Authentic Ballokume Elbasani Recipe Elbasan, Albania

Made with only cornflour, butter, sugar, and eggs, ballokume Elbasani is a simple cookie traditionally prepared for Dita e Verës, an Albanian national holiday celebrated annually on the 14th of March. The preparation, which is quite lengthy as its all done by hand only, is done in a copper bowl and with the help of a wooden spoon, which is the traditional way of doing it that ensures that the dough is as silky and smooth as possible. First, the butter and sugar are mixed by hand until pale and doubled in volume, and then, eggs are added one by one and mixed in after each addition. Lastly, the cornflour is added in batches, and the resulting mass is portioned out using a spoon and arranged on a baking tray. The cookies are baked at a medium temperature. Optionally, the cookies can also contain finj, which is water boiled with ashes from the wood oven. Common recipe variations include adding milk or substituting a portion of the cornflour with wheat flour.