Romkugler / Rum treats
Originally these were made by Danish bakers to get rid of day-old leftover Danish pastries and bits of cake, but you also buy them now as treats in their own right.
They are super easy to make. Use leftover danish pastries and cakes (You can even save bits of leftover pastry and end slices of sponge cake in the freezer until you have enough for a batch of these and just defrost to make them).
The difference between these and havregrynskugler/chokladboller/oat balls is that those are made with butter and oats - these are made with left over cake. In Sweden these are knowns as Arraksboller.
These are so easy to make but you need to adjust flavouring depending on what cake and pastry you use.
MAKES 10–15 (depending on your sizing)
Ingredients
- 500 g - 1lb - leftover Danish pastries and/or cake – ideally mixture of both
- 2 tbsp –3 tablespoons good quality raspberry jam/jelly
- 100 g - 3/4 cup - icing/confectioners’ sugar (add less if your cakes are a really sweet variety)
- 100 g - 7 tbsp - softened butter
- 2-3 tablespoons good quality cocoa powder
- Drop of vanilla essence
- 2-3 tsp rum extract or essence (we use quite a concentrated one – you may need to add a bit more as you want it to have a good punchy flavour)
- a handful of oats optional
- Dark or light chocolate vermicelli strands or desiccated coconut to decorate
Instructions
- Roughly tear any Danish pastries into bite-sized pieces and crumble up any cakes you are using. In a stand mixer using the paddle attachment or in a food processor, blend the shredded and crumbled pastries and cakes with the rest of the ingredients (apart from the oats and the chocolate vermicelli) until evenly mixed. Alternatively, you can do this by hand with a wooden spoon in a mixing bowl, but it will take longer.
- Taste the mixture – it may need more cocoa powder, rum extract or even icing/confectioners’ sugar. Because this is made with leftovers, the taste will vary a bit. If you feel it needs more texture you can add handful of oats or even some chopped nuts.
- Chill the mixture in the refrigerator for about an hour to firm up.
- Roll into balls a bit larger than the size of a golf ball and roll in the chocolate vermicelli strands to evenly coat. Chill again in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve.
Notes
Rum treats will keep well for 2–3 days wrapped in clingfilm/plastic wrap and stored in the refrigerator.
Photo is from our Bronte Aurell's book Fika & Hygge (RPS)
