Coconut Almond Laddoos /Balls

It's that time of the year, yeah "Festival of lights" ...Diwali is here. You have the perfect excuse to indulge in all mouth-watering delicacies. Around Diwali, I always want to make and share some homemade sweets with my dear and near ones ,but  I always dread making sweets which require spending lot of time in the kitchen and have the elaborate procedure. Our lives are so hectic that between work, kids, and zillions of other commitments, I feel we always are on look out for things in this case recipes which are easy to make and high on taste/nutrition scale. 
So here is one recipe, which I love making and everyone who has tried these laddoos is hooked on to it. My kids just gobble them up like anything. 
Wishing you and your family a very happy Diwali and a prosperous new year.  

Servings: 30 - 32 approximately

Ingredients :
4 cups : freshly grated coconut
1 can (14 oz) : Sweetened condensed milk  like Nestle's Le Lechera
1cup: whole almonds
1/4 cup: milk
3/4-1cup: dried coconut powder
3-4: cardamom pods
2 Tbsp: Ghee
4-5  Saffron threads 

Directions: Grate the coconut and keep it aside. Crush the saffron threads with a mortar and pestle and soak the  crushed threads in the milk. Now take the almonds and make a coarse powder in a blender. Peel the cardamom from the pods and crush them with a rolling pin or in a mortar and pestle.Keep aside.

Take a heavy bottom pan or kadhai. Add ghee to it, when it's warm add the grated coconut and stir it for at least 4 -5 mins, now add the almond powder and continuously stir on medium flame for another 5 minutes and make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. Now add the condensed milk to the pan. The condensed milk is very thick, make sure to incorporate it nicely into the mixture. Now add the saffron milk to the mixture and keep stirring it on the med-low flame. It will take approx 10-12 minutes for the mixture to thicken.Add the crushed cardamom to the mixture. 

You can test the mixture after 10 mins by taking a small amount of mixture and rolling it into a ball into your hand. If it rolls into a ball ,then turn off the gas and let it cool. If not stir it for another 2-3 minutes.

After 10 minutes or so, when the mixture has cooled down, rub some ghee on your palms and take a small amount of the mixture and make it into small balls with both your palms. Then roll it into the dried coconut powder. The coconut almond laddoos(balls) are ready to enjoy.

Store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

"Happiness is knowing that you can eat sweets before the main course"