Barfi is a traditional Indian sweet that’s popular especially during Divali (Diwali) and Eid. It’s one the first things I eat when I get my hands on a ‘sweets bag’ during either of these festivities.

Like most Indian sweet treats, the spices used are important. Many people look forward to the different spices like the ginger, nutmeg and the elychee but I’ll admit, I’m not a huge fan. Small amounts are perfect for me. Also, some people prefer barfi more on the soft side while others prefer when it’s hard.

Hey! Whichever you prefer, that’s all up to you but here is my recipe for this amazing sweet treat!

YIELD: 1 14″ x 11″tray (48 pieces roughly give or take)… (you can adjust based on the thickness you like)

INGREDIENTS:

• 800g full cream powdered milk (approx. 6 cups)
• 1 tin Nestle cream (300g)
• 2 tsp ground cardamom/elychee
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 2-3 cups granulated sugar
• 1 – 1 1/2cup water
• Candy sprinkles

METHOD:

1. Add the powdered milk and the nestle cream to a bowl. Using your hands mix well until the mixture becomes grainy. Set aside for 5-10 mins.
2. Add mixture to a food processor and pulse until there are no more chunks. Mixture should be very fine (almost like sand). Empty into a bowl and set aside.
3. In a pan, add water, sugar, ginger and elychee. Bring to a boil. This is the MOST important part of the recipe. It can take roughly 8 minutes to get the perfect sugar syrup (depending on the heat, type of pot etc). Keep your eye on it as you want to take it off the heat right before it spreads a thread. If the sugar reduces too much, it will be too hard to mix into the powdered milk mixture.
4. Add the sugar syrup to the milk mixture and using a spoon mix until the syrup is well incorporated. Be very careful in this step as the sugar mixture can burn you very easily.
5. Add the mixture to a greased tray and press down with your hands until it’s all even.
6. Add as much sprinkles as you want and then cut into squares before it cools.
7. Set aside and allow the barfi to cool properly
8. TIME TO EAT!!!

The most challenging part of this recipe is the getting the sugar syrup to the right consistency. Trust me it will only come with practice. I’ve had to throw out barfi many times before…but that’s part of the learning process.

NOTE: I have used 2 cups of sugar and it also worked well… I have adjusted the recipe a few times between 2 and 3 cups of sugar as both have worked for me but with 2 cups it hasss to be the right consistency before adding to the milk mixture in order for it to hold. If you don’t want to use too much sugar the 2 cups will be the better option but be careful with the sugar mixture step as you stand the chance of it coming out too grainy. Using 3 cups will be the safer way to go if you aren’t too good with the pag step.

Seeing that this step may be a challenge, I would recommend that you make more sugar mixture and have it on standby if you do realise that you need more added to the milk mixture. Add a small amount at a time while stirring to ensure you don’t add too much. As mentioned, 2 cups of sugars and 1 cup do water resulted in perfect barfi for me so give it a try for sure!

Check out the video here:

I hope you give this recipe a try and let me know what you think. Just remember, the spice measurements were used based on my spice level preference but if you love spice in your sweets, feel free to add more.

Also, using a food processor speeds up the process a whole lot. You can use a sift and sift through the mixture but we’re all busy people these days so I say go for the food processor.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Be sure to follow me on Instagram and send me pics of your barfi when you try it out.