“Summer Day” (“Dita e Veres”) on March 14th it’s a traditional holiday of my birth-town Elbasan; even though lately it’s been celebrated all over Albania. This day welcomes the entering of Spring. Ballakume is it’s traditional dessert and we couldn’t miss this chance. I’m posting the traditional family recipe inherited from generations. Hope you enjoy and take your time to cook such great recipe. Sorry I couldn’t take pictures as usual, but I hope the instructions will be helpful to you.

Ingredients :

1 kg sugar

1 kg without a fist corn flour (that fist will be replaced with a fist of wheat flour) plus have some extra corn flour in hands

7 normal eggs (or 8 small ones)

500 gram old cow/ship butter (matured)

fire ash (finjë)

Method:

Preheat oven to 180°C

Line few baking sheets with parchment paper

Melt the butter and filter it through a sieve

In a large bowl whisk together the lukewarm melted butter with sugar for 20-30 minutes

Add the eggs one at a time, beating each for 5 minutes

Add the flour fist by fist while you’re whisking

Mix it until you have a homogeneous batter

Add 2 table spoons of fire ash (finje) to a glass of water and wait for the ash to precipitate at the end of it

Fill the half of an empty egg shell with water from what’s left on top of glass

Add it to the batter

Keep blending until a homogeneous mass it’s created

How to : Take some batter and put on the hot stove to see if it’s ready. If it melts, it’s not ready yet so add more flour to it. Try the same, until the batter it’s ready (until the batter wont melt into the hot stove)

Divide the batter into balls

Make sure to put them apart from each-other

Bake Ballakume for about 45 minutes or until golden brown

Let them cool completely

Photography by Eranda Janku, unless otherwise stated