Rum Balls

My mother was a fantastic cook while I was growing up.  I’m not talking your average fantastic – I’m talking feed the neighborhood and they talk about it for years afterwards fantastic.  She didn’t start out that way.  She even tried to use not knowing how to cook as an excuse to not get married.  My father, however, was so in love with her that he convinced her to marry him anyways and then taught her how to cook. 

We ate well.  My mother, as with most fantastic cooks, had her recipes in her head and not on a recipe card.  The secret ingredient is usually the love that’s added.  For many years, I took it for granted and I didn’t learn to really cook until many years after I moved away from home.  Now, I love to cook and I start to salivate and crave some of the foods that I grew up with.  She is 87 years old now and I’m afraid that some of the recipes will be gone forever.

Over the years, I’d ask my mother, “Remember when you cooked ‘fill in the blank’.  How did you make that?”  She almost always would reply, “I don’t know”.    Over time, I started reading more into her “I don’t know”.  It wasn’t an ‘I don’t know but I wish I could remember’ kind of ‘I don’t know’.  It was more of an ‘I couldn’t care less if I never make that again’ reply. 

Finally, I confronted her and she admitted to me that she always hated cooking.   Gasp!  The horror!   She cooked daily through the entire 17 years I was at home and for the 7 years that my sister enjoyed meals before I was even born.  To think that she hated that – Yikes!

So now, I cook for her.  I don’t always have the exact recipe but I do try to cook with love.  I think sometimes that makes all the difference.

Here’s a recipe for her Rum Balls ---- this is a recipe that was handed down to her from an old friend over 45 years ago.  Luckily, this was written on a recipe card.       For that, I’m grateful.

Rum Balls

2 c. (12 oz) chocolate chips
1 c. Coca-Cola or Pepsi
6 Tblsp light corn syrup
1 Tblsp rum extract
1 Tblsp real rum (if not using real rum, add an additional Tblsp of rum extract)
15 oz. finely crushed vanilla wafer crumbs
4 c. sifted powder sugar
2 c. finely chopped walnuts
decorating sprinkles

Melt chips in double boiler. Remove from heat.  Add cola, corn syrup & rum.  Stir in crumbs, sugar and walnuts.  Cover and chill for 2 hours.  Form into balls (1 rounded teaspoon) between palms of hands.  Roll in decorating candy.  Place in single layer on waxed paper or parchment paper in shallow pan.  Chill overnight.

This is what they look like:

They don't last long: