Silvery-sweet New Year Treats..Semolina Snowballs

Dainty little balls of saccharine perfection. Pristine, like the season’s first snowflakes. Tender, like feather-touch kisses from a little one. Precious, like winged-moments that take flight when one is too busy to notice. Laden with bursts of goodness, like the early harvests of juicy sugarcane. Gossamer, like the silken strands of cotton candy bagged at the holiday fair. Like life’s best things that come and go in a trice..a kind impulse, a note of thanks, the call of true love, a happy reverie..these Semolina Snowballs are too good to last forever..

Semolina Snowballs

(Makes 15-20)

• 1/3 to ½ Cup melted ghee
• ¼ Cup finely chopped cashews
• 1/8 Cup small raisins
• 1½ Cups fine Semolina/rawa/suji
• 1½ Cups confectioners/icing sugar
• ½ Teaspoon cardamom powder

Heat a tablespoon of ghee in a skillet/kadhai and fry the cashews until brown. Stir in the raisins, and after a few seconds transfer everything to a large mixing bowl and set aside. In the same pan heat a quarter cup of the ghee. Add the semolina and toss it with the ghee, stirring continuously until it smells well roasted, but is still pale. Set aside to cool.

Grind the cooled semolina to a fine powder in a dry grinder or coffee grinder. Put the powdered semolina in the bowl with the cashews and raisins. Add the sugar and cardamom powder and mix well. Heat the rest of the ghee and stir it into the semolina mixture.

Take some of the mix in the palm of your hand and press tight until it holds together in a ball. Place the snowball in a cupcake liner if desired. Shape the remaining balls the same way.

The balls are extremely delicate and will crumble easily. Store them carefully in a sturdy box or a nestle them in the cups of an empty chocolate box.

If the mixture cools down too much, the balls will not hold their shape easily. In this case, add more hot ghee, or place the bowl in the microwave for a few seconds until it warms up slightly.

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