Helen's Bourbon Balls

Ingredients:

• 1 package of Nabisco Nilla Wafers (3 cups)

• 1 pkg of Domino 10x confectioners sugar (3 cups)

• 3/4 lb whole pecans (3 cups) crushed in a blender

• 6 oz Bourbon (I have used Maker's Mark the last several years but Helen had always used a cheaper brand such as Yellowstone)

• 2 oz white Karo syrup

• Additional amount of powdered sugar for the rolling process plus wax paper

Instructions:

• Fill an 8 oz measuring cup to 6 oz mark with bourbon, and then add the 2 oz of Karo syrup to the 8oz mark. Carefully stir until the syrup is dissolved.

• Give John the spoon to lick.

• Use a large Ziplock bag and place about a third of the wafers in it (don't eat more than two). Using a rolling pin, crush them until they are crumbs. (If you use the processor on both the pecans and the wafers, you will have a smooth pasty bourbon ball, tastes good but isn't like Helen's.)

• Pour wafers into a large bowl and repeat the process until all wafers are crushed. Pour in the crushed pecans and sugar and mix.

• Make a well in the center and pour in the bourbon/Karo mixture.

• Give Helen the measuring cup for her to lick.

• Slowly stir all ingredients until it is stiff and moist.

• Using whatever method you can, spoon out about 3/4 of a teaspoon and roll it into a ball using wax paper and the additional powdered sugar. If the mixture becomes dry, just stir it up and it remoistens itself.

• Refrigerate made balls for the bourbon to "age" with the other ingredients properly.

Information:

• The recipe makes approximately 120½ bourbon balls. I think. We sampled the ingredients and the finished product while we made them -- hence the "approximately" bit.

• Helen & John were my maternal grandparents. They were an impressive pair, and I miss them.

• Recipes sometimes lose their essence from generation to generation. This one did not! I am grateful, indeed.

• I used the exact brands mentioned in the recipe. Substitute at your own risk.
• Special thanks to Liz for getting the bourbon balls to say, "Cheese!" (top photo)

• In the photograph below John was singing "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" to Helen. Sweet, don't you think? I think my mom took this shot on their back patio.

~End Quote