Ballokume

Ingredients

• Cornmeal — coarse600 g
• Butter — softened300 g
• Sugar400 g
• Egg yolks6
• Bicarbonate of soda1 tsp
• Vanilla1 tsp
• Salt1 pinch

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Beat the softened butter with the sugar with a wooden spoon for twenty minutes, to a pale fluffy mass.

   22 min

2. 2

   Add the yolks one at a time, still beating in the same direction.

   12 min

3. 3

   Add the vanilla, salt and soda and beat five minutes more.

   7 min

4. 4

   Work in the cornmeal a little at a time, to a firm but pliable dough.

   12 min

5. 5

   Rest the dough fifteen minutes so the meal takes up the moisture.

   16 min

6. 6

   Shape walnut-sized balls and set them well apart on parchment.

   15 min

7. 7

   Bake at 170 °C for twenty minutes, to a pale gold edge, and cool them on the tray.

   25 min

About the dish

The butter is beaten with sugar by hand for at least half an hour. A mixer warms the mass and the biscuits come out flat rather than open.

The cornmeal is coarse. Fine meal gives a smooth dough, while ballokume should stay gritty on the teeth.

They are baked for Dita e Verës, the Albanian spring festival on the fourteenth of March. In Elbasan whole streets make them the night before.

Worth knowing

• — The biscuits spread a great deal. Leave at least five centimetres between balls, or they fuse into one sheet.
• — A finished ballokume stays soft and firms up as it cools. Keeping it in the oven until browned means drying it out.
• — Beat in one direction throughout. That is how it is done in Elbasan, and the mass does hold air better under an even motion.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

380 kcal

Protein

4 g

Fat

18 g

Carbs

52 g

More from Albania

• Tavë kosi — Lamb baked under a thick yoghurt custard with egg and rice. Albania's national dish.
• Byrek me spinaq — A pie of thin pastry layered with spinach and brined cheese, each layer soaked in oil.
• Fërgesë — An Albanian bake of peppers, tomatoes and curd cheese, served in its clay pan.