Crispy and Delicious Baked Gujiyas

Gujiyas are one of my all time favourite sweet treats! And when Holi is just around the corner, I can never resist the temptation to make some! But I am not good with deep frying, ANYTHING. Specially when it’s multiple batches of frying sweets carefully at low temperature. It takes hours!

Well, it turns out that baked Gujiyas also turn out pretty amazing and stay crispier for longer! I have been baking my Gujiyas for the last 4-5 years now.

What is a Gujiya?

Gujiya is a sweet stuffed pastry that is generally deep fried. The filling is traditionally Mawa based (milk reduced until it turns solid) along with nuts and some aromatic spices like cardamom or cloves. Some varieties are dipped in a sugar syrup after being fried. Shaped like a half moon, these sweet treats with a thin flaky crust and a delicious aromatic sweet filling are tough to resist!

Pastry

The pastry crust is crispy and flaky (unless dipped in sugar syrup). Mostly made with all purpose flour, we will make it with a combination of Whole wheat flour (the regular aata from our pantry) and all purpose flour (maida). You can make these with just Whole wheat flour too.

I personally prefer to use half and half of both whole wheat flour and all purpose flour. I feel it gives a better texture and structure to the pastry. If possible, use an unbleached all purpose flour.

Ghee or any neutral flavoured oil is important to give the crust a flaky texture and will prevent it from going tough.

Filling/Stuffing

For this recipe, the filling is actually vegan. Cashew butter here acts as a substitute to Mawa/Khoa.

Different nuts, seeds and desiccated coconut bring it a lot of nutrition, flavours and richness to the Gujiya.

So make these delicious and crispy baked Gujiyas this Holi or at any other festival or anytime of the year! Do you really need a reason to enjoy these amazing treats?!

Here is the detailed recipe and some substitutes in the notes below:

Crispy and Delicious Baked Gujiyas

Serves: 15 Gujiyas Prep Time: 30 mins Cooking Time: 25 mins 25 mins

Rating: 5.0/5

( 1 voted )

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Ingredients

For the stuffing:

200g - Cashew Butter
1/4 cup - Almonds
1/4 cup - Pistachios
1/4 cup - Desiccated Coconut
1/2 cup - Mixed seeds (Pumpkin, Sunflower, Melon)
1/2 cup - Jaggery Powder
2 - Cardamom pods crushed
1 tbsp - Crushed dried rose petals
1/8 tsp - Salt

For the dough:

1 cup - Whole wheat flour
1 cup - All purpose flour
4 tbsp - Ghee or Neutral flavoured vegetable oil
1/4 tsp - Salt
1/4 tsp - Baking Powder
Luke warm water for kneading

Instructions

For the stuffing:

1. Lightly toast the almonds, pistachios and the seeds on a pan or in the oven.
2. Once cold, process them into a coarse crumb using a food processor or a blender. You can chop them finely too.
3. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and the stuffing is done.

For the dough:

1. Take whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl and give it a mix.
2. Add the ghee or oil and rub it into the flour mixture until it is evenly combined.
3. Now adding a little warm water at a time, make a firm dough. Do not over mix.
4. Cover the dough with a kitchen towel and let it rest for 30 minutes.
5. Divide the dough into 15 equal balls.
6. Now take one ball at a time, and using a rolling pin, roll it into a circle.
7. Take approximately 1-2 tbsp of the stuffing and place it in the centre of the rolled dough.
8. Now dab the sides of the circle with a little bit of water. Bring one side of the circle carefully over the stuffing placed in the middle and right on top of the other side of the circle to form a half moon shape.
9. Press the watered edges together and make sure that it is tightly sealed.
10. You can also use a Gujiya mould to do this assembly.
11. Once all the Gujiyas are stuffed, place these on a lined baking sheet. Brush the top on the gujiyas with some milk and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees C for about 20-25 minutes, depending on your oven.
12. Gujiyas should be nicely golden.
13. Let the Gujiyas cook completely and store these in an air tight container.

 

Notes

1. Toast the almonds, pistachios and the seeds separately as the cooking time for almonds and the seeds will be different.
2. You can use almond butter instead of cashew butter.
3. Peanuts have a very distinct flavour of their own. So I would not advice switching cashew butter in the recipe for peanut butter.
4. You can also replace nut butter with mawa in the same quantity and keep things traditional!
5. You can switch the whole nut in the recipe with same quantity of other nuts like cashews, walnuts or pecans etc.
6. When making the stuffing, if you feel that the stuffing is a little lumpy and everything is not mixed evenly, get in with your hands and give the mixture a little rub and try to break any larger lumps. Don't be worries with any small lumps, it tends to mix in while baking.
7. For the dough, always use lukewarm water and do not over knead the dough. In these kind of pastry doughs, we do not want gluten development. We just want all the flour to bind together in one single mass. Stop mixing once all the dry flour is mixed in and you have a uniform dough.
8. The dough should not be soft, but also should not be too firm, otherwise you will have cracked edges when you roll the balls. If you however notice this happening, spray some water on the dough and give it a quick mix.
9. Keep the dough covered when you are rolling and shaping the Gujiyas to prevent it from drying.
10. If you want to keep the Gujiyas completely vegan, mix a tablespoon of any plant based milk with 1 tbsp of a neutral flavoured vegetable oil and brush the top of the Gujiyas with it before baking. You can also use coconut milk for brushing the tops.

Did You Make This Recipe?

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