I’m pretty excited about these little rum balls. After looking through all the recipes & finding everything calling for crushed vanilla wafers, I thought I’d have to pass on these this year. BUT, I decided to use my Gluten-Free Oreo Cookie recipe that I’ve posted in the past as the base for these rum balls. I made the oreo cookie dough, rolled it out thin on parchment paper (pretty easy to roll, actually), then baked it. Once it was cooled, I broke the cookie up and put it into my food processor, and now I have a ziplock bag of gluten-free Oreo crumbs, that can be used for the crust in cheesecakes, ice cream (yum!), and of course, in rum balls.
Gluten-Free Oreo Cookies
- 3/4 cup rice flour
- 3/4 cup tapioca flour
- 3/4 cup cornstarch
- 1 tsp xanthan gum
- 2 tsp. egg substitute
- 2/3 cup cocoa
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup butter (I used margarine without a problem)
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1-2 tsp milk
Roll dough out on parchment paper (with wax paper on top if necessary). Roll as thin as you can, I got 2 large baking sheets. Bake for 11-12 minutes in a 350 degree F preheated oven. Remove from oven & let cool completely. Break into pieces & pulse in food processor until you have crumbs. Will make enough crumbs for this recipe, plus a lot to put in the freezer for the next time you want to make a cheesecake. 
Christmas Rum Balls
Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 cups GF Oreo Crumbs (see above)
- 1 1/4 cups icing sugar
- 1/2 cup spiced rum or bourbon
- 2 Tbsp white corn syrup
- 1 cup pecans or walnuts, broken (I did these fairly fine in the food processor)
Directions:
- Sift 1 cup icing sugar.
- Stir in the spiced rum mixed with the syrup.
- Add GF Oreo crumbs and nuts.
- Mix thoroughly.
- Shape mixture into walnut sized balls and dredge with remaining sugar or leave plain.
- Store in an airtight container or tin.
NOTE: These are best if you can make them a few days in advance, so they have time to mellow. So, if you can, make them 5 days before you want to consume them.
Source: Based on a recipe from Recipezaar.
And for the 2008 Gluten-Free Christmas Cookie Round-up, be sure to check out Ginger Lemon Girl’s blog today! I’ve added some recipes to the round-up, and there are a number of them there that I would like to try yet too.
You put your mind to something and you can convert almost every recipe to GF, Jeanine! Good for you..you will not be deprived nor sick this Christmas!
Thanks, Betty! Definitely NOT deprived this Christmas.
I’m thinking I should probably stop working in the kitchen already, but I love trying new recipes, and it’s the only time of year we make the really good, sweet, rich baked goods, I just can’t stop! 
This post is worth gold… A GF oreo cookie is so useful and versatile. I will be sure to try it soon. The Christmas Rum Balls look great. My mother-in-law use to make some every year and it was always something we all looked forward to. I think of her every time I see a picture of rum balls… warms my heart.
Alexa, I think I’m going to make a cheesecake in a springform pan using these oreo crumbs as the base. No one will be able to tell the difference. Definitely going to keep some on hand, you never know when you might need some.
I just tried making the rum balls. They taste great, but the mixture is way to soft to roll. Is the amount of liquid listed in the recipe correct?
Hmm…yeah, the amount of liquid is right. You may have to add up to 2 Tbsp extra crumbs, if you find it too wet, but you should be able to roll them. I don't recall having any issues with them when I made them, so I'm not quite sure what it could be.
I am prepping to make these as we speak. I couldn’t find the tapioca flour. Any suggestions. Would it be to messy to use tapioca?
Thanks so much!
Hi Kelly, You will need something in place of the tapioca flour, otherwise the dough will not work. Tapioca flour is also called tapioca starch (the two are the same). You can also sub potato starch for the tapioca starch in this case, or you may even want to try cornstarch. But, since I have not tried either of these, I can not vouch for them, sorry. Let us know what you do and how it works for you!
I added a little more cornstarch. They came out great! However I am definitely picking up some tapioca flour to have on hand because now I am baking gluten free I see it in several recipes.
Thanks so much for this recipe!
Happy holidays!
Phew, glad to hear that it worked! Yeah, I stock my pantry with brown rice, potato starch and tapioca starch, then I feel like I can do anything. lol