Coconut Ladoo Recipe

Coconut ladoos are rich, quick and easy sweet dessert-snack. These are coconutty treats using condensed milk and desiccated coconut. Coconut ladoos are served on special occasions and also made during the festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi, Diwali and Holi.

INGREDIENTS

1. Desiccated coconut – 1 cup  + ¼ cup for rolling
2. Sweetened Condensed milk  -1 cup
3. Raw Almonds – 6 chopped (optional)
4. Ghee – 1 tsp + 1 tbsp for greasing

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat 1 tsp ghee and toast the almonds until golden. Drain and set aside. To the same pan add the condensed milk and desiccated coconut.
2. Mix well and cook on low flame until the mixture turns quite thick and starts to roll into a ball. (Mostly will take 8-10 minutes). Make sure to keep the flame low always.
3. The mixture will stick to your spatula and generally refuse to get stirred anymore. At that point, turn off the flame.
4. Add the roasted almonds, mix them in and let the mixture to cool for a while. When the mixture is warm and become cool enough to handle it, make ladoos of the desired size and roll them in more desiccated coconut.

GUTTANS TIPS

• GREASING : Grease your hands with some ghee if the mixture is sticky but if cooked right, it shouldn’t be hard to shape them. If the ladoo mixture is too sticky, return the pan on the fire for a while longer and cook until ready.
• KEEPING : Transfer to an airtight container once it is cooled completely. Refrigerate for up to 4-5 days, just remember to keep them out for some time before consuming since the ladoos turn a bit hard when refrigerated.
• SWEETNESS : The sweetness was perfect with equal amounts of coconut and condensed milk but always it can be altered to your taste.
• SHAPING : The mixture should be hot or warm while making the ladoos. If the mixture become cold, then making the ladoos is impossible. In this case, return the pan or bowl on the fire and slightly warm the mixture and continue to make the ladoos.
• COCONUT : If using fresh coconut, dry roast the coconut a bit to expel the moisture, but make sure that the colour of the coconut is not changed. Avoid scraping the coconut too much with the brown part, as it will spoil the colour of the ladoos. With fresh coconut the shelf life will be lower and need to cook the mixture little longer since fresh coconut is more moist.

Festival celebrations come alive when delicious and sweet ladoos are served. These melt in the mouth laddus are easy to prepare and perfect for gifting too. This coconut ladoo recipe is adapted from here. Ladoos are specially made during Indian festivals like Diwali, Dussehra, Holi etc.