These vibrant pink Rose Malai Ladoo are the perfect little treat to add a touch of sweetness to your festivities. Made with milk and flavored with rose syrup, these make a great mithai for Indian festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi, Diwali!

Making Indian sweets (aka mithai) at home is one of my favorite things to do. I find so much joy in the whole process of making sweets at home. Indian sweets are a labor of love and some of them like rasmalai, gulab jamun can also get quite tricky to make.

And while those are fun to make, for the festive season I more often than not rely on easy recipes which don’t require a ton of skills or effort. These rose malai ladoo just like my kesar malai ladoo are very easy to make and look extra pretty with that bright pink color.

All you need to make these ladoos is whole milk. Then you sweeten it with sugar or condensed milk and flavor it with some rose syrup and rose water (because these are rose flavored).

Let’s Make These Ladoo

1. Heat 1 liter of whole milk in a heavy bottom pan on medium-high heat. Stir constantly until it comes to a boil. Turn off the heat and add around 1/2 cup water. Cooling down the water a little before adding vinegar helps in getting softer chena. Wait 1 minute before adding vinegar. Then add vinegar little by little until the milk curdles. I added 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon of vinegar.

2. Once the milk curdles, let it rest for 2 minutes. Then drain the milk using a muslin cloth over a strainer. Wash the collected chena with fresh water to get rid of the vinegar smell and flavor.

3. Bring the ends of the muslin cloth together and squeeze as much water as you can. Then tie the cloth somewhere so that it hangs, I tied it on my sink tap. Let it hang for 15 to 20 minutes so that excess water drips off. Some moisture is fine in the chena. Take out the chena from the muslin cloth and knead it with your hands for 1 to 2 minutes to make it smooth or you can also use a food processor. If using a food processor be careful not to overmix else chena will release a lot of fat. Now, to a nonstick pan (preferably), add 1/2 cup heavy cream. Let it cook for 2 minutes. To that, now add the chena along with 2 tablespoons of rose syrup (can add more for a stronger rose flavor), 1/2 to 1 teaspoon rose water and 1/3 cup powdered sugar (add more for sweeter ladoo). You can also use condensed milk in place.

4. Mix everything together and turn heat to low. Stir continuously until the mixture comes together as a dough. This takes around 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the intensity of the heat and thickness of the pan. Around 10 minutes, the mixture starts leaving the sides of the pan.

5. You have to stir until the mixture becomes non-sticky (when you press a spatula on top, nothing sticks to it) and you are able to roll the mixture into a ball. Rather than going for the time (15-20 mins), look for when you are able to roll the mixture into a non-sticky ball. Because timing can vary greatly depending on whether you cook on gas or induction, what kind of pan you are using and how high or low the heat is. Remember to keep heat low at all times, else the mixture will come together as a dough but will get brownish from the bottom and the flavor will change.

6. Once you are able to roll a ball, transfer the mixture to a place and let it cool until you are able to touch it comfortably. Add some crushed cashews and pistachios if you want and 1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder. Mix everything together. Now, to make ladoos, take a small portion of the mixture and press it between your palms and then roll between your hands to give it a round shape. Make all ladoos similarly. You will get 9 to 10 ladoos out of this mixture.

Enjoy these rose malai ladoo immediately, they taste best when consumed within 24 hours!