Rum(*) Balls for Kids

Serves one (**)

You will need

Assign a task to each child.

If you are using Graham Cracker Crumbs from the Bulk Barn, you can actually dispense with the kids, and this is my usual ploy.

Otherwise assign a plastic bag to each child, and divide the Milk Arrowroot biscuits (or whatever ...) by placing a portion into each child’s bag. Caution: do NOT have the children divvy up the biscuits. It usually ends up in a fight, and you’ll get less biscuits than the rest of them.

Have each child pound the life out of the biscuits until only crumbs remain. It is important that all the air be expelled from each bag prior to pounding.

Sieve the crumbs through a colander (a sieve is too finely-meshed) and hand the remaining fragments back to the child who complained the loudest about not getting their fair share. Serves him right. He gets to do more work.

Place the sieved crumbs into a large mixing bowl, add the cocoa powder (oh yes, I forgot to remind you about tying an apron onto each child), add the sultana raisins and the jam(s). The jam will flow more easily if it has been brought to room temperature.

Mix thoroughly by wooden spoon and by hand until the jam is fairly well (but not completely) absorbed.

Allow each child to engage in the hand mixing until, in each case, there is evidence of cocoa powder on the apron, at which time you pass the mixing bowl on to the next child. (You may want to facilitate this procedure by starting at the junior end of the scale, so that Miss Meticulous doesn’t get to hog the mixing process).

Add the crumbs from the secondary pounding, giving Little Mister Sulk a chance to get his hands dirty.

Lay out a sheet of greaseproof paper and separate the mixed dough into amounts of about one cubic inch; each child in turn is given a cube and is instructed to roll it into a ball, and then place the ball on the sheet of waxed paper.

Before they have a chance to count the balls, send all the children out to the store to purchase some chocolate sprinkles, which you forgot to purchase yesterday. While they are gone, sample a few of the balls to make sure that they are the correct consistency.

When the children return, empty all the chocolate sprinkles into several bowls (one per child), and have the children roll the balls in their bowl of chocolate sprinkles, placing the finished ball onto a dinner plate set aside for the purpose.

Once all the balls are sprinkled, quickly place the plate covered with waxed paper or a plastic bag, into the refrigerator “for later”. Explain to the children that they can’t have any now because it will “ruin your dinner”.

As a consolation, you might want to take them, aprons and all, through the car-wash.

Perhaps take the car, too.

(*) In my experience, adding rum to a cake mixture would be a waste of good rum; or bad rum.

(**) In my limited experience. I’ve never managed to get them out of the house before they are all consumed.

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