Sour cherry cookie balls with vișinată (Romanian liqueur)

Name: Sour cherry cookie balls with vișinată (Romanian liqueur)
Ingredients: 400 g petit beurre biscuits; 100 g ground walnuts; 3 tablespoons cocoa; 200 ml milk; 4 tablespoons sugar; 50 g dark chocolate; 100 g President butter; 1 teaspoon rum extract; 180 g vișinată sour cherries (drained); 50 g desiccated coconut

Dessert - Sour cherry cookie balls with vișinată (Romanian liqueur) by Sofia E. - Recipia

Sour cherry cookie balls with vișinată are a no-bake Easter dessert with a soft center, walnuts and cocoa. Vișinată is a Romanian sour cherry liqueur. I pay attention to how finely I crush the biscuits: I leave small crumbs, not powder, so the mixture keeps a slightly coarse texture after the warm milk goes in and doesn’t turn into a paste. Prep: 25 minutes. Cook: 5 minutes. Rest: 40 minutes. Total time: 70 minutes. Servings: 20. About 210 kcal and 3 g protein per serving.

Ingredients

400 g petit beurre biscuits
100 g ground walnuts
3 tablespoons cocoa
200 ml milk
4 tablespoons sugar
50 g dark chocolate
100 g President butter
1 teaspoon rum extract
180 g vișinată sour cherries (drained)
50 g desiccated coconut

Preparation

1. Crush the biscuits in a blender or meat grinder. Put them in a bowl with the ground walnuts and cocoa and mix. 2. Put the milk, sugar, chocolate and butter in a small saucepan. Cook over low heat for 5 minutes, stirring, until melted and smooth. 3. Take the saucepan off the heat and let the mixture cool for 10 minutes. Add the rum extract, then pour the warm liquid over the biscuits and walnuts. Mix until the mixture holds together. 4. Take a piece of dough and flatten it in your palm. Put a well-drained vișinată sour cherry in the middle. Enclose it in the dough and shape into a ball. 5. Roll the balls in the coconut and chill for 30 minutes.

Notes

Keep them in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days; you can also make them a day ahead. For the outside, you can replace the coconut with 50 g finely chopped walnuts; the biscuits contain gluten, and the mixture contains nuts and dairy. Serve them with unsweetened coffee. Well-drained sour cherries are easier to enclose in the dough, especially if they have been sitting in a lot of liquid. If they are large, cut them in half so you don’t have to make the balls bigger. If the mixture sticks firmly to your palms, chill it briefly before continuing. When shaping, carefully seal the dough around the sour cherry so there are no gaps. Add the rum extract without boiling; for an alcohol-free flavor, use 1 teaspoon alcohol-free vanilla extract.