I love these cookies which are like a rich no-bake candy.  They are pretty fast and easy and the recipe can be doubled easily to give them away.  This is a recipe that was very popular in the 1940s and 1950s and still has legs.

My version has a significant change which I think makes a real improvement.  I use graham crackers not vanilla wafers!  This version also includes some cocoa, which isn’t in all recipes.  My friend Les Hoffman gave me some bourbon balls with this change some 25 years ago and I haven’t looked back.  If you like a sweeter cookie, use the traditional vanilla wafers or dried pound cake crumbs. 

They need to be freshened up with a dusting of fresh powdered sugar for serving on a fancy plate, since the moist bourbon and corn syrup makes the first coating look kind of wonky as they sit. 

This base recipe comes from Visions of Sugarplums by Mimi Sheraton (Random House, 1968).  This cookbook is  subtitled “A Cookbook of Cakes, Candies and Confections from all of the Countries that Celebrate Christmas.”  It is a comprehensive and detailed cookbook and lovely to use and read.  Mimi Sheraton was a food critic for the New York Times and I have made many of the recipes.  Find it used at a garage sale like I did and you will have a treasure.  Or try the public library. 

Ingredients

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa

2 1/2 cups ground honey graham crackers (I food process these.  I break up the crackers in the little packages and then process until they are very fine.  I sieve out any big pieces with a collander or just pick them out and then I grind the big pieces more.) 

1 1/2 cups finely chopped lightly toasted pecans.  (I food process these and have used them not toasted as well.  You want them very fine but not a paste.  I toast nuts at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes on a cookie sheet.)

2 tablespoons light Karo syrup and a little more to achieve texture

1/4 cup bourbon and a little more to achieve texture.

Instructions

I put all the ingredients except the Karo syrup and bourbon in the food processor and pulse to combine.  You could also use a kitchen mixer or do this step by hand with a wooden spoon and clean hands at the end.

Then I food process and trickle in the Karo Syrup.  I find Karo hard to measure.  Use a wet spoon or add a little extra and don’t worry about cleaning the remainer from the spoon or cup.  2 tablespoons is half a quarter cup or a coffee measure spoon.

Then I add the bourbon itself while pulsing.  The goal is to make a texture like Play Dough- not sopping wet but a maleable putty.  I usually keep adding more bourbon until it is correct texture.  Too wet- add some more graham cracker crumbs to get it right.  I used a tiny cookie scoop to make the balls this year and it worked great!

They taste a little unsweet and have a harsh bourbon taste at this point, but they greatly improve by rolling them in the powdered sugar.  The alcohol evaporates over night and that also makes them less harsh.

You roll out balls about 1 inch in diameter and roll them in powdered sugar.  I have two cookie sheets side by side with a big pile of powdered sugar on one and the other ready to receive the finished balls.  I roll about six balls and heavily coat them with sugar and transfer them to the other sheet.  The moisture does make the sugar turn wet, so sieve some more sugar over them before serving.  This wet unattractive sugar coating hardens slightly and preserves the moist interior of the bourbon ball too.

These go fast once they mellow for a day or two.  I lightly cover them with some saran wrap for the mellowing and then dust them before putting on the plate or shipping off in a bag or tin.