Well here we are, Christmas Eve of 2011. My did it come fast; it came so fast I think I lost some of my Christmas spirit somewhere. Nevertheless I will find it by tomorrow morning, as the family is gathered around to celebrate a great day.
One of the great things about coming home to my parents for the holidays is the baking. My mom bakes a lot and sells it at the annual craft sales that take place in November and early December and par for the course we get to eat what doesn’t sell. As I’m now older and have found I rather enjoy cooking I thought I would try my had at a – very easy – recipe. Chocolate Balls, as my brother and I would call them. They are easy and quick to make and don’t actually require any baking.
Here is what you need:
- 3 Squares Chocolate
- 2 1/4 Cups Crushed Graham Crackers
- 3 Cups Icing Sugar
- 3 Eggs
- 1 1/2 Cups Butter
- Handful of Sprinkles – up to you
The first thing you are going to want to do is crush the Graham Crackers, if you were like me and didn’t buy the pre-crushed ones. Simply put them in a zip-lock bag and use a rolling pin to crush the heck out of them. Try and get them as fine as possible so they don’t clump together in the balls.
Next you want to get yourself a good size mixing bowl for all this stuff that will need to be mixed. Throw in the graham cracker crumbs, icing sugar, eggs and soft butter. Mix that together for a minute or two.
Meanwhile you should put your 2 Chocolate Squares into a separate bowl of such and melt the chocolate in the Microwave. If you do not have a microwave, in a pot on the stove will work as well. The chocolate doesn’t have to be bubbling, but soft enough to mix.
I’m sure you guessed the next part of this little recipe. Add the melted chocolate to the mixture you already have going on. Mix it together good and snug.
Now that you mixture is all together, you may want to let it sit for a bit to harden up before rolling. Once you have done that though, I like to roll of the chocolate before I put on the sprinkles. Generally the balls be about 1″ in diameter or small if desired. Honestly, this part is up to you.
Once you have you balls rolled…. errr…. Once your chocolate is formed, it is time for the sprinklies! yay. For me this is actually the most annoying part, so it is best if the chocolate balls are still room temperature. I have found there are two ways of doing this. The first is to lay down some wax paper and them pour sprinkles on top of it and roll the balls in that. Or a new method I came up with it pouring all the sprinkles into a zip-lock bag and putting in one ball at a time. I like the zip-lock method because it is also makes less mess.
Then boom-badda-bing you are done. I like to change up the sprinkles I use, some Christmas themed, some plain, etc. Also if you want to get adventurous and like coconut, unlike me, you can also roll the balls in coconut.
Best to store them in an air tight container in the fridge and eaten cold. They are good trust me.
Let me know what you think. I’m curious to see if anyone has done something similar before.