No Bake Christmas Cookies: Bourbon Balls Recipe

These easy bourbon balls not only taste delicious, they’re also gluten free. So everyone can enjoy the delectable taste of chocolate and bourbon this holiday season. A delightful no bake Christmas cookies recipe, these bourbon balls can also be made with rum or customized with your favorite ingredients whether it be coconut or dried raspberries for a flavorful holiday treat!

Whether you need a last minute gift to bring to a holiday party or a super last minute gift on Christmas Eve, these homemade bourbon balls are the perfect choice! Not only is this recipe for bourbon balls super easy to make, there’s also no baking required. Basically that means they are pretty fool proof. Even if you’re a slacker in the kitchen like I am. While this recipe for bourbon balls calls for nuts, you can easily omit them from the recipe if you have nut allergies.

This easy bourbon balls recipe can be made with either vanilla wafers or ginger snaps. For my first batch of homemade bourbon balls, I used gluten-free Mi-Del’s Ginger Snaps. They crush really easily which makes them worth the extra $1.50 even if you don’t need gluten free bourbon balls. However, one bag will only make you one batch. For my second batch I used regular grocery store brand gingersnaps and had a heck of a time crushing them. I actually took a hammer to the outside of the bag at 9am the first year I made these. However I still ended up with some whole cookies left in the bag and lots of large chunks.

I also used baking nuts for my recipe for bourbon balls. They were significantly cheaper than buying whole nuts from the nut aisle, especially as I wasn’t going to use an entire can. Plus it was the only way I could find them unsalted at the time. Finally, I recommend that choose your bourbon wisely. The better the booze, well, the better the ball! I specifically used Woodford Reserve for my recipe.

If you aren’t a huge fan of bourbon, you can simply swap out the bourbon with your favorite rum. These would actually be amazing with a spiced rum or a flavored rum that accents the ingredients that go into the recipe.

Discover more ideas for Christmas food gifts here.