Bolinhas are classic Goan cookies, made with semolina and coconut. These bolinhas will definitely make a festive addition to your Christmas cookie platter. So let’s learn how to make bolinhas!
December is officially here!! I guess all of us agree that time does fly by with the blink of an eye! Is it just me? Why do I feel like this phenomenon never occurred when we were kids?
Let’s rejoice anyway, it’s the holiday season!!! The joyous feeling of Christmas is already in the air, with gifts, decor & other holiday accents embellishing the racks of most stores.
I’ve begun preparing my Christmas goodies:) Today I made these traditional Goan cookies, ‘Bolinhas‘, pronounced as bolinyas, which means cookies in Portuguese and ‘coco‘ means coconut.
Usually, whenever we visited Goa, we would just buy packets of bolinhas from the store, but I never really liked them! Today for the first time, I made it at home, with the help of my mum in law. She learnt this from her younger sister’s mum in law, so this recipe is almost 3 or maybe even more generations old.
I just loved the outcome of today’s bake, and I cannot even compare our homemade bolinhas to the store-bought ones, no wonder I never liked them, but that perception has changed for good now. This Goan coconut biscuit is really delectable, crunchy on the outside and has a soft and crumbly interior, with the flavor of coconut and nutmeg being pretty prominent.
Table of Contents
YOU MAY ALSO ENJOY THESE TRADITIONAL GOAN CHRISTMAS SWEETS
- Bebinca
- Guava cheese
- Milk Cream
- Coconut Toffee
- Baath cake
- Doce de grao (chana dal fudge)
- Karanji/Neureos
- Kormolas
- Shankapali
- No cook and eggless marzipan
HOW TO MAKE BOLINHAS?
Bolinhas | Bolinhos De Coco | Goan coconut cookies
Ingredients
Measuring cup used, 1 Cup = 250 ml, 1 tsp = 5 ml
- 250 grams semolina/rava, the coarse variety, about 1&1/3 cup
- 250 grams freshly grated coconut,
- 200 grams granulated sugar, about 1 cup
- 2 medium eggs
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter/ghee
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg powder, or cardamom powder/vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- In a thick bottomed pan, roast the semolina, stirring continuously, until dry and aromatic, takes about 8-10 minutes.
- In the grinder jar, add the freshly grated/desiccated coconut, pulse it a couple of times, to break down the grated coconut to smaller bits. Now add 1/4 cup water, grind. It will not turn into a smooth paste, but will just moisten the fine coconut bits, not affecting the texture much.
- In a big mixing bowl, add butter and sugar. Whisk to blend well, we don't have to incorporate air.
- Next, add the eggs one at a time, beat until incorporated. Don't worry if the mixture looks a little curdled at this point.
- Now add the roasted semolina in 2 batches, stirring the mixture well with the addition of each batch.
- Next, add grated coconut, along with nutmeg powder, mix everything well. The mixture will still be wet at this stage. Cover with a plastic wrap and let it rest on the counter at room temperature for 6-8 hours, the semolina absorbs all the moisture in the batter and puffs up.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line the baking tray with parchment paper. Make small lime size balls (about 1.5 tbsp) from the batter. Place them on the prepared baking tray 2 inches apart.
- Flatten them, with the help of a knife, cut a cross in the middle of each. Bake at 350 degrees F, for about 35 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer the tray to a cooling rack, let it cool completely. Store in an airtight container. Broil for another minute for a darker golden brown color.
Notes
- You may even use 250 grams of sugar if you want the cookies sweeter.
- If you are using store-bought frozen grated coconut, thaw it until it reaches room temperature. Pulse it a few times in the grinder, avoid adding the 1/4 cup of water, as the grated coconut is already pretty moist.
- You may use the same amount of desiccated coconut in this recipe.
- If the batter feels too soft to form a ball after 6-8 hours, refrigerate it for another 1-2 hours. Then form the balls and bake.
- For fluffier bolinhas, you may add 1 tsp baking powder after resting the batter for 6-8 hours.
- For an eggless version, you can substitute each egg for 1/4 cup yogurt. Keep the batter in the refrigerator, so the yogurt doesn't turn too sour. Though I haven't tried the eggless version, I think it should work well.
I would love to hear from you, please feel free to share your feedback with photos and suggestions to me at aromaticessence77@gmail.com
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Regards,
Freda
I tried your bebinca recipe today (thanks for the clear instructions) and came upon this post and thought I should make a small correction. The word bolinhas comes from the word bola (ball) and it’s a diminutive that means little balls, not cookies. And bolinhos, also a diminutive, comes from the word bolo (cake) and means little cakes or small cakes and sometimes it’s also used to describe cookies. But cookies in portuguese is biscoitos. Thank you for the recipe! 😊
Hey Sara! Thanks for trying the bebinca recipe.
Thanks for sharing this info as well 😊
Dear Freda
You cant’ imagine my delight when I opened my WhatsApp this morning and read your Bolinhos recipe, shared by a friend( subscriber)
…read like the recipe that my much loved grandma made & whose book I lost in the shuffle of moving house
THANK YOU!! … WISHING YOU & ALL YOUR SUBSCRIBERS A BLESSED AND HAPPY CHRISTMAS 2019 & A JOYFUL & PEACEFUL NEW YEAR 2020 🙂
Hi Audrey! That’s so sweet of you! Thanks so much for the wishes. Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a wonderful new year 🙂
Many thanks Freda 🙂 xoxo
Most welcome, Audrey 🙂
Should we skip salt if we use salted butter
Yes please skip the salt.
What a cuty cookies! 🙂 Never tried such and the recipe sounds so easy to follow. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Thanks so much Mila, glad you liked it 🙂
Wow it looks delicious! I’ll try to make some of these in the future.
Thank you very much 🙂
oh! looks really delicious hope to try it soon.
Thanks so much ! thanks for stopping by 🙂
I missed seeing this post…A lovely delicious treat and awesome step by step pics..?? .Thanks for sharing this..hope to hope to try this..???
Aww thanks Neethu! Glad you liked it dear 🙂
WOW! Loving it. Looks so good.. pass me some dear. YUMMY!
Thanks a lot dear!! all yours 🙂
Dearest Freda , in the recent past I have enjoyed your posts and comments and as I close down the blog for good, I wish to say thank you to you for making me smile.
Stay blessed .
Are you serious Priyanka?? Please tell me that’s a joke!!
Mouthwatering cookies.. I have some Goan Christian friends and I love having Christmas sweets at their place. Thank you for this recipe 🙂
Aww so sweet of you ! Thanks dear <3
Gosh, I feel like picking a cookie from my laptop screen 🙂 So beautiful these are Freda!
Aww!! thanks so much dear 🙂
Freda, these are lovely and sound so yummy! I love the dainty and beautiful look to these! What a special cookie! 🙂
Thanks Lynn!! These are the same ones I was talking about 🙂
yes I was excited to see that! I didn’t know you would post them this quick! I was waiting! They are lovely Freda! They must be so lovely! I really need to try them! 🙂
Hehe!! it was ready, thought might as well post it soon 🙂 I’m sure you will love it , Lynn 🙂
Yes so glad!!
My daughter has a few friends from Brazil and she keeps telling me that their sweets are almost as good as our traditional sweets. These look perfect and I love anything that has coconut in there. Good One…:D
Thanks so much Bineesh! I have heard the same, It really is amazing to see the similarities in different cuisines 🙂
they look soooo yummy and crumbly! awesome!
Thanks so much Vajeea 🙂 have a good weekend 🙂
What a lovely recipe, Freda! Wonderful photos as usual 🙂
Thanks so much Lana 🙂
do we add baking powder
No Ashu, there is no need of baking powder.
Very well explained with beautiful pictures. Thanks for adding the details about egg-less version. I always look for egg-less baking recipes.
Thanks a lot , Megha 🙂 I understand not everyone has eggs, and I try to look out for substitutes wherever possible 🙂
These are right up my tastebuds alley:) yum..they look beautiful!
Thanks so much , Melissa 🙂
Reblogged this on The Militant Negro™.
Thanks for the reblog , Sir 🙂
Happy Holiday Season, Ms. Freda
Wish you the same, Sir 🙂
I can smell the coco!
🙂
Oh these look too good!!!! Waiting eagerly for your other Christmas recipes!!!!!!
Thanks Lina! Hope to share as much as possible 🙂
That’s wonderful
I have never tried a cookie with rava..love the texture should try this
Thanks so much Vidya! I hope you will like it 🙂
Love the pictures
Thanks a tonne Parul 🙂
I love baking with semolina so will definitely try these. Just not sure I can get fresh coconut. I’ll look for it. 🙂
Thanks so much Ronit! I usually get whole coconut from any store, Whole foods or walmart, break into two using a hammer, and grate it using a special coconut grater I got from Mumbai, I do this in a big batch and store it in the freezer, whenever I need it, Thaw it at room temperature and use. The whole procedure can be tedious. You will also find videos on Youtube, demonstrating other ways of cracking the coconut shell, then once you get the flesh ( only the white part) , you can cut them into small pieces, and pulse them in the food processor, that works out fine too. You can mostly certainly use desiccated coconut too Ronit.
Thanks for all the information, Freda.
I do want to try it with fresh coconut, as I’m sure it tastes better. I’ll look for it once the holidays craze is over… 🙂
Yes Ronit! fresh coconut lends a better taste 🙂
Those cookies look like they will literally melt in your mouth. Absolutely delicious, A cup of tea and a few of those cookies would be heavenly.
Yes Suzanne , cookies and tea , are perfect together. Thanks so much 🙂
Such awesome cookies
Thanks a tonne dearie ☺️
Wow those looks gorgeous Freda…. yummm
Thanks so much dear 🙂
I have never had these before but these look so sure delicious Freda! and the heavenly smell of coconut and nutmeg while baking them must be just amazing!
Thanks Shamira!! The aroma of these baked goodies are really incredible 🙂 Thanks for stopping by dear 🙂
Love these great pictures Freda 🙂
Thanks so much Nandini:)
Can you make it eggless. Thanks
Hi Radha ! I’ve mentioned it in the notes below ! Haven’t personally tried it , but I think it should work , if you want to try it , then try it with a small batch perhaps ! The quantity that I’ve mentioned makes approx 3 dozen cookies.
Sorry! About 4 dozen *
Remember bolinhos so well but I’ve never made them before. You can learn all the Goan sweets from your ma in law since she’s visiting for a while. If you make bebinca, I’ll surely be breaking down your door 🙂
Thanks so much Loretta ! Bebinca and dodol are definitely on the list 🙂 eager to learn those as well 🙂 nice to know you love Bebinca !! thanks for stopping by !
They look gorgeous. Will try them soon!!
That means a lot coming from you Soniya!Thanks heaps 🙂
Freda …….These are my favourites !!! Address please , am coming over . Love love love these !
Aww thanks Priyanka:) I would be more than glad to share them with you 🙂