Besan Ladoo|Diwali Sweet Recipe

Besan Ladoo or Besan ke Laddu - Famous Indian Dessert made with Gram flour (Besan),Sugar & Ghee. This is a delicious traditional Indian Diwali Sweet.

I think I probably have besan and ghee running in my blood stream..I mean I should, cause I ate these almost everyday for the first 17 years of my life.

Okay not everyday but pretty often ,given that my mother's side of family owns a sweet shop which specializes in making besan ladoo.

Also,If you are looking for a more nutrition heavy and low calorie laddoo, do check out my post on how to make Ragi Laddo. Ragi laddos are great for kids. Ragi or Finger millet has a lot of calcium in it!

What is Besan Ladoo

Besan Ladoos are Indian fudge balls made with Besan aka gram flour or chickpea flour, sugar and Clarified Butter aka Ghee.

Besan ke Laddo last for months if made well and refrigerated.

The gram flour is slow roasted with the ghee till it starts smelling nutty and turns golden brown, after which powdered sugar is added.

These are typically made on festivals like diwali and Dussehra.

Ingredients

Here is what you will need to make these delicious home made besan laddus.

• Besan or Gram Flour
• Ghee
• Powdered Sugar
• Powdered Cardamom
• Saffron
• Nuts

Besan- Besan is a flour made with brown chickpeas. You will find it very easily in indian stores or amazon.
To make the laddos, we use the best and finest qualilty of besan.

Ghee or Clarified Butter. This adds another layer of flavor to the laddus. To make it vegan, you can use vegan clarified butter.

Nuts- Slivered Almonds without the cover, cashews and pistachios are the nuts used in making these laddus. You can also add chirongi, which is more difficult to source but tastes great.

If you don't have slivered almonds, add the almonds to boiling water. Once the water cools, remove the skin of the almonds and then chop them up lengthwise into slivers.

How to make Besan Ladoo

I am sharing a simplified version of besan ladoo recipe in this post. Typically making besan ladoo can be very technical but I am going to take you step by step through it and hopefully make it easier for everyone.

Step 0: Measuring Ingredients

Measure all your ingredients out before starting the cooking process. This is important especially to make sure the ladoos are the right texture.

Step 1: Heat Ghee

Wash & dry the pan you want to use for this. Heat the pan on medium- low heat. I use a heavy bottomed steel pan or wok for this step. Add ghee and let it melt gently.

You want it heated through before you add the besan to it.

Step 2: Roasting the Besan

Add the besan to the melted ghee and roast it on a medium low flame. Keep moving it around the pan. This will go on for about 20-25 minutes.

The besan and ghee together will be almost liquid. That's what you want. You are almost deep frying the besan in ghee. I promise it will solidify at a later point.

Step 3 : Color Change of Besan

During this process, the besan will change texture and color.By the end of the process, it will look liquidy and golden brown.

Make sure the keep the flame low - medium high. Do not rush this process.The mixture burns very easily(Speaking from experience)

Step 4 : Add Saffron

Add saffron after the besan is done roasting.This is an optional step.

Saffron is a very expensive spice.It's used when making special occasion recipes like this one or kheers.

Step 5&6 : Remove from Heat

Remove Besan & Ghee from the heat.Let it cool down to a point where you can touch it and work with it.

As it cools, you will see it solidifying a bit. You want the besan to cool down for the next step.

Step 7: Sugar & Nuts

Add powdered sugar & ground cardamom powder and mix the mixture.

You don't want to add the sugar too soon when the besan mix is too hot. It will melt the sugar and then wont come toghether into laddos.

Add roasted slivered nuts and seeds at this stage before shaping the ladoos.I add a couple of table spoons of powdered Homemade protein powder to amp up the nutrition of these ladoos.

Step 8: Shaping & Decorating Ladoos

Shape the ladoos while the mixture is still warm.If the mixture cools down, you will not be able to shape the ladoos properly.

Right after the shaping,add a piece of nut on the ladoo and gently add a little bit of silver foil(vark on top).

Step 9: Storing Ladoos.

Store the ladoos in an airtight box on the countertop for 2-3 weeks and in refrigerator for 2-3 months.

If you use Slighlty coarse,freshly milled besan, the ladoos will last longer.

Types of Besan Ladoo

The super technical version of ladoos where you use coarse, freshly ground besan instead of what you get in super market.You also use something called as Karara instead of Powdered Sugar which gives it a crunchy taste.

Besan Ladoos made with Gond and Dry Fruits - You can make the ladoos very nutritious by adding Gond and A mix of dry fruits and seeds. The common dry fruits added are slivered almonds, pistachios and melon seeds.

Besan Ladoo with Jaggery - You can make the laddoos with dry jaggery powder instead of sugar.The color will not be the same and otherwise the recipe remains the same.

Crunchy Besan Ladoo- You can make besan Ladoo crunchy by adding 1 tablespoon of Rava to the besan.

Besan Ladoo Mistakes & Solutions

Here are some common mistakes and solutions when making besan ladoos.

The Besan Ladoo mixture is very Dry
Add more melted ghee, 1 teaspoon at a time to make the mixture moist.This will also help in shaping the laddus.

The Besan Ladoo mixture is too Wet
This means you have added way too much ghee or added the sugar when the roasted besan was too hot.
To solve this, first try keeping the ladoo mix in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes.If that doesn't work , roast more besan with very little ghee and add to the besan mixture.Or you could add powdered nuts.

The Besan Ladoo mixture is too cold
If the ladoo mixture has been left to cool down before shaping the ladoos, it will become too hard to shape them. In such a scenario, microwave the ladoos for 20 seconds and knead the mixture again and shape after.

Here are some more indian desserts for you.

Want more festive indian recipes? Here you go!

Ragi Laddoo
Coconut Ladoo with Dried Coconut & Condensed Milk
Kesar Phirni
Seeds Chikki
Vermicelli Kheer
Mango Pannacotta- Easy No Bake Dessert
Rice Kheer

If you make these laddus, do drop me a note on what you thought! I would love to hear from you!

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