Gujiya (Baked pastries with coconut, cardamom and sesame seed filling)

A popular Indian delicacy made especially during Holi and other festivals, these gujiyas can be made with any kind of filling that you may like. Baked or fried, they are sure to leave you craving for more of them as you enjoy these pot-bellied sweets made with a large amount of your favorite filling inside.

 

Ingredients:

For the filling:

Ingredients

4 cups grated coconut

1 cup powdered sugar

10 cardamom, peeled and crushed

1 cup khas khas/poppy seeds

1 cup sesame seeds

2 tablespoon rice flour

For the dough:

3 cups all purpose flour/maida

1 cup water or as needed

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoon oil

 

Method:

Let us first make the dough for gujiya:

  1. Mix the all-purpose flour, oil, salt, and water and make a soft pliable dough, cover with a muslin cloth and keep aside for 1 hour.

Now let us prepare the filling:

  1. Dry roast the grated coconut till the coconut looks dry and till coconut aroma gets emitted from it.
  2. Let it cool down completely. (Step 1 in image below)
  3. After completely drying, add powdered sugar, khas khas, crushed cardamom and til.

Now let us start making the gujiyas:

  1. Make small balls(small marble sized) from the dough.
  2. Sprinkle some rice flour on the rolling surface. Place the dough balls on the rolling surface and flatten them into round shape.
  3. Take 2 tablespoons of the coconut mixture and place it on half side of the flattened dough.
  4. Leave 1 cm of space on all sides.
  5. Carefully cover the other side over the filling and seal it by pressing it with few drops of water.
  6. Shape the gujiya in a semi-circle by using the gujiya cutter.
  7. Similarly keep the other gujiyas ready.
  8. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C for 10 mins. Take a baking sheet and place parchment paper. Grease the paper with little oil. Place gujiyas on the tray leaving some gap between two.
  9. Place the tray on the middle rack and bake at 180 degrees C for 10-13 mins. The bottom will start changing its color. Take out the tray and turn over the gujiya to another side.
  10. Bake again for 5-8 mins and remove from the oven. The baking time may differ for each according to your oven performance. Keep checking the color of gujiya, if it goes too dark brown, then remove from the oven immediately.
  11. Transfer gujiya to cooling rack and let it cool down completely. Store them in an airtight container and serve.
  12. You can fry these gujiyas also taking about two cups of oil and frying till they are golden brown.