Gulkand coconut ladoo: an easy Diwali sweet
Coconut ladoo with a gulkand centre, ready in 20 minutes with condensed milk. Exact amounts, tips to stop cracking, and how long they keep.
The short answer
Gulkand coconut ladoo are soft coconut balls made with condensed milk and stuffed with a little gulkand. Cook 2 cups of desiccated coconut with 200 g of condensed milk until it gathers, cool it slightly, wrap each portion around half a teaspoon of gulkand, and roll in coconut. Twelve ladoo take about twenty minutes, plus half an hour to set — an easy sweet for Diwali that does not need sugar syrup or a string consistency.
Ingredients (makes 12)
• 2 cups (about 160 g) desiccated coconut, plus 3 tablespoons for rolling
• 200 g sweetened condensed milk (about ½ tin)
• 1 tablespoon ghee
• ½ teaspoon cardamom powder
• 4 tablespoons gulkand
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped pistachios (optional)
Method
1. Warm the ghee in a heavy pan on low heat and roast the coconut for 2 minutes, stirring, without letting it brown.
2. Add the condensed milk and cardamom. Stir constantly on low heat for 5–6 minutes, until the mixture thickens and leaves the sides of the pan.
3. Take it off the heat and let it cool until you can handle it comfortably.
4. Mix the gulkand with the pistachios.
5. Take a lemon-sized portion of the coconut mixture, flatten it in your palm, put ½ teaspoon of the gulkand filling in the centre and close it into a ball.
6. Roll each ladoo in the extra coconut. Let them set for 30 minutes before serving.
Tips so they do not crack or go sticky
• Cracking: the mixture was cooked too long or has cooled too much. Knead in a teaspoon of warm milk and shape again.
• Too soft to hold a shape: it needs another minute or two on the heat.
• Gulkand leaking: use a thick gulkand with whole petals, keep the filling to ½ teaspoon and seal the ball well. A runny, syrupy gulkand will seep out.
• Greasing your palms lightly with ghee makes the shaping easy.
Variations
Use Kesar Elaichi Gulkand for a saffron-cardamom centre and skip the cardamom powder. For a pink coating without colour, mix a pinch of beetroot powder into the rolling coconut, or roll the ladoo in crushed dried rose petals.
How long do they keep?
In an airtight box in the fridge, up to a week. At room temperature, two to three days in cool weather. Because they keep and travel well, they make a good homemade Diwali gift; see our Diwali gifts from Rajasthan and gulkand gift ideas.
More sweets with gulkand: gulkand modak, gulkand kulfi and gulab churma.
Buy from the Haldighati valley
- Rose Gulkand — Sun-cured Damask rose petal preserve. 470 g, ₹449.
- Kesar Elaichi Gulkand — Rose gulkand with saffron and green cardamom. 470 g, ₹549.