixture is very helpful in holding everything together. Thanks for following along with me! xo
Paula says
We are not coconut eaters around here much. How much powdered sugar would you substitute for the coconut and possible roll them in the powdered as well?
Karina says
Hello Paula!
The coconut is very helpful in the inside of the roll. This will help keep the roll together much better. Yes, using powdered sugar for the outside is a great idea. I would just do a light coat. Please let me know how it tastes. I would love to hear. Thanks for the comment and for following along with me. xo
Cheryl Vannorren says
When Santa came to our house they loved them. However, I use to make ginger ale balls for my sons!
Karina says
That is an awesome Santa treat ;)! Great idea! Thanks for sharing! XO
Brenda says
Family doesn’t like coconut. What else can I roll the balls in?
Thank you for such wonderful recipes!
Karina says
Hi Brenda!
Thanks for the question. You could try powdered sugar. Texture would just be a little different. Please let me know how it tastes. I am so happy to hear that you love the recipes. Thanks for following along! xo
JY37 says
Making these this weekend, they look soooo good! They remind me of date balls, and I absolutely love those!
Karina says
Thanks for following along with me!! XO
Yasmin says
Can i use champagne or vodka instead of rum?
Karina says
Yes, of course! It will alter the taste of the truffles and it could make them more crumbly. I haven’t tried it yet but please let me know how they turn out!
Pat Pippin says
Please give me an idea on what I can use instead of
Arnott’s Milk Arrowroot biscuits? Graham crackers??
Karina says
Yes perfect!