Almond Joy Balls

From Paula Deen via my mother-in-law to me and now to you. These were the jewels in the holiday goodie plate crown. A delectable combination of sugar, butter, coconut and chocolate. I'm posting the recipe in its original form but here's what I did differently: 1) ran out of almond extract and subbed amaretto flavoring instead, mmmm, good. 2) used slightly less powdered sugar as per my mother-in-law's recommendation. 3) tried rolling into balls and that was a mess. maybe I should have sprayed PAM on my hands?? I was in a huge time crunch so I used my cookie scoop instead. 4) I didn't dip them in chocolate because they weren't in true balls, more of a semi-ball, if you will. So I melted the chocolate and drizzled on top. Guess what? They still tasted amazing! And I quite liked the drizzled chocolate presentation. I'd love to hear how these turn out for you and if you decide to dip or drizzle. enjoy!

Almond Joy Balls

Ingredients

• 2 (16-ounce) boxes confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 teaspoon pure almond extract
• 1 (14-ounce) package shredded coconut
• 1 1/2 cups chopped nuts
• 1 (12-ounce) package chocolate chips

Directions

Cream together sugar and butter in a bowl; add milk. Stir in almond extract, coconut, and nuts; mix well. Form candy into 1-inch balls. Place on waxed paper and refrigerate at least 3 hours. Melt chocolate in top of double boiler, stirring well. Remove from heat but allow chocolate to remain over hot water. (If chocolate becomes too thick, return to heat for a minute or so to thin). With a toothpick, dip each ball in chocolate and place on waxed paper until set.