Ladoo or laddus are spherical shaped Indian sweet. They are generally made with flour, fat, and a sweetener (sugar, jaggery, condensed milk, etc).
During the cold season of winter, it is very good to have some healthy sweets that keep you energetic and warm. So, I made those super healthy and delicious ladoos made of wheat flour and a lot of healthy seeds, dry fruits, and jaggery.

I used fox nuts, flax seeds,pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, almonds, cashews, ghee, and jaggery to my whole wheat ladoos. Flaxseeds are rich in plant-based proteins, and fox nuts have natural anti-inflammatory characters. Apart from magnesium, potassium, and sodium, foxnuts also contain a high amount of calcium. Jaggery not only adds sweetness to this ladoo but at the same time is a great source of iron and folate. Moreover, coconut is a great source of fibre and is rich in vitamins and minerals.
Pumpkin seeds are rich in anti oxidants and minerals .It is also high in fibre.

So, we can imagine how healthy those ladoos are. You can make them in a large quantity and store them for a month in an air-tight container.
It’s very beneficial to consume these ladoos for growing kids and also for elderly people during the winter months.
These ladoos are soft and delicious. I made them a little different than the traditional method to make them soft and light.

Recipe details

• Preparation time: 20 min
• Cooking time: 20 min
• Serves: 20 ladoos

Ingredients

• Whole -Wheat Flour – 1 Cup
• Ghee – 1/2 Cup
• Milk – 1 tbsp
• Fox Nuts(Makhana) – 1 Cup
• Almond + Cashew – 1/2 Cup
• Flax Seeds – 1/4 Cup
• Pumpkin Seeds – 1/4 Cup
• Melon Seeds -1/4 Cup
• Dessicated Coconut – 1/4 Cup
• Grated Jaggery – 1 Cup
• Cardamom Powder  – 1 teaspoon
• Dry Ginger Powder – 1 tsp

Method

These are the ingredients to make ladoo.

First, we will prepare the wheat flour.

For that place, 1 cup whole wheat flour (what we use to make chapati) to a big mixing bowl.

Pour 3 tablespoon of the ghee to the flour and mix nicely with hand.

Also, add in 1 tablespoon of milk to the mixture and mix. The flour should be moist and crumbly. Note that the flour shouldn’t be wet enough to make dough. We have to make the flour little moist. This will help to make the ladoos soft and more flavourful.

Now, press the mixture with your fingers and cover with a lid.

Alow, to sit for half an hour.

In the meantime, place a pan to a stove top. With 1 teaspoon of ghee, roast almond and cashew until light golden brown.  Transfer to a dish.

Slice the roasted nuts in thin and small pieces so that we can easily mix them in ladoos.

In the same pan, dry roast fox nut until they change colour. Take a fox nut and press with your fingers. If it cracks easily, remove from pan and place to a dish.

Also, dry roast flax seeds and pumpkin seeds until they are aromatic and crackle. I didn’t roast melon seeds. They will be added later.

Transfer to a mortar and pestle and roughly grind the seeds. Set aside.

Also, coarsely grind fox nuts with mortal and pestle.

So, all the dry fruits and seeds are ready now to use in the ladoos.

Now come to wheat flour. Take the prepared moist whole wheat flour and fluff with a fork.

Take a rice strainer(with big pores) and sieve the whole wheat through the strainer.  This will yield uniform whole-wheat crumbs.

Place a heavy bottom pan on the stove top with the remaining ghee.

Add in the prepared whole wheat crumbs to the ghee and start roasting in medium low heat .

Stir continuously and roast carefully until the mixture changes colour and nice aroma emits from the mixture.

Now, when whole wheat is almost done, add in desiccated coconut and all other prepared nuts and seeds.

Mix well and remove from heat. Transfer to a big mixing bowl.

Wipe the pan and again place it to stove top.

Add in 1 cup of grated jaggery and 1/4 cups of water.

Cook in medium heat until jaggery melts completely, and the mixture becomes frothy . Note that we just  have to melt the jaggery; there is no need to cook the melted jaggery for long to make the mixture brittle.

Pour the melted jaggery  to the prepared ladoo mixture . If you feel that the jaggery mixture has some impurities, strain the mixture. As my jaggery is organic and very clean, I didn’t strain.

Also add in cardamom powder and dry ginger powder.

The jaggery  is hot,so mix with a ladoo mixture with a spoon or spatula .

When the mixture cools down a little bit,  make small ladoos with the help of your finger and palm.

I made 20 ladoos with the mixture.

Place them in a dish . When ladoos come to room temperature, they are ready to serve.  You can also store them in an air-tight container for a month.

Note

You can make a lot of variations to these ladoos. You can use ragi powder or multi grain flour in place of whole wheat flour. If you have dry coconut, use them after grating. They give even better flavour than desiccated coconut. Walnuts or any other nuts can also be added to these ladoos. Even you can add fried and coarsely grounded edible gum or gond to make them more nutritious.