baijiu balls

Coconut, Cashew, Ginger... unite!

It's that time of year, and the bells are ringing; the lights are blinging. Even here in Beijing.

drastic measuring

What's a Christmas gathering without rum balls? The only problem is that my cupboards are scant of rum.

This called for drastic measures: I altered the traditional recipe to create a simple holiday confection that is possible to make in even the simplest of kitchens, with a simply irresistible outcome.

My Coconut Cashew Gingers the Baijiu Balls will keep you warm and festive:

ingredients: Coconut Cashew Gingers the Baijiu Balls

100g coconut wafers, pulverized
300g cashew meat, pulverized
1/3c red sugar, powdered
1c white sugar, powdered
25g ginger powder (for ginger-shy folks, add only 10g)
1/3c baijiu* (rum, pinga, etc.)
3 T sweetened condensed milk
1c coconut flakes, powdered

*baijiu [白酒] is what I call China's White Lighting; a rice wine that varies from low 30% to mid-70% in strength.

method

Powder everything that is not already a powder nor is a liquid.

Stir with chopsticks or whisk until homogeneous. Below, I use a perforated ladle to sift out undesirably large chunks:

pulverized wafers and nuts and cane, oh my!

Add the liquor incrementally and stir just until everything is wet, but not soaked.

Add the sweetened condensed milk, stir. Lastly, stir in the the coconut powder:

coconut flakes, powdered like snow

Use your clean hands to form into balls; roll in powdered coconut flakes:

finito!

Garnish with shaved coconut or candied ginger:


Voilá! Coconut Cashew Gingers the Baijiu Balls. Enjoy!

Note: Access to Blogger is still blocked within China. Without access to a much appreciated VPN (proxy), I would be unable to publish to my blog from within mainland China. Thus, I am blessed and grateful to be sharing. With every post, I hereby protest the oppressive nature of the Chinese government blocking access to any part of the web.