Bailey's Balls (No Bake)

Happy weekend before Christmas! I've been busy doing some holiday baking lately, and this morning I made these Bailey's balls, which are the perfect sweet treat for the holidays! I thought I'd write this post sooner than later, in case you're searching for a last-minute treat to make for Christmas or New Year's!

The original recipe I followed was for Kahlua Balls from Sugarcrafter. I changed a few things though... The original recipe called for dark cocoa powder, but I didn't have that so I just used regular unsweetened cocoa powder. Also, the recipe called for finely chopped semi-sweet chocolate, but I used a mixture of chopped semi-sweet and milk chocolate. Also, instead of agave, I used honey. And obviously, I used Bailey's, not Kahlua! We just didn't have Kahlua on hand, which is why I used Bailey's instead. I would definitely like to try this recipe with Kahlua as well!

Ingredients:

-3 cups finely crushed graham crackers

-3/4 cup powdered sugar

-1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

-1 and 1/2 cups finely chopped chocolate (I used a mixture of semi-sweet and milk)

-1 tsp. vanilla extract

-3 Tbsp. honey

-1/3 cup Bailey's Irish Cream liqueur

-3 Tbsp. brewed coffee

-1/2 cup granulated sugar, for rolling

Instructions:

In a large bowl, whisk together the crushed graham crackers, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and chopped chocolate. Stir in the vanilla, honey, Bailey's, and coffee until the dough comes together. Shape the dough into 1-inch balls and roll in granulated sugar. This recipe made 26 balls for me.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge for 2 to 3 days to develop the flavor. And continue to store in the fridge until they're gone...which may not take too long. ;)

If you noticed in my pictures, the sugar on the outside of these balls does not look like regular granulated sugar. That's because I used this sparkling white sugar from King Arthur Flour. It felt like a fun, more festive option to me. It's somewhat like snow, right?! :)

As I mentioned earlier, I used a mixture of semi-sweet and milk chocolate. I did this simply because I wanted to use up a few types of chocolate I had on hand. So in the end, my 1 and 1/2 cups of chocolate included some mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, some chopped Hershey's bars, and regular semi-sweet chocolate chips. To save yourself the time of having to chop chocolate, I might actually recommend just using all mini chocolate chips. That would be the easiest, I think! And I bet that any type of chocolate - semi-sweet, milk, or dark - would be wonderful additions to this recipe.

Another tip is to crush your graham crackers in a food processor. That saved me a lot of time and effort! To make 3 cups of crushed graham crackers, I used about 2 and 1/2 sleeves of crackers.

The star of the show, Bailey's!

Aren't these great Christmas stockings?! My parents gave them to us. I thought they'd make a nice backdrop for a few photos. :)

It was nice to actually be in the kitchen during the daylight hours so I could take a few photos in the natural light. Lately I've only been taking pictures at night in the kitchen, and our lighting is horrible for food photos. I know my pictures are never that great compared to most food blogs, but I at least know that they're better when I have the opportunity for natural light. :)

The Bailey's flavor in these balls definitely comes through, as does the coffee flavor. The balls are dense but not too heavy. And they're small enough that if you eat one...or two...you won't feel too guilty. Everything in moderation, right?! ;)

If you need one more recipe to make for your family or friends this holiday season, these Bailey's balls might just be for you!

Have a wonderful weekend, all!!