Recipe from Hetal Vasavada
Adapted by Priya Krishna
- Total Time
- 25 minutes, plus freezing
- Rating
- 4(435)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Here’s a simple, no-bake sweet that riffs on peanut laddoos, a bite-size Indian confection made of ghee, sugar and nuts, with a chocolate coating inspired by buckeyes, the peanut butter and chocolate treat popular in Ohio. It was dreamed up by Hetal Vasavada, the blogger and author of the dessert cookbook “Milk & Cardamom,” which combines the traditional Indian flavors she grew up with and the Western sweets she encountered as an American kid in New Jersey. The cardamom, ghee and jaggery provide both an interesting twist to the traditional flavor combination and a slightly grittier texture, which Ms. Vasavada likens to that of a Butterfinger candy bar. —Priya Krishna
Featured in: The Sweet Hallmark of an Indian Celebration
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Ingredients
Yield:About 15 balls
- 1cup/150 grams roasted unsalted peanuts
- ⅔cup/95 grams jaggery powder or 145 grams dark brown sugar
- 2tablespoons/30 grams ghee, plus more as needed
- ¼teaspoon cardamom seeds, finely crushed
- ¼teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾cup/130 grams milk chocolate morsels
- 1teaspoon coconut oil
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (15 servings)
147 calories; 10 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 4 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 13 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 11 grams sugars; 3 grams protein; 42 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
In a medium skillet, toast the peanuts over medium heat, shaking the pan, until fragrant and slightly darkened, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer the peanuts to a food processor and process until pulverized into a fine powder. Add the jaggery, ghee, cardamom and salt and process until the mixture reaches the texture of thick, chunky peanut butter, 1 to 2 minutes, scraping down the sides every so often. The mixture should easily form a ball if you squeeze it with your fist.
Step
2
Scrape the mixture into a medium bowl. Tightly pack a tablespoon (about 15 grams) with the peanut laddoo mixture. Remove from the measuring spoon and give the peanut laddoo mixture a squeeze with your fist, then gently roll the mixture into a ball. (If the mixture seems sticky, you can grease your hands with ghee.) If your mixture is too crumbly, return it to the rest of the peanut mixture in the medium bowl and mix in an additional tablespoon (about 15 grams) of ghee. Try rolling again, adding more ghee as needed to help the mixture come together, then form into about 15 balls. Transfer all of the laddoos to a plate and freeze for 1 hour.
Step
3
Add the chocolate and coconut oil to a microwavable bowl, and microwave in 15-second increments, stirring between each increment, until the chocolate is fully melted, 1 to 2 minutes. Alternatively, if you don’t have a microwave, you can set up a bain-marie by bringing a small saucepan of water to a boil over high. Once it reaches a boil, lower the temperature to reduce it to a simmer and place a small heatproof bowl on top of the pot, making sure the bowl does not touch the water. Add the chocolate and coconut oil to the bowl and stir until melted, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the melted chocolate from the heat.
Step
4
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove the laddoos from the freezer; if any have flattened, roll them again into round balls. Insert a toothpick into each peanut laddoo and dip it into the chocolate, leaving about ⅓ of the laddoo exposed on top. Transfer each ball onto the parchment-lined baking sheet and remove the toothpick. If it’s stuck, use another toothpick to push the laddoo off the inserted toothpick.
Step
5
Transfer to the freezer until the chocolate is set, 10 to 20 minutes. Gently use your finger to smoothen the surface of the peanut laddoo to cover the toothpick holes. Serve chilled. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Ratings
4
out of 5
435
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Cooking Notes
KL
Tired, really tired of recipes that require putting a big dish in a freezer. Do you know how many of your readers live in apartments without giant freezers?? In fact, I would like to see more recipes for people who live in apartments, especially those who don't have balconies for grills.
Sarah
I've similiarly found the mixture difficult to roll into balls. (Too powdery before I added extra ghee, but much more made them greasy and sloppy.) Do not despair! It's my fourth time making them and I think I've perfected it: I squish the semi-powdery mixture into misshapen lumps, only very loosely approximating balls. I freeze for ~1 hour. I then roll into spheres just in time for chocolate-dipping. They've been worth some trial-and-error!
Susan
These were so good, I couldn’t stop my husband from finishing them off before I sent them as part of cookie boxes. Next time I would increase the cardamom to closer to 1/2 teaspoon as the cardamom flavor was barely detectable. I also used semi sweet chocolate instead of milk chocolate as I’m not a fan of milk chocolate. I highly recommend these to all chocolate peanut butter lovers.
Rick
Sounds yummy. Need to add the amount of coconut oil in the ingredients.
Rianna
Because I love the nutty flavor, instead of ghee I used browned butter (essentially the same as ghee, but is heated until the butter caramelizes and has an even nuttier and richer flavor). You have to let the browned butter cool a bit after making it, but so worth it for the flavor it adds to laddoos!
BKCook
@Lee Rosenthal you can make your own ghee with unsalted butter! Only takes 10 mins or so. No other ingredients required. Plenty of good how-to’s online.
Alene
It's 1 tsp, per the newspaper recipe.
