Yeah, so I was bored

With no car, stuck in a small town, isn't too bad. I can walk to the grocery store (when I say "the grocery store", I mean the ONLY grocery store) and really anywhere else except Ed's Liquors which is on Hwy 60 and a bit of a walk. But I got stuck in the house yesterday with freezing sleeting snowing raining howling winds fucking weather, and decided to play with what I have on hand.

So, voila! Vanilla rum cherry rum balls, 6 ingredients that just about everyone has on hand.
Yes, I have vanilla rum on hand, don't judge me.

Ingredients:

1 jar of maraschino cherries, drained and soaked overnight in vanilla rum
(you can buy it, I make my own)*
1 12 oz box of Nilla wafers
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup light corn syrup
3/4 cup vanilla rum (just use the rum from the cherries)
1 cup confectioner's sugar (more for coating)

Directions:

1. Place vanilla wafers in food processor and create fine crumbs. Or put in a ziplock freezer bag and beat the hell out of them.
2. Heat chocolate chips and corn syrup together in sauce pan over low heat. Cook, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and smooth, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup confectioner's sugar and rum until smooth. Fold in cookie crumbs, dough will be sticky.
3. Place saucepan in refrigerator until dough is firm and easy to roll, about 15 minutes. Cover 2 plates with waxed paper, dust with confectioner's sugar.
4. Encase a drunk cherry in dough and roll into a ball, place on prepared plates. Continue until you run out of cherries and/or dough. If you have excess cherries, they're great in Cuba Libres, if you have excess dough, make plain rum balls.
5. Refrigerate until firm, about 20 minutes.
6. Remove balls from fridge and put in a ziplock with extra sugar, seal and shake until all balls are thoroughly coated.

These are really good 2-3 days later. Store in fridge, pull out 30 minutes before serving to get to room temp. Go easy, especially on the cherry ones. Just a couple will do the trick.

* Vanilla Rum recipe
1 liter good quality light rum
5 vanilla pods
Simple syrup if desired

Gently slit the pods down the middle, opening slightly. Place in bottle of rum and screw the lid back on. This is where it gets hard. Place bottle in a dark cool place and leave it there for 2-3 months. Give bottle a gentle shake now and then to distribute the infusion. If you trust yourself, you can do a taste test after a couple of months to check for desired flavor.  The longer you leave it, the stronger the vanilla taste. You can add simple syrup to taste if you want a sweeter rum, but I never do.