Bourbon Balls

By MarieR

Ingredients

• Save your chocolate or vanilla cake scraps in the freezer, or use a store-bought pound cake for these treats. Yields 3% to 4 dozen
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup bourbon
• 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 12 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped (about 2 1/2cups)
• 8 oz. pecans, toasted and cooled (about 2 cups)
• 8 oz. plain homemade or store-bought pound cake (thawed if frozen), cut into cubes (about 2 1/2 cups)
• 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch processed
• 1/3 cup confectioners'sugar

Details

Servings 4

Preparation

Step 1

In a small saucepan, bring the cream just to a boil over medium-high heat. Remove from the heat and stir in the bourbon and vanilla. Sprinkle the chocolate evenly over the cream and let sit without stirring for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, pulse the pecans in a food processor until coarsely chopped. Add the pound cake and pulse until the nuts and cake are finely chopped.
Stir the chocolate and the
cream until smooth. Pour the chocolate over the pecan and pound cake mixture in the food processor and pulse until combined. Transfer to a medium bowl and refrigerate, stirring occasionally, until firm enough to scoop, about 1 hour. Sift the cocoa powder and confectioners' sugar together into a medium bowl. Line a rimmed baking sheet with waxed paper or parchment. Scoop out a heaping 1 Tbs. of the bourbon-chocolate mixture and roll it in your hands to form a ball. Transfer the bourbon ball to the cocoa-sugar mixture, roll it around to coat, and transfer to the baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining bourbon-chocolate mixture. Sift some of the remaining cocoa-sugar mixture over the bourbon balls just to dust them.
Refrigerate the bourbon balls until firm, about 2 hours. For a nice presentation, put them in mini muffin cups. Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.