Captain’s Rum Balls – Putting the spirits on your holiday table like a boss! It ain’t Christmas til someone breaks out the rum balls! I can’t think of a more perfect addition to any holiday party than these little balls that are LOADED with rum. Yep!! LOADED!!! I mean, what’s the point of making weak rum balls? 
This year, I thought it was time to give the ol’ fashion rum ball recipe a few upgrades. I replaced the the corn syrup with honey & dates, switched out the store bought cookies for homemade graham crackers, and dropped the confectioners sugar because coconut is SO MUCH better! OH! I can’t forget the most important upgrade!! I put WAY more rum in these bad boys than than the usual slightly rum flavored balls you’ve had in the past. 
These little balls of joy will be the talk of the party! The coconut and graham crackers makes these balls a surprising treat. I have this batch in the freezer right now… I hope that they last long enough to make it the Christmas parties! I have a feeling I may have to whip another batch or two before the new year!
Print Recipe
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Print Recipe
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| Servings | Prep Time | Cook Time | Passive Time |
| Apx 75to 90 Rum Balls (depending on how big you roll them) | 45-60Minutes | 10-12Minutes | 4-24Hours |
| Servings | Prep Time |
| Apx 75to 90 Rum Balls (depending on how big you roll them) | 45-60Minutes |
| Cook Time | Passive Time |
| 10-12Minutes | 4-24Hours |
- 4 cups graham crackers Crushed - Recipe Below
- 1 cup walnuts Roasted
- 1 cup raw honey
- 1 cup dates Minced
- 1 cup spiced rum I use Captain Morgan
- 1 cup cocoa powder
- Graham Crackers
- 1 1/4 cup real butter Room tempature
- 1 cup granulated coconut sugar OR brown sugar
- 1/3 cup molasses OR honey
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon butter extract
- 1 large egg
- 5 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
- 1 tablespoon baking soda
- 1/4 cup corn starch
- 1 1/2 cup graham flour If not available, Sub for your favorite baking mix
- 1 1/2 cup gluten free baking mix OR your favorite baking flour
- 2 cups finely shredded unsweetened coconut Processed to a course powder
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Ingredients
Servings: to 90 Rum Balls (depending on how big you roll them)
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- Preheat oven to 350 degrees & line cookie sheet with parchment paper
- Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy using the paddle attachment on your mixer
- Add molasses, vanilla, egg, & cream and mix for an additional 2 minutes
- Make a well in the center of creamed mixture to add dry ingredients - corn starch, salt, baking soda, and flours
- Fold dry ingredients into creamed mixture with mixer set to low. Scrape cream off sides of the bowl to make sure everything is incorporated. Process on low speed until mixture forms a ball.
- Divide dough in half & roll between two pieces of parchment paper until batter is 1/8 of an inch thick.
- Use pastry cutter or knife to cut your desired shapes - I chose 3x3 squares
- Use the tapered end of a chop stick to press holes into the center of each cookie
- Bake cookies one inch apart for 10 minutes, until lightly golden browned
- Cool on wire racks
- Crush graham crackers into crumbs. I like to use a pastry cutter so that all my pieces are slightly different sizes. You could use a food processor if you want your rum balls to have a uniform consistency
- In a large bowl - add graham cracker crumbs, roasted walnuts, minced dates, honey, rum, and cocoa. Mix well
- Cover and refrigerate for 4 to 24 hours. The longer the soak - the more rum you can add. I end up with about a cup and a half in my rum balls. Be sure to stir rum mixture every couple of hours or so to make sure that the rum is able to soak into all of the cookie crumbs and dates. If your mixture is too dry - add more rum. These are RUM balls after all!
- Process coconut in Vitamix or food processor until it is a course powder
- Place 1/5 of the rum mixture in dish with powdered coconut - keeping the rest of mixture in the refrigerator until you are ready to roll the balls
- Pinch off 1-2 teaspoons of the rum mixture, roll into a ball & roll in coconut to coat ball.
- Place rum balls on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Repeat until all rum mixture is rolled into balls. Sprinkle any left over coconut powder over rum balls.
- Freeze rum balls for 30 minutes on cookie sheet before moving to an airtight container, using parchment paper to separate layers of rum balls. Store in the freezer until you are ready to serve.
- Enjoy!
