Rum balls (rumové kuličky) are a traditional type of Czech Christmas sweets. Although they are not as popular as they once were, they’re still a very common among Czech Christmas sweets and cookies.
Rum balls (in fact, rumové kuličky translates rather as “little rum balls”) combine all the traditional sweet Czech Christmas flavors – rum, cacao and coconut. It’s a non-baked sweet and just like Opilý František, it’s not for children unless you substitute the rum with rum aroma.
It’s a perfect sweet to make if you have only a little time because the rum balls are made really fast, supposing you have a blender or a food processor for the initial part. There are two Czech ingredients that are essential for this recipe, so let’s talk about how to replace them if you live abroad and cannot get your hands on any of them.
Czech rum has a very distinct sweet fragrance, for alcohol-free versions of cookies, purchase a flask of rum aroma. Replace with any other alcohol you like, possibly around 30 – 35 % and with a sweet scent.
Piškoty are plain egg-sugar biscuits that can be replaced, for example, with butter biscuits.
Would you like to try some more Czech Christmas cookies? Here are the recipes!
Czech Rum Balls – Recipe
You’ll need
- 150 g/5.3 oz of piškoty
- 60 g/2.1 oz of unsalted butter
- 3 tbsp of powder sugar
- 2 tbsp of cacao
- 2 tbsp of ground walnuts
- 80 ml/2.7 fl oz of Czech rum
- 100 g/3.5 oz of grated coconut (you’ll use less but this amount if necessary for easy coating)
- optional: handful of raisins (or to taste)
How to make Czech Rum Balls
If you want to use raisins, chop them finely. Put your walnuts and piškoty into a food processor or a blender and blend them as fine as possible. You can also crush them in another way.
In a bowl, combine the biscuits, walnuts, powder sugar and cacao. Add melted butter, raising and rum and mix everything well.
Form small balls.
Coat them in grated coconut.
Tip: If you’re working in a warm environment, you can make all the balls first and then coat them. However, if your kitchen is cold, I recommend coating each ball right after you’ve made it while the butter still has the warmth of your hands. Once the ball is completely cold, the coconut will not want to attach.
