NO-BAKE 'COOKIES & CREAM' BOURBON BALLS
Plus dishes to take you from Cinco de Mayo to the Kentucky Derby, and the Coronation of King Charles!
Hi W4D friends! We have so much to look forward to this weekend, from Cinco de Mayo and the Coronation of King Charles, to the Kentucky Derby!! So let’s jump right in…
Let them eat cake! “Sweet Enough” Giveaway Winner
CONGRATS to Paula Leu, who is receiving a copy of Alison Roman’s latest cookbook, Sweet Enough. Paula was automatically entered to win a giveaway because she is a paid subscriber to W4D. If you’d like to upgrade your subscription to help contribute to the work we put into this newsletter week after week, we’d be so grateful!
FRIDAY: Cinco de Mayo Ideas from W4D
Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo, and boy do we have lots of Mexican-inspired dishes in our archives to make your Friday the most festive ever!! Some of our faves are linked below…
Josh’s Signature Pomegranate Margarita
Elizabeth’s “La Bandera” Cocktail
Chili-Lime Skirt Steak Tacos
Crunchy Jicama Slaw
Anthony’s Plant-Based Queso
Black Beans with Sweet Potatoes & Hominy
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Need access to more than 150+ recipes in our What’s 4 Dinner Archives? Smash the button.
SATURDAY: The Coronation of King Charles III & Queen Consort Camilla
The Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla is on Saturday May 6, 2023. Coverage on most U.S. networks begins at 5:00am EST. We will be watching whilst sipping tea and nibbling on quiche, which will be served at the coronation! We always knew we had royal taste. The official Coronation Quiche will be filled with a spinach and broad (fava) bean mixture, flecked with tarragon.
You can make Anthony’s Quiche Lorraine and do as the Royals do! If you’re looking for something without the crust, try Elizabeth’s Spanakopita Egg Bites!
NO-BAKE “COOKIES & CREAM” BOURBON BALLS
EK: Bourbon Balls are a big deal in Kentucky. And since this Saturday is the Kentucky Derby, I felt it was a good time to bring out the Bourbon Balls.
The original Bourbon Ball had a creamy white center filled with Evan Williams 100 proof bourbon and was covered with dark chocolate and topped with a pecan half. You can still buy Rebecca Ruth Chocolates today from the 104 year-old family-owned Frankfort, KY, business.
Most of Bourbon Ball recipes call for crumbled cookies; vanilla wafers, or graham crackers, even Pepperidge Farm Bordeaux cookies, and a combination of confectioners sugar, butter, bourbon and chopped pecans. Some of them include cocoa powder, and I even saw some with eggs.
Today’s craft Kentucky Bourbon Ball makers use a recipe closer to Ruth’s original. Jennifer Rolfingsmeier has won the top spot at the Kentucky State Fair for her Bourbon Balls, and she was kind enough to give me her recipe and walk me through the multi-day process.
The timeline is a minimum of four days and it goes something like this: the first night, Combine 1 cup of chopped pecans in 1/3 cup of bourbon and let steep. The second night, add one stick of room temperature butter, and one box of powdered sugar to the bourbon-nut mixture. On the third night, roll the mixture into balls and refrigerate, and on the fourth night cover the balls in chocolate.
Bourbon Balls are such a big deal in Kentucky, that there is even a Bourbon Ball-flavored bourbon from our friends at Ballotin Chocolate Whiskey. In fact the owner of Ballotin, Paul Tuell, introduced me to Jennifer when I was first digging deep into my Bourbon Ball rabbit hole! Needless to say, Ballotin Chocolate Whiskey is a great bourbon to use in any Bourbon Ball recipe.
AU: So Elizabeth, I gotta ask: How does your bourbon ball recipe stack up against the traditional ones?
EK: Well, here is the truth: As good as the Kentucky Bourbon Balls are, they are a little sweet for my taste. I know this may be blasphemy for native Kentuckians, and I apologize. But my quest for the perfect Bourbon Ball was much more about the bourbon than the sweet candy.
I knew that there had to be other people like me who wanted a less sweet, bourbon-forward dessert. That’s why, when I received a copy of Rose Levy Beranbaum’s new cookbook, The Cookie Bible, I was intrigued and inspired by her take on Bourbon Balls.
In classic Rose fashion, she bakes chocolate wafers from scratch, and uses that as the base for her Bourbon Balls. I am sure that they are sublime like everything that Rose thoughtfully creates.
However, I instantly thought of a hack to get her flavors in a shorter amount of time. Why not use a cherished store-bought chocolate cookie instead of baking them first and then crushing them into crumbs?
If you love Oreos and bourbon, you will love these no- bake ‘cookies and cream’ Bourbon Balls.
EK: Turns out, Oreo Thins are the perfect cookie base for Bourbon Balls. They are thinner and have a little bit of sweet cream filling—just enough to provide most of the sweetness of the treat.
In Rose’s recipe she also uses cocoa powder, confectioners sugar, pecans, butter and corn syrup—traditional Bourbon Ball ingredients.
EK: The mixture came together perfectly with the texture of wet sticky sand. After a short chill in the refrigerator, they were ready to roll and coat generously in granulated sugar.
EK: Rose recommends rolling the balls in granulated sugar three times to get a nice coating. Some of the initial sugar is absorbed by the balls as they sit which makes the re-rolling necessary.
EK: When you are done, the Bourbon Balls glisten like jewels. The white granulated sugar coating also contributes another layer of sweetness since the dense truffle-like interior is not overly sweet and has a sharp bite of bourbon.
AU: They look gorgeous! Who knew you could make a childhood favorite like Oreos into such a grown up treat? GENIUS!! What do they taste like??
EK: The nose is delightfully Boozy. When you open your tin or whatever you are storing them in, you smell it first.
When you take a bite, it dissolves on your tongue in perfect balance. It is slightly grainy and sugary from the coating, and it is a chocolatey, bourbony delight. The interior is dense and smooth and more cake-like then smooth and ganache-like, but the flavors are fresh and strong. The Oreo creme between the cookies helps give it body in addition to sweetness, and the nuts give it a nice savory texture.
They are so rich and satisfying that you’ll only want to savor one at a time. I don’t suggest popping it whole into your mouth like a traditional Kentucky Bourbon Ball. Take smallish bites—the Bourbon Ball lasts about six bites for me. I love how when I take a bite it retains its shape and it doesn’t crumble or ooze. It really is the perfect bourbon-forward chocolatey treat!
Elizabeth, I’m so glad you found RLB’s bourbon balls. I’ve been making them for friends & family since the 1st edition of her Cookie Bible came out. Sometimes I make the chocolate cookies from scratch; sometimes I use Nabisco Famous Wafers. At least with the Famous Wafers I find that the mixture is drier & needs a bit more bourbon.