Holidays are the best time to go back to the classics.
This is my lil spin on chocolate bourbon balls. I actually blogged a version back in the early days of Haute Pepper, complete with terrible photography and everything! This is another Hollymead recipe and boy am I glad that my grandmother had this recipe in her collection. We all know that the holidays always include a marathon of baking and sweet creations. I think given the year we are having it’s a good idea to sprinkle in some boozy treats between those sugar cookies and gingerbread men.
Note: There is NOTHING that cooks off the alcohol in this so I don’t recommend serving to your lil elves.
To take the festiveness up a notch I decided to use a local whiskey over a bourbon, honestly I am not sure if it matters but those of you that are hardcore bourbonites might care. If you are from Pittsburgh then I am sure you know Wigle Whiskey by now, if you haven’t heard of them then get from under that rock already!!
Wigle produces so many great spirits and I love how they collaborate with other local folks on making special blends like this St. Nick. In this case the collaboration is with Penn Brewery, a German style brewery and restaurant.
About the St. Nick Whiskey:
To make this biannual holiday whiskey we start with Penn’s St. Nikolaus Bock, a traditional German-style brew that boasts an array of roasty malt flavors balanced with a subtle touch of hops. We placed this well-balanced Bock into our German copper-pot still for a double-distillation, then rest it in American oak casks for 15 months, creating a caramel-hued whiskey with mellow vanilla and toffee notes.
The label for this holiday whiskey was created by Pittsburgh artist, Abbie Adams, and features Northside buildings that surround Penn Brewery and Wigle’s Northside barrelhouses.
I am actually a huge promoter of shopping local and supporting small business. COVID has been particularly hard on these businesses this year and we all know that they are the backbone of our communities so if you can, I hope you consider supporting local businesses in your community. If you want to support Wigle good news, they ship!
I loved the idea of using this whiskey and swapping nuts out for pistachios, it all seemed like a good a match and of course turned out to be just that. In my first version I used almonds. Grandma’s recipe doesn’t specify the type of nut so I suspect she would have approved of my use of pistachio. These are super simple to make and very easy to eat so watch yourself. There’s not enough booze to make things get goofy (unless you eat them all yourself) but you know enough that you might notice.
Chocolate Pistachio Whiskey Balls
Notes
To help with rolling make sure your hands are slightly wet.
You can experiment with coatings like ground pistachios, nuts, coconut, whatever you like!
Ingredients
- 1 Box Vanilla Wafers
- 1 Cup Pistachios (finely chopped) – Any nuts will do
- 1/4 Cup Unsweetened cocoa powder + extra for coating
- 14 oz. Condensed Milk
- 1/4 Cup Whiskey (Rum or Bourbon work too)
- Confectioner Sugar
Instructions
- Place vanilla wafers in a large ziplock bag. Using a rolling pin, crush the wafers into small pieces.
- Add the wafers, pistachios, and cocoa powder to a bowl. Stir to combine.
- Add in condensed milk and whiskey, stir until well combined.
- Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, an hour is preferred.
- Scoop out mix by teaspoon and roll into bite sized balls.
- Coat in cocoa or confectioner sugar.
- Place in refrigerator until firm, 24 hours is best.
- Provide a second coat of cocoa or confectioner sugar if needed prior to serving.
