If you don’t have a food processor, you can put the Oreos in a zip-top plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin or wine bottle, and crush the pecans in a nut grinder, but the balls will be coarser. Feel free to substitute bourbon for the rum. Or go farther afield with Kahlua, creme de menthe or sambuca, or even my favorite combination of Kahlua and sambuca. You may, depending on what alcohol you use, want to vary or omit the nuts.

Makes about 50

28 Oreos

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa, preferably Dutch-process

3/4 cup broken pecans

1 cup confectioner’s sugar, plus more for rolling

3 tablespoons to 4 tablespoons light corn syrup

1/4 cup dark rum

In a food processor, whiz the Oreos until very finely ground. Add the cocoa and pecans and grind them finely, but not to a paste. Add 1 cup confectioner’s sugar, 3 tablespoons corn syrup, and rum and whiz until the mixture is combined well and sticks together. Pinch a ball of dough; if you can’t get it to stick together well, mix in another tablespoon of corn syrup. (This isn’t an exacting recipe, so you can play with the ingredients a bit to get the mixture to hold together well without being overly sticky.)

Put about 1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar in a small bowl (press it through a sieve if it’s very lumpy). Scoop out heaping teaspoonfuls (infinitely easier with a cookie scoop — firmly pack the mixture into the scoop before popping the balls out) and roll them in the confectioner’s sugar to coat. Let stand on a baking sheet for several hours or overnight, loosely covered with plastic wrap, before storing in an airtight container for several days to several weeks (if storing for more than a few days, I put them in the fridge).

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