Super easy and kid-friendly rum balls made from crushed biscuits, sweetened condensed milk, cocoa and coconut and ready in just 5 minutes. This is a great recipe to make with the kids (and perfect for school lunch box treats).
A Rum Ball Recipe Made Without Rum (great for kids!)
Most classic rum ball recipes are made with a dash of rum (totally delicious but adults-only, of course!)… but our rum ball recipe has absolutely no rum in it at all, making it perfect for kids!
4 Ingredient Rum Balls
This is the easiest no-bake recipe ever!!! All you need is:
- crushed biscuits
- sweetened condensed milk
- cocoa powder
- desiccated coconut
… that’s it! This is such a yummy and budget-friendly recipe (you might even have the ingredients in your pantry right now!).
How to Make Rum Balls
This is the quickest 5 minute recipe – simply crush, mix, roll and coat!
Step 1: Crush the biscuits
You can crush the biscuits by hand using a rolling pin (pop the biscuits into an airtight plastic bag and continue to bang them until they resemble fine crumbs). But if you want to save time, then simply crush them in a food processor, blender or Thermomix.
Step 2: Add the sweetened condensed milk, cocoa powder and desiccated coconut
Give the mixture a good stir until it’s completely combined and the sweetened condensed milk has coated the dry ingredients.
Step 3: Roll into balls and coat in extra coconut.
Using your hands, roll the mixture into heaped teaspoon-sized balls and then toss through a bowl of coconut until well coated.
How to Store Rum Balls
Store rum balls in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Alternatively, freeze them in an airtight container for up to 2 months and allow to come to room temperature before eating.
Easy School Lunch Box Recipes
Our rum ball recipe is a great option for school lunch boxes – quick, easy and a guaranteed winner with the kids!
If you’ve made rum balls ahead of time and frozen them, you can place them straight into your kids lunch box and it will be defrosted and ready to eat by morning tea time – super handy!
For more easy lunch box snacks, check out our entire lunch box recipe collection here.
Top Tips For Making Rum Balls
Rum balls are SO simple to make – but here’s a few handy tips for making them perfect every single time!
- choose a plain sweet biscuit for crushing (I used Arnott’s Marie biscuits that are readily available in all Australian supermarkets). If you can’t buy Arnott’s biscuits, use any plain sweet biscuit you like. If you’re in the US, choose a plain sweet cookie – like a sugar cookie or butter cookie).
- You can easily crush the biscuits using a food processor, blender or Thermomix. If you don’t have any of these, you can always crush the biscuits using a rolling pin (simply place the biscuits into a sealable plastic bag and hit with the rolling pin until fine crumbs remain).
- As a rule, I prefer to use full fat sweetened condensed milk in my baking. However in this recipe, it doesn’t matter if you use full fat or skim condensed milk.
- For both the rum ball filling and the coating, use desiccated coconut (not flaked or shredded coconut as the balls wont hold together well enough).
- Once the rum balls have been rolled, they’re ready to eat straight away! However, they are best served after a few hours in the fridge.
- Rum balls can be prepared ahead of time and stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
More Kid-Friendly Ball Recipes
For more yummy homemade ball recipes that are perfect for kids, check out these recipes:
- healthy coconut, apricot and chia balls
- healthy chocolate mint balls
- healthy weet-bix balls
- lemon & coconut balls
- milo & weet-bix balls
- healthy salted caramel balls
- milo balls
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Kid-Friendly Rum Balls
Ingredients
- 250 g plain sweet biscuits
- 395 g sweetened condensed milk
- 85 g (1 cup) desiccated coconut
- 25 g (1/4 cup) cocoa powder
- 130 g (1 and 1/2 cups) desiccated coconut for rolling, extra
Instructions
CONVENTIONAL METHOD
- Crush the biscuits until they resemble fine crumbs using either a food processor, blender, Thermomix or rolling pin (see notes) and then place into a large bowl.
- Stir through the cocoa powder, desiccated coconut and sweeteened condensed milk until well coated.
- Using your hands, roll heaped teaspoons of the mixture into balls and then roll through the extra coconut to coat.
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or freeze for up to 2 months.
THERMOMIX METHOD
- Place the biscuits into the Thermomix bowl and crush on Speed 8, 10 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the cocoa powder, desiccated coconut and sweeteened condensed milk and mix on Reverse, Speed 4, 10 seconds. Scrape down the sides and repeat for a further 5-10 seconds or until combined.
- Using your hands, roll heaped teaspoons of the mixture into balls and then roll through the extra coconut to coat.
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or freeze for up to 2 months.
Notes
You can easily crush the biscuits using a food processor, blender or Thermomix. If you don't have any of these, you can always crush the biscuits using a rolling pin (simply place the biscuits into a sealable plastic bag and hit with the rolling pin until fine crumbs remain).
As a general rule, I prefer to use full fat sweetened condensed milk in my baking. However in this recipe, it doesn't matter if you use full fat or skim condensed milk.
For both the rum ball filling and the coating, use desiccated coconut (not flaked or shredded coconut as the balls wont hold together well enough).
Once the rum balls have been rolled, they're ready to eat straight away! However, they are best served after a few hours in the fridge.
Rum balls can be prepared ahead of time and stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Nutrition
So easy to make and the kids love these.!
I also rolled some in chocolate sprinkles and 100s n thousands. I have also made substituting a bit of expresso coffee for some of the condensed milk because I didn’t have enough, and it worked just as well.
YUM!!!!!
so easy to make my grand.daughter and.I did them in no time . is.there any thing you can use instead if condensed milk i wonder ?…chrissy
Hi Chrissy, thank you so much! You could perhaps try something like these which use biscuits and cream cheese next time: https://bakeplaysmile.com/cheesecake-balls/
Is there a way to get the rum taste without the rum? I want to be able to serve them at a party with adults as well. In recent years I’ve allowed the kids to have one or two rum balls with rum in them and they really prefer the taste over just chocolate and coconut.
Hi Cate, I believe you can buy non-alcoholic rum extract (although I’ve never actually seen this or used it myself!). xx
You can get rum flavouring/essence. If you’re in Australia most supermarkets stock it. It’s in the baking isle with the vanilla essences