Grandma Maries oatmeal balls - Danish Christmas Treat

February 13, 2026

Granny Maries Oatmeal Balls © kvalifood.com

Video Recipe - The classic home copy of the baker truffles and rum balls. I do not like the almond extract that is traditionally used. So I use a little marzipan instead. And yes. That is grandmother Marie from the family who gave her name to the recipe. She most likely has the recipe from some womens magazine. But I do not want to dig too much into that. It is much more pleasant to live with the illusion that it has just magically been passed along by the generations.

Ingredients

balls

125 g (4.5 oz) oatmeal
50 g (1.75 oz) butter
75 g (2.5 oz) sugar
25 g (1 oz) cocoa powder
5 tbsp coffee (liquid not beans)
50 g (1.75 oz) marzipan (or a little almond essence)

garnish

100 g (3.5 oz) shredded coconut

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njS-NuGHSLk

Directions

Pour the hot coffee into the sugar, so that the sugar melts.

Put the butter into the coffee to make it softer and more pliable.

Add the rolled oats into a food processor and grind them up into a finer texture.

Mix everything together in a bowl. If you have a powerful food processor then just mix it with that.

Roll the dough into small balls and roll them in coconut.

Notes

When you dissolve the sugar in the coffee, it prevents that there will be crunchy sugar grains in the finished balls.

It is not strictly necessary to “blend” the oatmeal, but I think it gives a better structure and prettier balls.

You can replace half the coffee with raspberry jam. That makes them taste a little more like the traditional danish leftover cake “Trøfler”. I like that. The rest of the family is not so crazy about it.

gluten

If you want a gluten free version you must be sure to get gluten free oatmeal. Oats do not contain gluten in themselves. But they often grow an fields where other grains have been grown, so they might be contaminated by wheat. Or they can have been processed in a mill where wheat has been milled too.