Bourbon Balls....

My husband's favorite holiday treat is bourbon balls, they are a pain in the butt to make. However, it is the only dessert he ever requests and it's only once a year so I, of course,do it. I use a Maker's Mark recipe and then dip them in semi-sweet chocolate, so they end up looking like truffles. After a few years of making them I finally have it down to a less frustrating "art". I usually make them with Maker's Mark, however due to financial constraints this year, I used Jim Beam. Nick said they were great and he even enjoyed the rest of the bottle over ice. So not a bad substitution.

These were a four day process. We have lots of pecans from the trees in our yards, so I just couldn't bring myself to buy any. I cracked and shelled pecans while Miles and I worked on school one day, then the next day I had to crack more because I was making a double batch and needed two cups of pecans. I hated pecans for a couple of hours that day! Then you have to soak the nuts overnight, I started as soon as I finished cracking the second round. The third day you make the mixture, roll them and then freeze then, then the last day is dipping. The end result is worth it (Nick loves them). I don't like whiskey so I don't really eat them but I am pretty sure they would be good with rum, too.

Bourbon Balls

1 pound powdered sugar
1/2 cup bourbon
1 cup chopped pecans
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
2-12 oz bags semisweet chocolate for dipping.

Add chopped pecans to a small bowl  and soak, covered, in bourbon overnight.

The next day, add butter and sugar to mixer with paddle attachment and mix until well combined. Then add the pecans with the liquid, if any, to the mixer and combine. The mixture will be really soft, so refrigerate until firm enough to form into balls, about 2 hours. This is the messy part. Roll into equal sized balls, put close together on cookie sheet, then place in freezer to harden. After frozen you can re-roll to smooth any ugly balls and then return to freezer overnight until hard. I then put them into a gallon zipper bag and waited one more day to dip. Mostly because I was mad at them at this point from trying to dip them in chocolate before freezing. Don't do it, it will just frustrate you. Let them get really hard in the freezer at least one whole day.

Melt the chocolate over a double boiler, when smooth remove both the pot and bowl from the heat. Leaving the bowl on top of the pot will help the melted chocolate stay warm while you dip. Grab a handful of  frozen balls out of freezer at a time, then stick with a toothpick, dip in chocolate and place on a wax paper covered cookie sheet. Carefully twist the toothpick out of ball. You may need to use the toothpick dipped in a bit of chocolate to cover up it's hole. I then discarded the toothpick and used a new one for each ball. Sprinkle immediately with sprinkles, decorating sugars or even pecans before chocolate starts to set. Then leave alone until chocolate sets. I stored mine in the refrigerator until Christmas day, then pulled then out a couple hours ahead of time to let the centers soften before serving.