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Brown balls and white balls. Those are our punny names for gulab jamuns or rosgullas. But I’ve not heard any jokes about honey balls or snow balls yet. Is it because East Indian honey balls or snow balls are lesser known and only belong to a small part of society?

Honey balls or snow balls are also called popoges, aitolas, eyetolas or honeycomb balls. And yeah, they’re only made and eaten by just 0.00007 percent of the planet? (Merely 5 lakh human beings on a planet of 7 billion are East Indians.)

Anyways, my granny’s version of the honey balls recipe was the best. I know, I know. I can’t say that because there are a lot of great versions out there. But really, everyone else says that too. 😉 Aunty Muffy always says, “My godma’s sweets are the best!”

Mama Catherine a few years ago in Oct 2015

I started writing this post the last time we made honey balls, on the 27th of May. So the last time granny ate them was the 28th of May. I wonder if she knew that it was the last time she’d eat them? But now that granny’s gone to make sweets in heaven, it’s best to put up her version of this traditional East Indian recipe here on the blog before it reaches the forgotten pages of history.

Here goes!

Honey ball or Snow ball Recipe

Beat the egg whites to a stiff froth - TheWingedFork — Beat the egg whites to a stiff froth

Start off with beating the egg whites to a stiff froth and setting aside.

Add in the coconut milk - TheWingedFork — Add in the coconut juice or coconut milk

Next add in the yolks and sugar, followed by the sojee (semolina) and the coconut juice, and mix till the mixture is smooth. If you don’t have coconut juice, use coconut milk. I know some other people use just plain old milk too. It works fine. There may only be a small difference in taste.

Proof the yeast in warm water - TheWingedFork — Proof the yeast in warm water

Nowadays toddy (fermented sap of the palm tree) is not always available at the drop of a hat. So we use yeast instead. Proof the yeast in warm water before adding it to the mixture.

Add-some-vanilla-extract,-or-essence-if-you-can't-find-extract---TheWingedFork — Add in some vanilla extract

Lastly add in the vanilla extract before leaving the mixture to rest overnight.

Let-the-mixture-rest-overnight---TheWingedFork — Leave the mix to rest overnight

The next morning, we make the sugar syrup that’s called the honey by boiling a kg of sugar with 3 to 4 cups of water and 4 to 5 crushed cardamom pods. Simple does it. We don’t make too much honey so that we don’t have too much sugar. It also means, we can make sweets more often. 😉

The syrup called the honey - TheWingedFork — The syrup called the honey

I don’t know what the cast iron pan that we use to make the honey balls is called in East Indian Marathi, but otherwise, it’s called an appe pan or appam pan. If you do know the Eastya word, please let me know and I’ll add it in here. We drop a few spoons of ghee into the pan and heat it.

Test-forming-a-few-honey-balls-for-temperance---TheWingedFork — Sis tries out a few honey balls first

When the pan is hot enough, sis tests the first few honey balls to confirm they’re forming correctly. Always good to test your East Indian dessert balls.

Fill-with-batter-and-fry-to-a-light-brown-color---TheWingedFork — The batter is fried to a light brown color before turning over

She then turns the East Indian sweet balls over, adds a bit of ghee again and lets them fry.

The honey balls are fried on both sides - TheWingedFork — The honey balls are fried on both sides

The next step naturally is to take a break, eat those honey balls and decide if anything more needs to be added in. Once the tastebuds approve, the rest of the honey balls aka snow balls are fried.

Soak-the-East-Indian-snow-balls-in-the-sugar-syrup---TheWingedFork — Soaking in the honey

The snow balls go straight from the frying pan into honey pot and grow a bit in size. Fluffy like my cousin says. By the way, honey balls are also called snow balls because they’re white in color.

Soak-the-honey-balls-in-sugar-syrup---TheWingedFork — Keep em coming

This is about 3 pan fulls of honey balls minus a few that wound their way into some stomachs for quality testing. We keep at it till this pot is full. Sometimes we have to make more syrup, but most often we try not to. Less sugar, more sweets. 🙂

The recipe here makes enough honey balls to last quite a few days. So if you’re making for just a few people, probably try halving or quartering the ingredients. Stores in the fridge for days or weeks. Of course we don’t let them last so long.

What’s specially different in your grandma’s East Indian honey ball recipe? Or is it similar to my granny’s recipe?

Chocolate Honey Balls with Maple Syrup

My sister has created her own twist on the honey balls. She makes chocolate flavored honey balls with maple syrup.

Here’s how she does it.

Add in a few tablespoons of Rich Cocoa - TheWingedFork — Add in a few tablespoons of Rich Cocoa

The main steps are the same as regular honey balls, but after she has mixed everything, she adds in 3 tablespoons of cocoa.

Mix the chocolate honey ball batter and leave to rest overnight - TheWingedFork — Mix the batter and leave to rest overnight

Leave the mix to rise overnight as usual.

In the morning, make a sugar-maple syrup mel. While making the sugar mel or sugar syrup, reduce the amount of sugar. Use only 750 grams sugar to make the mel and add 250 ml maple syrup to it once it starts to boil.

Add batter to the honey ball pan and fry on both sides - TheWingedFork — Add batter to the honey ball pan and fry on both sides

Add the batter that’s been resting overnight to a honey ball pan, fry the on both sides, and add the balls to the sugar-maple syrup mix.

Add the chocolate honey balls here and that’s it.

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