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These Walnut Rum Balls are melt-in-your-mouth cookies with a buttery texture, toasted walnuts, and a hint of spiced rum. They’re similar to Russian Tea Cakes—tender, nutty, and coated in powdered sugar—but with deeper flavor and a touch of holiday warmth.
If you love nutty holiday cookies, try my Brown Sugar Pecan Cookies or Toasted Macadamia Coconut Cookies. Both are buttery, crumbly classics that pair beautifully with these Walnut Rum Balls on any holiday cookie platter.
Krissy’s Notes
These are the cookies my sister asks for every Christmas. They are rich, delicate, and impossible to stop eating.
I’ve tested these countless times over the years. Toasting the walnuts adds depth, and processing half of them into a rum paste keeps the dough tender instead of crumbly. The result is a cookie that holds its shape but still melts the moment you bite into it.
This recipe always makes an appearance on my holiday cookie tray, along with my Molasses Cookies and Microwave Fudge.
What You’ll Need To Make Them
The full recipe is in the card below, but here’s a quick summary:
You’ll need walnuts, spiced rum, butter, flour, granulated sugar, kosher salt, and powdered sugar for coating.
Toasting the nuts brings out their sweetness, while a small amount of spiced rum gives that warm holiday aroma. You can skip the rum if you prefer and substitute with vanilla extract or a combination of vanilla with a small amount of almond or rum extract.
How to Make Walnut Rum Balls
Full instructions are in the recipe card below, but here’s the short version:
- Toast the walnuts. This takes about 10 minutes.
- Make the walnut paste. Pulse half the walnuts with rum in a food processor until smooth.
- Mix the dough. Beat butter and sugar until fluffy, then mix in the walnut paste, flour, salt, and remaining chopped walnuts.
- Chill the dough. Wrap and refrigerate until firm.
- Bake. Shape into small balls and bake until barely golden on the bottoms.
- Roll in sugar. Once cooled, roll in powdered sugar for that classic tea-cake finish.
They’re delicate when warm, so handle them gently and let them cool completely before coating.
Make Ahead, Storage, and Freezing
To make ahead: Chill the dough up to 2 days before baking.
To store: Keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
To freeze: Freeze baked cookies (uncoated) for up to 3 months. Thaw and roll in powdered sugar before serving.
Learn From Me
A few lessons from years of baking these:
- Be gentle. These cookies are delicate by design. Let them cool completely before moving.
- Don’t skip chilling. It keeps the cookies from spreading and helps them stay round.
- Use toasted nuts. It makes the flavor deeper and richer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are just a few questions I’ve gotten from readers over the years.
Yes. You can substitute the rum with a smaller amount of vanilla extract or rum extract.
Yes. The rum flavor remains, but the alcohol itself cooks out completely during baking.
Chill them before packing, and handle gently. They are delicate in that they melt in your mouth, but they definitely can hold up well in a cookie tin. I’ve even shipped them in the mail and they didn’t fall apart.
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Ingredients
- 2 cups walnuts
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons spiced rum
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- To toast the 2 cups walnuts, spread them in an even layer on a baking sheet and toast in a 350°F oven for about 10 minutes, stirring while cooking to ensure even toasting. Allow them to fully cool.
- In a food processor, pulse 2 cups all purpose flour, only half of the walnuts, and the 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt until the walnuts are in small chunks, about 4-5 pulses. Transfer this mixture to a separate bowl and set aside.
- Run the remaining toasted walnuts through the food processor until finely ground, about 10-20 seconds. Add the 3 tablespoons spiced rum and process until a paste forms which takes only about 5 seconds.
- Using a stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream 1 cup unsalted butter and 1/2 cup granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the walnut rum paste and beat until combined. Turn the speed to low, add the flour mixture one spoonful at a time, and stop mixing as soon as everything has combined. Do not over mix.
- Transfer the dough to plastic wrap, wrap tightly, and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Prepare two baking sheets by lining with parchment paper.
- Form dough into walnut sized balls. Bake until bottoms just start to brown, about 12-14 minutes. Allow to cool on sheets for about 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Repeat until all the cookies have baked.
- Prior to eating, roll fully cooled cookies in 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, shaking off any excess.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Very tasty! Good walnut flavour, but found that the taste of the rum gets lost after baking. Next time will add some rum flavouring to punch it up and maybe add a tbsp. more of liquid so that it’s not quite so fragile, though i do love how it almost melts in your mouth 🙂
I’m glad I read your comment. I’m not used to cooking with alcohol and I’m almost a year sober. I want to make these but have been worried about the alcohol in it. Will cooking with alcohol of any sort still have it’s effects on mental ability and liver, etc
I’m reasonably confident all of the alcohol burns off during the cooking process, but if you are unsure and want to be 100%, you can always completely omit it from the recipe or substitute with a non-alcoholic version (America’s test kitchen has one that uses raisins, black tea, and molasses!). Congrats on your year sober!
Hi there! I just made these to bring to a holiday party and I found that while they were *delicious*, they were also extremely delicate (i.e. crumbling under my fingers if I grabbed them with just a little too much pressure, crumbling in the tupperware I put them in, etc)! Do you have any tips for how to make these sturdier for handling/transport, or do I just have to accept that these rum balls will require very gentle handling?
I’m just very gentle with them. 🙂 Thanks for commenting! Krissy
Hi! Can you tell me why the recipe calls for kosher salt as opposed to table salt? Thanks!
Its just personal preference. Kosher salt is pretty much all I use and I love the larger sized crystals. It just improves the taste, in my opinion. You can totally use table salt if you want! -Krissy
I just made these. WOW! I do love the kosher salt! Thank you for posting this excellent recipe.
Thanks for letting me know! Yeah, they’re tasty for sure. -Krissy