Christmas Coconut Balls

Ahhhh.... Christmas. Memories of ripping through package after package without looking up or pausing for a breath. Jim and I refer to this as the "Rogers tear-through." Now that we are civilized adults, we require our children to wait and open one by one so we can ooh and aah before snapping a shot of the kids with every single gift. We never print the photos, but at least we took the picture.

These coconut balls are a Rogers tradition born during my generation. This recipe makes a ton and I can spread them throughout the community. I've dipped them into paraffin/chocolate and love the satisfying snap that comes with every bite, but I've since learned that paraffin is not edible (say some). I'd rather not risk it, so I just use 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips (semi-sweet or milk) to 2 T shortening. Not as satisfying to bite, but yummy and definitely edible (I hate that gross "dipping bark"...nasty stuff unless you can find the ghirardelli or a fine (affordable) brand of chocolate).

1 stick of butter, softened
1 can sweetened condensed milk
14 oz. bag of coconut
1 tsp. vanilla (or almond) extract
2 lbs. powdered sugar (I use a bit less to improve the creaminess quality)
1 cup of chopped nuts (I use pecans, but you can use almonds)

Mix together- This dense filling made my Kitchenaid earn its reputation. Roll into balls, cover with plastic wrap and then refrigerate a few hours.

Melt the chocolate and shortening over a double boiler. Roll the balls in the chocolate and lay onto parchment paper to set. I prefer these at room temperature, but the chocolate really needs to refrigerate unless its been tempered, which you cannot do with chocolate chips.

People love them.