No Festival or celebration is incomplete without barfi’s as our family loves them.    This year we are trying to cut down sugar so  I decided to add a little twist to the traditional dessert and add honey and dates to make these barfis.  This dessert was a winner with  my sons as it’s full of their favourite nuts and medjool dates.

Did I hear you ask why Medjool dates?  Well, Medjool dates are bigger, sweeter and have a caramel-like in taste which gives these barfi’s its unique taste.  Dates in general have  a low glycemic index (GI) and just eating a couple of dates gives you a whole lot of energy. Adding them to the barfi was one way of enjoying the dates further.

Information on some of the ingredients used:

Almonds:  As long as I can remember, we have been told by our parents that almonds are good for improving our memory.    Almonds are a fantastic source of antioxidants as well as high in Vitamin E.  This article explains all about the goodness of almonds.

Cashews:  Again, we grew up eating this lovely nut and never realised how good these nuts are.  This article explains all about the goodness of cashews.

Walnuts : Walnuts provide healthy fats, fiber, vitamins and minerals,  Walnuts are a good source of the plant form of omega-3 fat, which may help reduce heart disease risk  and this article gives more details.

Peanuts:  Peanuts are rich in protein, fat, and various healthy nutrients. This article gives nutrition facts of peanuts.

Sesame seeds: Sesame seeds have many potential health benefits and this article gives more information.

A mixture of these nuts and  sesame seeds with the sweetness of honey and dates helped create a healthy as well as a tasty sweet.

Ingredients:

• 500 grams of mixed nuts (almonds, cashews, walnuts and peanuts)
• 125 grams of melted butter
• 1 cup ground almonds
• 1 cup sesame seeds
• 15 fresh medjool dates
• 2-3 tbls honey

Method:

1. Cut all the nuts into small pieces and transfer the mixture into a microwave bowl and roast them for 2 -3 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds.

2. Remove the stones from the dates and chop the dates into small pieces. Put these in a food processor and blend them into smaller chunks. Transfer the prepared dates to a microwave bowl, add 2 tablespoons of butter, mix and cook in the microwave for 2 minutes, stirring and checking at every 30 seconds.

3. Now add the nuts to the prepared dates and mix well. Add in the almond powder and sesame seeds too. Add a spoonful of butter and honey and cook the barfi mixture in the microwave for 1 minute. Mix well and spread the mixture to cool in a square greased tray.

4. Cut the barfi into rectangle slices to make it look like a health bar. I found that it was easier to cut the barfi at this stage whilst it was still soft.  You can also use a mould to shape your barfi’s to look like traditional Indian mithai.

4. Keep the tray in the fridge for at least an hour.

5. Once cool, the barfis become slightly firm are ready to eat.  Any left over barfis should be kept in an airtight container in a cool place.

If you wish to make your barfi extra special you could add white and brown chocolate chips to this recipe.

Here are some more Nuts recipes in the blog you may wish to try out:

• Nuts and Muesli Cereal Balls
• Nutty Energy ladoos/ balls with Dates
• Mixed Nuts Barfi with Dates
• Goji Berry Cereal Bars
• Nutty flapjacks with mixed nuts, mixed seeds and citrus flavoured honey
• Nuts, dates and Omega 4 Seed mix rolls
• Muesli or granola bars 
• Dates, Nuts and Protein Energy Balls
• Oats, Peanut Butter and Protein Powder Bars

So what desserts  do you like?