Home chef Pamela Miranda shares her memories of making milk cream along with tips for a perfect batch of this X’mas sweet
Christmas milk cream
This time every year, Pamela Miranda’s workstation is covered with creamy milk fudge shaped in shells and flowers; around 10 to 12 kg through the holiday season to be precise. For the last 10 years, Malad-based Miranda has been taking orders for milk cream and marzipan that travel the length of the city. Towards the end of the year when everyone is saturated with all things sweet, the balanced milk cream, second only to kulkuls, is what everyone reaches out for when offered a jolly plateful of treats. It’s an easy favourite where its familiar and simple creamy taste is often preferred over the strong almond flavour of marzipan.
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Miranda’s milk cream wins hearts over not only for its taste but also its presentation; she takes great pride in delicately churning out pearly white milk cream — not an easy feat, you’ll mostly come across cream-coloured or beige sweets. “This is my mother-in-law’s recipe that tastes great and the milk cream comes out nice and white. We used to make it together,” she recalls, before sharing memories of sitting together as a little girl with her mother and sisters making these sweets. Here’s her heirloom recipe for you to try this season.
Trick is to stir continuously
Christmas milk cream
Ingredients
. Half litre milk
. 200 gm tea sugar
. 65 gm cashew powder
. 1 tsp ghee
. 1 tsp vanilla essence
Method
Boil the milk in a vessel coated with kalai. Bring the milk to a boil, then put it on a low flame and keep stirring so that the bottom portion of the milk doesn’t get a chance to brown. Stir till the milk reduces to half, then add sugar. Keep stirring till it reduces further. Add the cashew powder. Break all the lumps and stir till they dissolve completely. Add ghee and vanilla essence and stir till the batter leaves the sides of the vessel or remove a little in a plate and see if it forms into a ball. Remove when ready, place on a steel plate greased with ghee and let it cool. Shape into small balls to place in moulds. Remove and let them dry. Serve on a tray.
Tips from the expert
Miranda shares, “The main step to ensure that the milk cream remains fully white is to cook the milk on a low fire and stir continuously so that the milk at the bottom doesn’t brown and you retain the white colour. Also, the quality of the cashews makes a difference to the colour.”
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