A ball of year round 'pick me up'

Although most people associate sweet delicacies like rum balls to holidays, making them took the place of counseling for the women of my family.

My great-aunts Glenna and Sis and my Grandmother Iva liked to have them around when life handed them or their family members had too many lemons to deal with.

"They are sweet yet naughty little 'pick me ups'," Grandma Iva used to say with a little wink. "And the best thing is that no one knows you're getting a little nip when you need it."

With life being filled with moments of turmoil that force a person to take a short respite, it is no wonder why these "liquored-up sweet treats" were always around the house somewhere.

I hope that when life presents you with a moment you need to have a "pick me up" you'll enjoy these simple little treats.

You're going to need 2 1/2 cups of crushed chocolate wafers to make the base. Although the technological advancement of food processors makes this an easy task, my Grandmother Iva always said using two paper bags and a rolling pin or mallet helped calm her disposition more than once.

Toast 1 cup of finely chopped pecans briefly in a skillet with a teaspoon of butter and a light sprinkle of sugar and cinnamon. Add to the bowl of wafer crumbs.

Whisk together 1 cup of powdered sugar, 1/3-cup rum, bourbon or chocolate liquor, 1 teaspoon of melted (salted) butter and a 1/4-cup of light corn syrup and add to the wafer and nut crumbs.

Mix quickly with your hands until evenly moistened.

Pinch the size you want from the mix and roll into a ball. My grandmother believed a tablespoon made the perfect size, but most people prefer a slightly smaller treat. All that really matters is uniformity. When done, place all the balls on a cookie sheet.

To decorate the balls, you can roll them in a traditional coating of 1/2-cup of powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon cocoa powder.

However, my family enjoyed coating them in any form of melted chocolate.

For a gift, place the balls in doilies inside a pretty tin or plastic container.

For home, place them on wax paper with more wax paper used between the layers and store in an airtight container.