Walnut ladoo. These ladoo are studded with goodness of walnuts and scented with addicting aroma of ground cardamom. Nutty, ghee laden and so delightful, these are a perfect snack for winter time.
In this post, I am sharing a small batch ladoo recipe that makes 8-10 ladoos.
If you are a little bit like me, ladoos stocked in the snack shelf provide you sort of a comfort. Like most indian kids, ladoos of all kinds were a huge part of my snacking regime as a child. My mother and grandmother replenished the stash regularly as we progressed through the cold months.
Walnut Ladoo
Ladoo (round balls) are an extremely popular sweet in India and they are made using a variety of flours, nuts and seeds.
Walnut Ladoo are made with toasted chopped walnuts (= akhrot in Hindi), a binding flour (like chickpea flour or oat flour or wheat flour), sugar and ghee. A little effort is needed in chopping the walnuts else the recipe is pretty straightforward and takes about 25-30 minutes. These keep well for a week and a perfect nutty bite any time you like.
My recipe is
- Gluten free
- Small batch - you wont have mithai lurking around for weeks.
- can be easily doubled or tripled if you wish.
- Delicious & nutritious!
Ingredients
You need just 4 ingredients for this recipe (plus the cardamom or any kind of flavor that you like)
- Raw Walnuts
- Chickpea flour or Oat flour (or a combination of two). You may also use Whole wheat flour(atta)
- Powdered Sugar (Boora). You will be able to find it in indian stores else grind granulated sugar at home and use.
- Ghee
How to Make Walnut Ladoo
Here are the steps :-
- Start by dry roasting the walnuts. Chop them into tiny bits.
- Toast chickpea pea flour in ghee until its a light golden shade.
- Mix walnuts, chickpea flour and sugar together.
- Add cardamom powder and roll into ladoos.
Tips & Tricks When Making Ladoo
- Buy fresh, good quality walnuts. I try not to use walnuts that are lying around for more than a month. Always taste the walnuts- sometimes they get bitter even when sitting in the fridge.
- Hand Chop the Walnuts. This is a time consuming part of the recipe but I recommend it.It makes a huge difference in the taste and texture of ladoo. I did try to pound the walnuts in mortar & pestle as well as grind/pulse them but they got oily or powdery.
- Flour :- You can mix use ¼ cup fine oat flour and ¼ cup chickpea flour in this recipe. Or whole wheat flour (atta) will work as well.
- Using Sugar Substitutes. You can try powdered jaggery or coconut sugar, I haven't used. But it should work if I may guess.
- Dont use confections sugar or powdered sugar from the bakery aisle. The sugar has cornstarch and it will spoil the texture of ladoos.
- Roll the ladoo with gentle hands. This applies to any kind of ladoo.
- While rolling ladoos, if you feel that the mixture is loose or hard to handle, refrigerate it for 30 minutes and use again.Similarly add a little ghee if the mixture feels dry.
Here are few other ladoo recipes to try
Walnut (Akhrot) Ladoo
Gluten-free Walnut ladoo are a perfect snack during winter months. This small batch ladoo recipe takes 30 minutes to make.
Ingredients
- 1.5 cup (200g) raw walnuts
- 5-7 tablespoon ghee or as needed, melted
- ½ cup besan gram flour
- ⅓ cup powdered sugar (can go unto ½ cup), see notes
- ½ teaspoon ground green cardamom
Instructions
- In a wide heavy bottom pan or iron kadai, dry roast the walnuts on low heat for 6-7 minutes stirring continuously .Transfer to a plate when you smell a nice aroma. Dont let the nuts blacken. Transfer to a plate and let cool down.
- Once cooled, using a sharp knife, on a cutting board finely chop the walnuts (don't powder).
- Place kadai on stove and to begin with, add 5 tablespoon of ghee. Add besan. Continuously stirring, roast the besan in ghee for about 10-12 minutes or until its golden and you smell a nice aroma. The besan should not turn dark shade .
- Add the chopped walnuts and mix thoroughly with the besan. Roast everything together for another 2-3 minutes and then switch off the stove.
- When the mixture is cool to touch (but not cold), mix in the sugar and cardamom. Mix everything with hands thoroughly.If you feel that the mix is dry, add more ghee and mix well (I used about 7-8 tablespoon ghee in all). If you feel that the mixture is getting loose and hard to handle, refrigerate it for 30 minutes and use again.
- Divide the mixture into portions and using your palms and fingers, form into ladoos of desired size without cracks.Do not squeeze hard when rolling ladoos.
- Store in an airtight container for upto a week. If its summer, store in fridge. You can freeze for a month too. Enjoy whenever you want!
Notes
- Nutrition provided is an estimation only.
- You can mix and use ¼ cup fine oat flour and ¼ cup chickpea flour in this recipe. Or whole wheat flour (atta) will work as well.
- You can try powdered jaggery or coconut sugar, I haven't used. But it should work if I may guess.
- You may use rose essence or saffron in place of cardamom to flavor these.
- Buy fresh, good quality walnuts. I try not to use walnuts that are lying around for more than a month. Always taste the walnuts- sometimes they get bitter even when sitting in the fridge.
- Hand Chop the Walnuts. This is a time consuming part of the recipe but I recommend it.It makes a huge difference in the taste and texture of ladoo. I did try to pound the walnuts in mortar & pestle as well as grind/pulse them but they got oily or powdery.
- Flour :- You can mix use ¼ cup fine oat flour and ¼ cup chickpea flour in this recipe. Or whole wheat flour (atta) will work as well.
- Using Sugar Substitutes. You can try powdered jaggery or coconut sugar, I haven't used. But it should work if I may guess.
- Dont use confections sugar or powdered sugar from the bakery aisle. The sugar has cornstarch and it will spoil the texture of ladoos.
- Roll the ladoo with gentle hands. This applies to any kind of ladoo.
- While rolling ladoos, if you feel that the mixture is loose or hard to handle, refrigerate it for 30 minutes and use again.Similarly add a little ghee if the mixture feels dry.
Nutrition
Calories: 280kcalCarbohydrates: 10gProtein: 6gFat: 26gSaturated Fat: 6gPolyunsaturated Fat: 14gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 16mgSodium: 4mgPotassium: 173mgFiber: 3gSugar: 5gVitamin A: 8IUVitamin C: 0.4mgCalcium: 31mgIron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
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