If you prefer baking over frying , Baked Karanji and Modak is the best option.

“Ganesh Chaturthi” is an Indian festival where every one is eagerly waiting for the arrival of Lord Ganesha. And in India, there is no festival celebrated where you don’t prepare sweets. Also, modak is a favorite food of Lord Ganesha. Traditionally, modak and karanji are prepared by deep frying, but I wanted to make it cholesterol friendly so, prepared these baked karanji and modakas. The recipe is very basic and simple and tastes just like the fried ones.

Ingredients for Dough:

• 1 1/2 Cup All purpose flour/Maida
• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter/Ghee
• Pinch of salt
• Water for making dough

Method:

Mix the  ingredients and start adding water to make dough.

Keep adding water to make a soft dough . Knead, cover with wet cloth.

Keep it covered for 10 Minutes.

Ingredients for Filling:

• 1 Cup Dry Desiccated Coconut
• 1/3 Cup White powdered sugar
• 1/4 Cup Semolina/Sooji
• 1/4 Cup Cashew Nuts Cut into small pieces
• 2 Tablespoons ghee
• 1 Teaspoon cardamom powder

Method:

On a skillet melt ghee and fry sooji until fragrant , add coconut and fry for around a minute or until it slightly changes color.

Add sugar , mix and cook on low flame for around a minute.

Add dry fruits and cardamom powder. Mix , cook for another minute and switch off the stove.

Keep the mixture for cooling.

Now let’s make karanji and modak.

First make small balls out of dough. Size of a golf ball.

Roll them one by one with rolling pin to make thin discs .

Keep these discs covered with moist cloth or moist kitchen paper towel to keep them moist.

For karanji, place a spoon full of the filling at the center of each disc and fold the circle in a half-moon shape and with the help of fork, press the folded side to make nice design.

For making modak, the same process but hold the disc on your left palm in the shape of a bowl and  just place the filling in the center of the disc and merge all the sides of the disc to make in the shape of a fresh fig.

After you make all the karanjis and modaks ready, lets bake them .

Place them on the baking trays lined with greased aluminium foil (Greased with little ghee).

Brush each karanji and modak with ghee to give them a nice glaze after they are baked.

Bake them at 350 degree Farenheit preheated oven for 20 minutes.

After every 10 Minutes, flip them and bake on the other side.

After 20 Minutes, remove and keep on the cooling rack.

Once cooled down completely, store in the air tight container.

Enjoy your baked karanjis and modaks for “Ganesh Chaturthi”.

[mpprecipe-recipe:262]