Quick Kesar Malai Laddoo

Happy Diwali everyone...

During these odd times, nobody wants to spend hours in the kitchen preparing Diwali sweets. I am in the same boat and hence came up with a laddoo, so instant ( when you compare it to the rest of the sweets usually prepared for Diwali), you would never believe how easy this is with no compromise on the taste.

Difficulty level: Easy
Preparation time: 10 min
Cooking time: 2-3 min


Ingredients

• Milk powder- 1 cup
• Ghee( clarified butter)- 1/ 4 cup plus 1 tbsp, and a couple of drops to grease your palm to make the laddoos
• Cashews- 12-15
• Raisins-25
• Granulated sugar- 1/4 cup
• Cardamom- 3 pods
• Saffron- a few strands

In a skillet, heat 1 tbsp ghee(clarified butter) on medium-low heat and roast the cashews until they turn golden brown and put aside. To the same ghee, add the raisins and fry them until they puff up. Keep aside. Add the rest of the ghee and allow to melt completely. Turn off the stove and after 3-4 minutes add the strands of saffron. This will allow the flavors to infuse into the ghee slowly.

While the ghee cools completely, powder the sugar and the seeds inside the pods of cardamom into a fine powder. Also crush the roasted cashews using a mortar and pestle or a food processor (just pulse it a couple of times). In a mixing bowl, add the milk powder, powdered sugar, crushed cashews, roasted raisins and mix well. Pour the saffron-infused ghee on top and mix well using a spatula. Once it is thoroughly mixed, grease your palms and roll the mixture into small lemon-sized balls. This yields 14 such laddoos. The number may vary depending on the size of your balls. It stays fresh at room temperature for 3-4 days.