I like the dimension that the different sized graham cracker crumbles make in these festive treats. If you want a smooth almost truffle like center - process graham crackers in food processor until you have a fine crumble of cookies to use as your base for these yummy cookies. Either way you go, you can’t go wrong because the combo of all these ingredients makes for an epic treat sure to surprise your guests!
Here is how to make these Forking Epic Captain’s Rummy Balls...
I decided to add the dates to this recipe after I snapped this pic. My rum balls were good but not quite epic. The dates were exactly what was needed to make some Forking EPIC Captain’s Rummy Balls!
You could use store bought graham crackers for this recipe and I am sure your rum balls would taste fine. But, if you really want to make these rum balls the best you’ve (or anyone else you choose to share these epic treats with this holiday season) ever had, you have to make your graham crackers homemade. The dough is super easy to whip up and the cookies are SO MUCH better than anything available in the grocery stores. I used half the graham cracker recipe to make these Forking EPIC Captain’s Rummy Balls and the other half to made Showstopper S’mores Cookies. 
Start by creaming butter and sugar until light and fluffy using the paddle attachment on your mixer
Add molasses, vanilla, egg, & cream and mix for an additional 2 minutes
Scrape sides of bowl to make sure that everything is mixed well.
Make a well in the center of creamed mixture to add dry ingredients - corn starch, salt, baking soda, and flours. Fold dry ingredients into creamed mixture with mixer set to low. Scrape cream off sides of the bowl to make sure everything is incorporated. Process on low speed until mixture forms a ball.
Divide dough in half & roll between two pieces of parchment paper until batter is 1/8 of an inch thick.
This dough is dense so it will take some time and a bit of muscle to get it all rolled out. Trust me - the effort is worth it!! I got the hubs to help me roll out the second half of the dough.
Because it is such a dense dough, it is really easy to work with. It doesn’t stick to the parchment paper and cuts into any shape you choose quickly and easily. Use pastry cutter or knife to cut your desired shapes - I chose 3x3 squares. Don’t have a long pastry cutter? I don’t either. I raided the hub’s tool room and found this putty knife that worked perfectly! It was long enough to get most of my cuts with one press. This is about the only way I can ever successfully cut anything in the same sizes.
Use the tapered end of a chop stick to press holes into the center of each cookie
Bake cookies one inch apart for 10 minutes, until lightly golden browned
Roast walnuts in oven with some coconut oil. I used some of my Dees Nuts (my favorite go to snack) for this recipe. Give ‘em a good chop and you are good to go.
In a large bowl - add graham cracker crumbs, roasted walnuts, minced dates, honey, rum, and cocoa. Mix well
At first, the mixture will be seem like it has too much rum. Don’t fret! It just needs a little time to soak into the cookie crumbs and dates. Cover and refrigerate for 4 to 24 hours. The longer the soak - the more rum you can add. I end up with about a cup and a half in my rum balls. Be sure to stir rum mixture every couple of hours or so to make sure that the rum is able to soak into all of the cookie crumbs and dates. If your mixture is too dry - add more rum. These are RUM balls after all! If you find that you have added too much, no worries mon! Just crush up some more graham crackers and let it soak for a bit longer. You really can’t mess up these epic rum balls!
Process coconut in Vitamix or food processor until it is a course powder
Place 1/5 of the rum mixture in dish with powdered coconut - keeping the rest of mixture in the refrigerator until you are ready to roll the balls
Pinch off 1-2 teaspoons of the rum mixture, roll into a ball & roll in coconut to coat ball.
Be sure to get a good coating of coconut on these babies! It really adds some amazing flavor to these rum balls
Place rum balls on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Repeat until all rum mixture is rolled into balls. Sprinkle any left over coconut powder over rum balls. Freeze rum balls for 30 minutes on cookie sheet before moving to an airtight container, using parchment paper to separate layers of rum balls. Store in the freezer until you are ready to serve.
Probably the hardest thing (for me at least) about making these rum balls is getting all of the balls the same size. Ultimately, it really doesn’t matter because these will be the BEST rum balls you’ve ever had and are sure to be the talk of the party!
You really could use any rum you like with this recipe. I love the flavor that the spiced rum gives this recipe. And, in my opinion, no one does spiced rum better than Captain Morgan. Happy Holidays are a sure thing if you bring these bad boys to the party!
