These sweet treats capture all of the Christmas flavours I love – chocolate, rum, coconut, dried fruit and a hint of spice.

Usually at this time of year I make rum balls; many, many batches of rum balls! I give them as gifts, stash them in the freezer and eat them all the way to Christmas. I would have made them again but then I read about the Sweet Adventures’ Sweets for Santa Blog Hop for December, hosted by The Hungry Australian. I knew I wanted to join but there are so many talented bloggers that participate each month in the blog hop that I knew my rum balls just wouldn’t cut it. So I’ve taken the flavours of the rum ball and recreated into a more (I think) stylish form.

These biscuits also pass my ultimate rum ball test. That is, they are absolutely delicious mashed through vanilla ice-cream.

Do you think Santa would enjoy these?

Biscuit (Cookie)
125g (4.5oz or 1/2 cup) butter, softened
70g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
250g (2 cups) flour
50g (2oz) desiccated coconut
50g (2oz) cocoa
1 tsp mixed spice
pinch of salt
4 tbsp golden syrup

Filling
250g (9oz) pitted prunes
2/3 cup dark rum (I used Bundaberg Rum)

To Decorate
Shredded coconut, about 1 cup

Mix the butter and sugar together until creamy. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, mixed spice and salt; stir through the coconut
Add the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar mix and combine. Add just enough golden syrup to bring it together in a ball, about 4 tablespoons. Wrap the dough in cling film and put it in the fridge to firm up.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C/350F and prepare the filling. Place the prunes and the rum in a small saucepan and heat until the prunes are very soft and squidgy. Remove from the heat and blend until smooth using an immersion blender (or a food processor). If you’re the careful type you may wish to wait for it to cool slightly first.
Remove the dough from the fridge. Roll out the dough, preferably a third of the dough at a time and between two pieces of baking paper. Cut the dough into rounds. I used a cutter that was just under 5cm/2 inches in diameter; I think this is a nice size.
Place the cut rounds on an oven tray and cook for about 10 minutes or so. Allow to cool before assembling
To assemble, spread some of the prune mix on the bottom of one biscuit; be generous, it’s Christmas. Sandwich with another biscuit and gently squeeze, allowing some of the filling to squidge out the sides. Smear and smooth the escaped prune mix all around the edge. Roll this side in the shredded coconut.

Check out the Sweet Adventures Sweets for Santa Blog Hop for more great Christmas baking: