A bourbon ball is a classic no-bake holiday recipe, and, chances are, your grandmother probably had a recipe for them. The homemade versions are most often a mix of chocolate, cookie crumbs and bourbon, sometimes with nuts and sugar or other ingredients mixed in. I’ve also seen commercial bourbon balls that have a creamy bourbon-infused fondant as the center, but obviously that kind of thing is much harder to recreate at home.

This recipe is a variation on my grandmother’s bourbon ball recipe (what she called Bourbon Delight), made with wafer cookies, melted chocolate, and mixed nuts (I used almonds and pecans here), pressed into a baking pan, topped with a chocolate glaze and sprinkles, and cut into bars.

An easy recipe made even easier, because you don’t have to bother rolling dozens of little balls. In other words, you can have your bourbon and eat it too.

There’s no ignoring the bourbon here… it adds a surprising heat to the bars (in the best way possible). You could reduce the bourbon slightly, to maybe 1/4 cup, if you want them a bit milder. You should also plan to make them ahead of time, as giving them at least 24 hours to rest will help the bourbon to mellow.

A recipe that pretty much requires you to make it ahead of time is kind of awesome, actually.

As for what kind of bourbon to use… since you do taste it quite prominently, I’d recommend a middle-shelf bourbon (which will be much smoother than the cheap stuff) but definitely don’t waste your really good bourbon for something like this. Look for a bourbon that is very vanilla forward, on the sweet side and not too spicy. I personally like Buffalo Trace, which is a great mixing (and baking) bourbon, relatively smooth with plenty of vanilla and reasonably priced at around $30 a bottle.

You could totally make this with rum too, if you grew up with rum balls instead of bourbon balls (which I am coming to realize is really a regional thing).

Or what about amaretto, brandy, or even Irish creme? We might be on to something here…

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