Monday, December 1, 2008

Chocolate Grand Marnier Balls Recipe

My first year in Dallas, I found this recipe in the paper. It seemed pretty easy so decided to try them. The first attempt burnt out a brand new Hamilton Beach food processor I grabbed at Wal-Mart. I returned it (love their return policy) and grabbed a Black & Decker model that lasted me nearly a decade before the cover to it's bowl melted in a dishwasher accident. I currently use my nice and brawny, yet slightly homicidal, bright red KitchenAid food pro. Despite the accident with the blade that sliced my finger open and also saved my life, I love it. Tara is scared of it and if you'd seen the amount of blood in the sink and bathroom at my old apartment, you'd understand. But I digress...

This recipe is incredibly easy, but does more or less require a beefy food processor. A direct drive model, nothing with a belt. You basically just mix all the ingredients together, roll them into balls, roll them in powdered sugar, and put them in an air-tight container for 5-7 days. They aren't baked, so the Grand Marnier (or other orange liqueur) permeates the balls. They were usually a hit among my coworkers, but productivity declined as consumption increased.

Triple Sec orange liqueur works great in this recipe and is in fact the one I used nearly all the times I've made it. I found that I still had my Grand Marnier bottle, so I used it for this batch.

Chocolate Grand Marnier Balls

One 9 ounce box of chocolate wafers
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup almonds
2 tablespoons Karo
1/2 cup Grande Marnier

In a food processor:
Process wafers and almonds. Add powdered sugar. Add the rest. Mix till
moist mass. Roll into balls and roll in some more powdered sugar. Pack
them lightly in an air-tight container. For best results, let them sit for
5-7 days.

2 comments:

Friend Mouse said...

This is very similar to a great recipe I have for rum balls (or bourbon, depending on what you have on hand). I use crushed regular 'nilla wafers and some cocoa powder and mix the whole sticky thing by hand. It occurs to me that using a food processor would make for a much finer texture but the raw alcohol in these bonbons usually precludes any complaints. I got my recipe from a college friend from New Orleans who got it from his grammaw. He says she usually doubled the booze - a woman after my own heart.

Yankee1969 said...

They are quite similar to rum balls from what I've been told. I'm afraid adding double the alcohol will make them too loose or the people who consume them.