At Christmas time in Australia, there was a constant theme whenever the whole family got together. It didn’t matter who’s house it was at, or what the main meal ended up being, Granny would always come with loads and loads of home made sweet treats for us all to share (bicker over!), and I would always hope she would make her rum balls! So when I was thinking about what to make this Christmas, I just knew I had to make Granny’s Famous Rum Balls Vegan!
I thought I had her recipe written out in one of my note books that I had diligently put together before moving to the UK, but sadly I hadn’t. Help was fortunately at hand when my Mother’s cousin Lindel, posted about the Girl Guide recipe book that she had, that had a whole lot of my Granny’s recipes in it, which included the rum ball recipe. Yay. The cover is particularly charming, and obviously it has been well loved! A sure sign of a great cookbook.
I’ve been told my my Mum, that I’ll inherit her copy. Phew!
The funny thing as, when the recipes were scanned over, we realised that actually, The Rum Ball recipe wasn’t attributed to my Granny, but instead had my mother as the author!
I’m pretty sure it’s Granny’s recipe though, as it has the hallmarks of her best recipes; a list of ingredients & a super short explanation of how to make it! (see below for the recipe, plus a super wholesome recipe for fruit punch.)
There are some other gems in the cookbook too, which I might veganise at a later date. Especially the scone recipe! It’s also super famous in our family & I haven’t had a great scone in the longest time except for the ones Vanessa made – you can find her recipe here.
In place of the coffee biscuits (which am pretty sure are meant to be plain biscuits) I used a packet of quite plain wholegrain biscuits from Mr Organic, as they are the only vegan biscuits I can find that don’t contain palm oil (and they taste delicious too!- You can get them online from Ocado & Amazon)
I also used dried cranberries in place of the raisins, because I love their tang, but also they seem more Christmassy, but you can use whatever dried fruit you like in it. And I’m not going to lie I’ve increased the rum quotient significantly. It’s Christmas & this is not the time for being stingy with the rum. You can always sub in some orange juice if you don’t want to make with rum.
And just in case you were wondering what happened to all the rum balls I made? I took them along to a friends Christmas gathering & they were all gobbled up. So I think Granny’s Famous Rum Balls made Vegan were a hit!
A classic Australian recipe that I've veganised! Rum Balls are always a hit at Christmas time, so be sure to make extra to take along to any parties you're off to over the festive period.
- 250 g packet of plain biscuits (2.5 cups) I found vegan ones with no palm oil in from Mr Organic
- 210 g tin of coconut condensed milk (1 cup)
- 150 g dried cranberries (1 cup) or raisins/sultanas
- 50 g dessicated coconut (1/3 cup + more) plus more for rolling (1/3 cup + more)
- 80 ml rum (1/3 cup) I used spiced rum, because that's what I had in the cupboard, but plain rum is good too.
- 35 g cocoa powder (1/3 cup)
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Chop the dried cranberries & soak in the rum.
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Blitz the biscuits in a food processor, or bash them up inside their packet with a rolling pin until they are fine crumbs
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Mix all the ingredients together until fully combined.
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Take a teaspoon at a time & roll into balls, then coat with the coconut or cocoa powder
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Allow to set in the fridge for at least an hour.
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These will last a few weeks in an airtight container.
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