India 13 November 2016:
Christmas is just round the corner, and everyone is busy in preparing for it, by making various type of christmas sweets. Today we are here to talk about one such sweet without which the Christmas platter is incomplete which is the Goan special christmas treat known as Bolinhas pronounced Bolinyas. Bolinhas are delicious coconut cookies or biscuits which baked to be lightly crisp on the outside & soft inside. These amazing cookies are served along with tea and can be enjoyed throughout the year. These cookies are so delicious that they just crumble and melt in your mouth. Bolinhas are pretty simple and easy to make.
As I said that these are Goan speciality, in Goa these heavenly cookies are baked in wood fired bakeries. Also when baked at home they use a clay oven placed on a clay stove to bake it.This is a traditional way of baking in Goa.
The aroma of these cookies baked in the traditional clay oven is just irresistible and is hard to achieve using our modern day gadgets.
The fresh coconut used in making these cookies gives them an amazing flavor. Most of the Goan sweets have fresh coconut as their main ingredient to add the flavor. Goan cooking is just incomplete without coconut.
This Christmas you can enjoy Bolinhas made right in your kitchen by following our simple bolinhas recipe.Let me warn you, Bolinhas are addictive. Once you have one you just cannot do without eating a couple more of them.
So Read on to see this amazingly easy traditional homemade Goan Bolinhas cookies or biscuit recipe for Christmas :
Ingredients to make Goan bolinhas cookies or biscuits :
- 1 Fresh Coconut scraped
- 250 gms. Rawa (Semolina)
- 250 gms. Sugar
- 1 tbsp. Ghee
- 3 tbsps. Maida
- 1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
- 3 Egg yolks
- 1 Egg White
- 10 pods Green Cardamom freshly powdered
- A pinch of Salt
- Water
How to make Goan Bolinhas cookies or Biscuits
- First make a paste by grinding the freshly scraped coconut with little water and keep it aside for later.
- Now to make the sugar syrup, dissolve sugar with few tablespoons of water in a large thick bottomed pot thick on a low flame till all the sugar has dissolved.
- Add rawa to the sugar syrup and give it a good stir.
- Now to the rawa mixture add the coconut paste, salt and ghee. Stir everything well and let it cook till it’s well blended and thick. Take the pot off the heat & let it cool completely. Once at room temperature, keep this pot covered in a fridge overnight. This will allow the rawa to get soaked.
- Next day remove the mixture from the fridge & let it rest out and come to room temperature. (very important)
- Now is the time to add in the egg yolks and mix everything well again. Add the powdered green cardamom and stir to mix.
- Sift maida with baking powder and add this little by little while mixing the batter till it’s completely used up.
- Now Beat the egg white till they are fluffy and add them to the bolinhas batter. Give all ingredients a good mix and let the batter sit in the fridge for about 15-20 mins to become firm.
- In the Meantime, you should prepare your baking trays by greasing them some ghee or you can use parchment/butter paper to line the trays.
- Now is the time to shape the bolinhas
- For shaping the bolinhas dust a little maida on the rolling board. Take the dough out from the fridge and make small portion/ball of the dough depending on the size of the bolinha you like.
- Now roll this dough ball lightly on the rolling board sprinkling some dry flour and give them a shape.
- You can choose to make them look pretty by cutting designs on the top of the bolinha using a butter knife or a table fork to make them look decorative.
- Shape all the bolinhas and place the bolinhas on the greased baking tray. Make sure you keep distance between the bolinhas so that they do not stick to each other once baked.
- Now Pre-heat the oven at 180C and bake them first with only heat from the bottom. In 10-15 mins check if the base of the bolinhas have become firm.
- Once the bolinhas are cooked from the bottom then switch over the heat to the top and bake them till the top gets slightly pink or brown.
- Now is the perfect time to take the bolinhas out of the oven.
- Your amazing bolinhas are ready to be served. Enjoy these heavenly bolinhas this christmas with many other christmas sweets. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas.