How To Make Yema Balls: Possibly the Simplest Recipe Ever
If you follow this blog, you’d know that I tried to make fluffy yema balls last week. Unfortunately, it ended up in something close to a disaster (click this to read last week’s post on how NOT to make yema). What was supposed to be soft, round, yellow, and fluffy balls of yema lightly coated in sugar ended up as a hard, brownish, uneatable slab of sugar.
Minor setback, I thought. So for the weekend, armed with a new recipe and renewed vigor, I gave it another shot. And the end result looked like this-
 |
| Yummy yema balls! |
Following the recipe from The Pilgrim’s Pot’s and Pans (with a few tweaks), I had me some fantastically fluffy yema balls when I was done. (WARNING: The following text will contain much gloating at the success of my second atttempt in the kitchen.)
| Step1: | Prepare the ingredients. A 300ml can of condensed milk, 10 eggs, butter, sugar, and cupcake cups. |
| Step2: | Separate the egg yolks (set aside the egg whites) and put them in a medium-sized bowl. |
| Step3: | Beat the egg yolks, pour the condensed milk, and mix well. Notice the beautiful golden yellow color of the mixture? |
| Step4: | Set the heat on low (as low as you can), lightly coat the non-stick pan with butter, and pour the mixture in. |
And then comes the stirring-
| Step6: | Initially, your mixture should be slightly thick, with a consistency not unlike syrup. Stir your mixture some more. |
| Step7: | After about 10 minutes of stirring, your mixture should be noticeably thicker. Make sure your heat is set to low, so your mixture maintains its happy yellow color. Keep stirring. |
| Step8: | After 15 minutes of stirring, most of the water should have evaporated and your mixture is about as thick as your typical congee. |
| Step9: | After 20 minutes of stirring, your mixture should be thick and dry enough, similar to the texture of cookie dough. |
And now the fun part-
| Step9: | Transfer the dry mixture into a bowl and wait for it to cool. After about 10 minutes, you can start rolling them into balls. |
| Step10: | Lightly coat your hands with butter and scoop out a small amount and roll it into a ball. Dip in white sugar and place it on the cupcake paper. Repeat until you use up all the batter and serve. |
You now have soft and rich yellow yema balls. I deviated from the recipe I found online and did not add lime to the mixture because I thought that might give it a weird tangy taste. I also opted not to coat it in caramelized sugar because I did not want the rich taste of the milk and egg mixture overpowered by caramel, which tends to be too sweet.
This version of yema balls is sweet but not too sweet either. You can eat as many servings as you want and it won’t leave a bitter taste in your mouth. The plain white sugar coating gives each bite of the soft ball a nice crunch. They’re soft but they hold together well and are not messy to eat. You know you’ve made yummy yema when everyone who tried it loved it and requested for a second batch.
I’m not so useless in the kitchen after all, yay! (Thanks Comicology dude, for being a cute kitchen elf. ^*^)
Mel is a developer by day, a couch potato by night, and a bacon lover at all times. She likes good noms, cute puppies, the color orange, and all things bacon. You may contact her at admin@bacontunamelt.com or anywhere via this blog.
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Congratulations! I'm glad to see you made such good looking yema. Sadly, I seriously doubt I can make it, seeing as my stove doesn't like any heat setting aside from maximum.
Hi! Maybe you should try using a double boiler. The heat comes from boiling water so it is not getting direct heat like fire from the stove. I use a double boiler when making the filling for Brazo de Mercedes.
Sounds like a good idea to me. Would you mind sharing your recipe for Brazo de Mercedes? I would love to make my own. Thanks!
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Thanks! They are delightful little yellow treats. They're also very easy to make. Just, you know, get a new stove.
Hi! May I know how long will they keep?? I plan on making these next weekend. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Nick,
Unfortunately, everyone seems to like these yemas. They never last too long in our household so I’ve never really known how long they keep. The longest they’ve gone is one weekend, refrigerated.
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Hi Bacon!
I tried the recipe last night, kept the heat low as you instructed, but it turned out somewhat like nougat or a tootsie roll (chewy) not like the yema balls we would buy from Sugarhouse which bordered around being almost cakey. It retained the yellow color though. Please help!
Oh no! I’m not sure what the problem could be. I’ve a few friends who tried the same recipe and ended up with fluffy/soft/kinna cakey yema.
How long did you keep it in the pan? Maybe it was overcooked a bit?
The low heat is really, really important.
Did you use the same brand of condensed milk? I’m not in any way affiliated with them, but I got different results using a different brand.
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I must say that I’m extremely dissapointed with this recipe. My husband and I tried to make yema using this recipe following it step by step qnd it did not turn out so good. There was too much yolk that the end result, tasted more like yolk and sugar rather than the sweet condesed milk and sugar taste. My husband and I later watched a video on YouTube on how to make the yema and learned that we only needed 3 pieces of eggs and its better to put your heat on medium instead of low as it would’ve taken more than an hour to have the batter thicken as “cookie dough like” as per the description above. It only took as about 30 mins until the batter thickened. Overall, I would not recommend this recipe to anyone. Sorry.
Sorry to hear that. This version is indeed a soft yema, and is supposed to be the way it is, similar to those sold in Sugarhouse, instead of the more common browner and harder ones.
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