Hot Buttered Rum Balls

Boozy no-bakes to make your holidays extra merry.

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My husband and I love making festive treats to gift to friends during the holidays, and this year everyone’s getting treated these hot buttered rum balls. Carrying all the buttery brown sugar and toasty spices of a traditional hot buttered rum, these boozy no-bake bites are sure to make anyone’s holiday season that much merrier.

Sparkling sugar is one of those magical “extras” that’s always worth keeping in your pantry. With a brilliant shine and a coarse, crunchy texture that doesn’t melt away in the oven, it adds both visual wow and fun texture to any dessert it touches. I love sprinkling it on top of biscuits and muffins to give them extra pizzazz and I’ve also used it to rim slice-and-bake cookies. It’s especially fun to play with during the holidays, when that sparkle almost remind you of fresh snow.

Let’s talk about the rum here. I love a boozy dessert, but as someone who grew up in a liquor-free house, I realize it’s not everyone’s jam. If you’d prefer to eliminate the alcohol here, you can substitute ¼ cup of water for the rum and add 1 teaspoon rum extract if you’d still like a hit of rum flavor. Or if you don’t want any rum flavor at all, you can just use the water and leave the rum extract out entirely. The spices bring a lot of flavor to these balls, so even a rum-less rum ball will still taste great.  

These rum balls are a great make-ahead dessert. While I don’t recommend refrigerating the dough unformed, the formed and decorated balls can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks—or in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Enjoy!

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Hot Buttered Rum Balls

(Makes 18)

Prep: 10 minutes

Mixing and shaping time: 20 minutes

Chill time: 2 hours

Ingredients

2 cups (180 g.) raw unsalted pecans, toasted and completely cooled

6 oz. store-bought butter cookies, such as Pepperidge Farm chess cookies

½ teaspoon kosher salt (I used Diamond Crystal)

½ cup (60 g.) confectioners’ sugar

½ cup (100 g.) dark brown sugar

¼ cup (2 oz.) dark rum

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground allspice

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

6 tablespoons decorative sparkling sugar

Equipment: food processor, baking sheet, parchment paper, small bowl

Instructions

1. In the bowl of a food processor, combine toasted pecans, butter cookies, and salt. Pulse until fine crumbs form, 30-45 seconds. Add confectioners’ sugar, dark brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves, and pulse just until incorporated, about 15 seconds more. Add rum and process until mixture clumps into a solid ball in the bowl, 15-30 seconds more.

2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Add 2 tablespoons sparkling sugar to a small bowl. Remove the lid from the food processor and carefully remove the blade.

3. Using a cookie scoop or two spoons, scoop 1-ounce portions of the rum ball dough (about 1 ½ tablespoons each) and roll into balls. (Dough may feel slightly wet, but don’t worry; this moisture is necessary for the sugar to coat the balls, and it will evaporate during chilling, creating the perfect texture.) Place balls on prepared baking sheet.

4. Working one at a time, roll rum balls in decorative sugar, pressing lightly to encourage the sparkling sugar to adhere. Refresh the sparkling sugar as needed. (It will become wet after coating 5-6 balls and you’ll need to change it out for fresh. This is why I recommend starting with only 2 tablespoons.) Return coated rum balls to baking sheet.

5. Refrigerate rum balls for at least two hours on baking sheet, then transfer to an airtight container.

Originally published December 19, 2025.