Making Mealtime Meaningful: Discover how we're giving back with the 12T Cares program →

Recipe Tin Project: Christmas Whisky Bubbles

A sweet little holiday treat from an old recipe card.

hearts
When you share or print a 12 Tomatoes recipe,
you're making mealtime meaningful.
100% of the Share to Care sponsor fees fund meals for families in need. Learn More
CLICK ANY LINK BELOW TO JOIN OUR CAUSE!

How could I have resisted making these upon seeing this old recipe card? Christmas Whisky Bubbles! Well, that’s just the cutest name for a holiday confection… with a little kick. Growing up, my family baked a lot for the holidays but we didn’t make much in the way of candies or truffles and such, so I was excited to try this recipe that was in someone else’s holiday tradition. It turned out to be simple to make and fun too.

This recipe card came to me through the Recipe Tin Project, a project where I cook my way through an old recipe tin full of vintage recipes. But you might have already guessed that. It’s chock full of old recipe cards, most of which seem to be from the ’60s and ’70s. I love food history, and the idea is to breathe new life into these recipes from the past and maybe learn a technique or two from them along the way. The recipes come from different people with different handwriting; some have sweet illustrations while others are on plain (often smudged and stained) index cards.

This one was written on a lined index card in a bright blue, almost turquoise cursive. The ingredients are mixed in with the directions, which makes it a little harder to make sure you got everything you need, but in this case, it’s only five things, so I managed just fine. The top corners of the card are a little worn, the card itself has yellowed with age, but otherwise, it’s pretty unblemished.

First, it calls for 40 to 50 vanilla wafers, which you crush into crumbs. It seems the finer is better for this application. You mix that with a few teaspoons of cocoa powder and a cup of chopped nuts. Again, finer is better with the nuts as well — I think mine could’ve been smaller.

You mix that with light corn syrup and also a couple jiggers of whisky until it’s sticky and then roll the mixture into balls before rolling them into powdered sugar. That’s it!

There’s no cooking, no melting, no candy thermometers — just a matter of mixing together a few ingredients and then rolling them up into sweet little spheres. Whisky is really the star here — they have a pretty good kick, so they’re aptly named — with just a mildly chocolatey flavor and a nice crunchy texture thanks to the nuts and wafer crumbs.

Yield(s): Yield 24 balls

15m prep time

4.2
Rated 4.2 out of 5
Rated by 37 reviewers

Allergens: Tree Nuts, Gluten

hearts
When you share or print a 12 Tomatoes recipe,
you're making mealtime meaningful.
100% of the Share to Care sponsor fees fund meals for families in need. Learn More
CLICK ANY LINK BELOW TO JOIN OUR CAUSE!
Ingredients
  • 40 - 50 vanilla wafers, crushed
  • 3 teaspoons cocoa powder
  • 1 cup chopped nuts
  • 4 teaspoons light corn syrup
  • 3 tablespoons whisky
  • Powdered sugar, as needed
Preparation
  1. In a medium bowl, mix together wafer crumbs, cocoa powder, and chopped nuts.
  2. Add corn syrup and whisky and mix well.
  3. Roll into small balls, then roll in powdered sugar. Enjoy!

Subscribe to 12 Tomatoes