Rahul
Delicious!! Reminded me of some of the Indian sweets I've had in the past. Very good. The jaggery is definitely key for a lot of the flavor. I microwaved the jaggery (lol) and then threw it into the Vitamix instead of trying to make it into a powder. Worked fine. Had a hard time making them into balls (probably because of the melted jaggery) so I tried to freeze them to make them easier to mold but they were too firm at that point. I just covered them in the chocolate and called it a day.
Alene
The actual newspaper article says it is 1 tsp of coconut oil. Hope that helps.
Linda L
Since the function of ghee is to enable to use butter in cooking at higher temperatures without the milk solids separating out and burning, and the ground peanut mixture doesn't get cooked, one could simply use butter here.
Ruthie
Eager to try this recipe but it needs a few edits.Should it read coconut oil or ghee? Or have you left out amount of coconut oil in the ingredient list?
Andy
Made as directed (w/brown sugar). The laddoo mixture was extremely runny once I added the ghee. I tried to compensate by adding more peanuts and brown sugar but it never turned into a peanut butter consistency. Very runny, impossible to form into a ball. This sounds like a common result. Is there a solution?
KP
Jaggery is an Indian sugar, sometimes called Gaur. You can find it at the Indian store or on Amazon! Brown sugar can be substituted, but you may find it sweeter
Sujatha
Traditionally, there is no chocolate in Indian peanut laddu. You can leave out the steps with chocolate.
Saba
Used brown sugar in place of jaggery per sub mentioned in instructions and it was far too grainy. Recipe is too finicky, also found it too runny like others mentioned. These are la-don'ts...next time will just add cardamom to regular buckeyes.
Metric Conversions
use browned butter instead of ghee for nutty flavor
Cy in VT
Ahh yum -- my favorite for flavor are ladoos (laddoos, laddus -- so many way to spell these delectables) made with roasted chick pea flour.
Lakshmi in LA
For the non-Indians laddoo is also used as an affectionate term for someone a little plump and lazy, like my 85-lb dog Bruno. Someone on the big side but ultimately harmless. Emphasis on affectionate!
AC
Yum! My family of Indians from Ohio thought they tasted like a perfect, rich fusion of buckeyes and laddoo (not huge laddoo fans). Like others, despite following the proportions to a "t", the initial peanut/jaggery/ghee blend was too soft (consistency of peanut butter), not moldable; adding additional peanuts did not significantly thicken. Put blender jar in freezer x1-2 hours then able to form into balls! Rest was easy. Used semi-sweet chocolate instead of milk chocolate, and sprinkle of salt.
Wordsworth from Wadsworth
I am a Buckeye. The chocolate peanut butter Buckeyes have been around since at least the year of Woody Hayes 'national championship team. I thank Hetal Vasavada for improving the recipe. The raw peanuts would add a good crunch.But heck, we're just Ohio rustics. We don't use ghee, we use wax.
Linda L
Since the function of ghee is to enable to use butter in cooking at higher temperatures without the milk solids separating out and burning, and the ground peanut mixture doesn't get cooked, one could simply use butter here.
KL
Tired, really tired of recipes that require putting a big dish in a freezer. Do you know how many of your readers live in apartments without giant freezers?? In fact, I would like to see more recipes for people who live in apartments, especially those who don't have balconies for grills.
Susan
These were so good, I couldn’t stop my husband from finishing them off before I sent them as part of cookie boxes. Next time I would increase the cardamom to closer to 1/2 teaspoon as the cardamom flavor was barely detectable. I also used semi sweet chocolate instead of milk chocolate as I’m not a fan of milk chocolate. I highly recommend these to all chocolate peanut butter lovers.
Saba
Used brown sugar in place of jaggery per sub mentioned in instructions and it was far too grainy. Recipe is too finicky, also found it too runny like others mentioned. These are la-don'ts...next time will just add cardamom to regular buckeyes.
Andy
Made as directed (w/brown sugar). The laddoo mixture was extremely runny once I added the ghee. I tried to compensate by adding more peanuts and brown sugar but it never turned into a peanut butter consistency. Very runny, impossible to form into a ball. This sounds like a common result. Is there a solution?
Rianna
Because I love the nutty flavor, instead of ghee I used browned butter (essentially the same as ghee, but is heated until the butter caramelizes and has an even nuttier and richer flavor). You have to let the browned butter cool a bit after making it, but so worth it for the flavor it adds to laddoos!
Paula
I cooked this yesterday night. It was not easy to make the balls . I had to freeze the paste for 1 hour in order to be able to shape them.The milk chocolate was too runny and after freezing again I needed to cut out the edges that formed in the bottom of the balls. It´s delicious, I will try to perfect it next time, by using less ghee and less coconut oil.
dee
These are delicious. I used white chocolate instead and used 1/3 of the jaggery. Was so good!
Rahul
Delicious!! Reminded me of some of the Indian sweets I've had in the past. Very good. The jaggery is definitely key for a lot of the flavor. I microwaved the jaggery (lol) and then threw it into the Vitamix instead of trying to make it into a powder. Worked fine. Had a hard time making them into balls (probably because of the melted jaggery) so I tried to freeze them to make them easier to mold but they were too firm at that point. I just covered them in the chocolate and called it a day.
Sujatha
Traditionally, there is no chocolate in Indian peanut laddu. You can leave out the steps with chocolate.
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