No Bake Baileys Irish Cream Cookie Balls

So after a short break, I’m back with more Baileys treats. St. Patrick’s Day needs to get here fast before I overload on Baileys. Today it’s in the form of cookie balls.

Cookie balls? Yes, cookie balls. No cake here. And not because I don’t love cake. I LOVE cake. But these are even easier because there’s no baking involved. That’s right. You don’t even have to turn on your oven. And yet when you bite into these delightful little balls of joy, you’d never know there was no cake involved. And they are best if you make them and then let them sit overnight. The cookies really absorb all the flavor and then it all just melts in your mouth. A serious Baileys flavor explosion. Awesome! Now let’s get started.

The main ingredient here is vanilla wafer cookies. These babies are useful for so many things and I love them for that. I used my food processor to crush them up. You need 3 cups, which was about 1 full box of vanilla wafers. Add in the powdered sugar and mix well. Then add the corn syrup and Baileys and mix it all together. It may seem kind of crumbly, but as you mush it together to form a ball it does hold it’s shape very well. My coworkers were surprised when I told them I’d used vanilla wafers to make them because not only could they not tell from the taste or texture, but they were surprised it all held together so well – but it does! Next, roll the cookie mixture into balls. I used about 2 heaping tablespoons worth of the cookie mixture in each ball.

When you are done rolling the balls, get your chocolate candy melts ready for dipping. (In case you are wondering, you can use other types of candy coating products, but I don’t recommend regular chocolate chips) I melt my chocolate in the microwave in small increments of about 15 – 45 seconds. I usually start off with 45 second or so increments to get the candy melts going, but once it starts getting melty, I taper off to less time so as not to burn the melted chocolate. Once your chocolate is ready, dip away!

Allow the balls to dry and again I recommend letting them sit overnight so that the vanilla wafers soak up all the moisture and flavor of the Baileys. They will still be delicious if you eat them right away, but the cookie crumbs will be more distinct rather than fully incorporated and melt in your mouth awesome. Know what I mean?

Baileys Irish Cream Cookie Truffles
Makes 18-20 truffles

3 cups vanilla wafer crumbs
1 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup corn syrup
2/3 cup Baileys Irish Cream
12 oz bag chocolate chips or candy melts

1. Combine vanilla wafer crumbs and powdered sugar in a large bowl.
2. Add corn syrup and irish cream and mix well.
3. Make balls of about 2 heaping tablespoons each of the vanilla wafer mixture. Shape balls and set aside.
4. Melt candy melts in a bowl in the microwave using short time increments of about 15-45 seconds (more explanation on how I do that above).
5. Dip each ball into the chocolate and set on a piece of parchment paper to dry.

NOTE: The cookie balls are best after sitting overnight so that the vanilla wafers soak up all the moisture and flavor of the Baileys.

Modified from Fabulous Foods.

Enjoy!

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