A little sunshine in the fog...

The holiday break did me no good. I'm having a really hard time getting back on track. Moreover, I'm not even feeling well, and the weather is being such a sucker lately. Just looking out of the window, seeing everything covered with white... not snow, just plain, boring fog, makes me even more lazy, heavy sort of, and sad.
I want a little sunshine... but i guess it takes a little miracle.
Actually, a little miracle did happen yesterday, just as I prepared these little yellow balls, the fog disappeared and the sun shone so brightly for several hours... before it ran away, and the fog came down to stay. Today, it's not even worth looking out of the window. Having the lights on in the house during the day is something I just hate.
These days I'm not really in the mood for anything heavy or complicated to make or eat. And these little ricotta balls came just along the line. The minimum effort, and the very few ingredients... and there you go, a light, refreshing dessert made in no time. And to be honest, I'm not even coconut crazy, but I so loved these. They satisfied both my curiosity to see how saffron tasted in a sweet recipe, and my craving for something sweet.

Ricotta, coconut and saffron balls


250 g ricotta cheese
90 g caster sugar
150 g flaked coconut (+ more for rolling)
1/2 package of saffron (1 package = 0.1 g)
cocoa powder for rolling

Put the well drained ricotta cheese into a mixing bowl and whisk with a hand whisk until smooth and creamy.
Stir in the sugar and the saffron, followed by the coconut. Stir well and then chill in the fridge for 1 hour.
Shape the chilled mixture into small balls, roll them into flaked coconut or the cocoa powder and place each into a small paper cup.
My ricotta balls were rather small, about 2 cm in diameter and I got about 30 pieces.

Palline di ricotta con cocco e zafferano


250 g di ricotta
90 g di zucchero semolato
150 g di farina di cocco (+ altro per coprire le palline) 
1/2 bustina di zafferano
cacao amaro in polvere


Mettete la ricotta in una ciotola e lavoratela bene con una frusta a mano fino a renderla morbida e cremosa.
Aggiungete lo zucchero e lo zafferano, mescolate bene e poi unite la farina di cocco. Lasciate il composto in frigo per 1 ora.
Riprendete il composto, prelevatene un po' con un cucchiaino e formate delle palline di circa 2 cm di diametro.
Rotolate alcune nella farina di cocco e altre nel cacao in polvere. Servitele nei pirottini di carta o semplicemente su un vassoio. 

Nisam preveliki ljubitelj kokosa, ali u dobroj kombinaciji sasvim je prihvatljiv i čak me može oduševiti. Ove su kuglice bile pravo zadovljstvo, iz dva razloga. Prvo zadovoljila sam svoju znatiželju da vidim kakav je okus šafrana u slatkoj kombinaciji, a drugi što su bile nešto najjednostavnije za napraviti i zadovoljiti želju za onom mrvicom slatkog bez kojeg mi ručak nije nikad potpun. Istovremeno su laganog okusa i zbilja osvježavajuće.


Kuglice od ricotte s kokosom i šafranom


250 g ricotte
90 g sitnog kristal šećera
150 g kokosovog brašna (+ za posipanje)
1/2 vrećice šafrana (1 vrećica = 0,1g)
kakao (za posipanje)


Stavite dobro ocijeđenu ricottu u zdjelu i miješajte je pjenjačom dok ne postane glatka i kremasta.
Dodajte šećer i šafran i na kraju umiješajte kokosovo brašno.
Izmiješajte dobro i ostavite u hladnjaku 1 sat.
Žličicom grabite smjesu i oblikujte kuglice veličine po želji (ja sam ih pravila promjera 2 cm - ako su te veličine dobijete oko 30 kom.).
Uvaljajte kuglice u kokos i/ili kakao i stavljajte u male papirnate košarice ili jednostavno složite na pladanj.
Čuvajte ih u hladjaku do posluživanja.