Maple-Pecan Bourbon Balls

Fortunately for all of us my husband is a mathematician! The amount if vanilla wafers you need here is 60 wafers (“Nilla Wafers”). The recipe is confusing because it is 8 oz. in weight measurement 225 grams. Everything else is in cups except the cookies so we a tually did the math and figured it out. It’s about 3/4 of the box, not and 8 oz. cup!

Love this recipe -- fabulous result! Note: I found the yields to be off. I could see right away that one-TBS scoops would yield far less than 2 1/2 dozen, so I made them smaller (more like the size of a typical chocolate truffle) and got 26. But I was left with enough melted chocolate to make another half-batch. (I weighed ingredients rather than using cups, so couldn't have been off.) I used half 72% cacao chocolate & half 85% -- perfect sweetness! A 100-g bar of each should suffice. Thanks!

I did mine with graham crackers instead of vanilla wafers and that worked just fine. I doubt the difference is noticeable. Wouldn't recommend rolling in powdered sugar until DIRECTLY before serving because the dough is moist and soaks through the sugar in a couple hours, leaving a sticky light brown residue on the outside. Tastes just fine that way! Just an FYI if you care about the appearance.

Growing up, I'd get bourbon balls from the bakery down the block from my elementary school, but I hadn't tasted one in decades until I made these last night–and they taste precisely the same! I used "Four Roses" bourbon. The admonition against chocolate chips is to be followed: I didn't listen, and my first batch's chocolate coating suffered as a result, far too gloppy. My bakery topped its bourbon balls with sanding sugar, as I did: it lends a satisfying crunch and a pop of color.

I found a video about how to coat these without the "chocolate puddle footprint on the bottom" that Louise refers to below. Can't wait to try it. Here's the link: https://www.saveur.com/article/Video/VIDEO-How-to-Dip-Truffles/

You can put the wafers in a plastic ziplock bag and crush them with a rolling pin or anything else that's heavy. Pour the crumbs into a bowl and do the rest by hand. That's how my mom did it in the days before we had a food processor.

To make these Gluten-free, I used Midel Gluten Free arrowroot cookies (227 gram pkg) along with Daniel’s dark cocoa and Belcolade Belgian Dark Chocolate Noir for the coating. To get the yield outlined, each ball is approximately 20-21 grams of cookie and nut mixture. I also milled granules of maple sugar to the tops of them before the chocolate set. Yummy! I will be making these again.

Wouldn't recommend rolling in powdered sugar until DIRECTLY before serving because the dough is moist and soaks through the sugar in a couple hours, leaving a sticky light brown residue on the outside.

Why not rum?

These were as good as Melissa Clark’s fudge bourbon balls, easier to procure ingredients when I couldn’t find the chocolate wafer cookies! Used BSB 103 bourbon, a perfect cooking bourbon! When bourbon balls had set briefly, used three different finishes. A third I rolled in confectioners sugar, another third dipped in melted chocolate (from bar chocolate, thinned a little with coconut oil) and topped with a pecan, and another third rolled in crushed pecans.

Made these and they are delicious. I used a 7.5oz box of gluten free graham crackers, so increased the nuts slightly to offset losing the half ounce of cookies. Followed the rest of the recipe and they are fudgy and fantastic, just a whiff of bourbon.