Thandai Flavor Baked Gujiya

For Gujiya dough: Rub together maida, ghee, and sugar till it gets crumbly. Add chilled water to make a soft dough. Knead it a bit and then cover it with a damp cloth and store it in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

For thandai masala: Heat a pan and add all the ingredients mentioned under thandai masala except saffron. Toss them in a medium hot pan. The idea is to lightly warm up the spices so that they dry up a bit, we do not have to brown them.

Remove the spices onto a plate to lightly cool them up and then dry grind them along with saffron in a mixer grinder into a fine powder. Remove the powder to a container and thandai masala is ready.

For gujiya filling: Heat a pan and dry roast sooji in it till it turns light brown. Remove the suji to a plate and keep it aside. In the same pan add dry coconut and lightly cook it on low heat till it turns light brown.

Once lightly browned add grated khoya. Cook khoya on low heat till it starts to melt. We do not have to brown the khoya. At this stage remove the pan from heat and add 3 tbsp of thandai masala and powdered sugar. As you mix them together, sugar will make the mixture moist.

To this mixture add roasted sooji. Make sure that the gujia filling is moist enough that when you press it in your hands it binds & holds together.

For shaping gujiya: Knead the dough again and divide it into 10 equal dough balls. Roll them round and place them under a dam kitchen cloth.

Now flatten the dough ball with your hands and then using a rolling pin roll it round to about 5 inches in diameter. Using a round cutter cut the dough into 4 inches in diameter to get a perfect round.

Place a generous amount of the gujiya stuffing in the centre of the flattened discs. Brush the edges of the dough with some water.

Fold the dough into a half-moon shape and press gently to stick both edges of the dough. Now pinch the dough from one side and fold it in giving gujiya its traditional shape. If you find it difficult to do then you can press gujiya in a gujiya mould or you can even press on the edges with a fork to close them tightly. Do the same for all the gujiya.

Place butter paper on a baking tray and place all the filled gujiya onto the tray. Preheat the oven or OTG to 200 degrees and bake the gujiya for 30-35 mins or till they evenly brown from the top. Remove them once they have the right colour.

You can serve them hot, warm or cold.