Coconut Burfi is a simple Indian dessert that’s perfect around the holidays.
Coconut Burfi is one of my favorite Indian desserts. When I was younger, my cousin, Ajay, would drizzle chocolate syrup all over it, and then microwave the burfi for 20 seconds. He named his creation, Almond Joy chocolate without the almonds. Brilliant right? At that age, I thought anything Ajay did was brilliant. 🙂
Recently, Aarti Sequeira of Food Network’s Aarti Party made a Coconut Toffee on her show. She named this dish Coconut Toffee, but it really is Coconut Burfi. I loved how she added red food color to this decadent dessert which transforms the burfi into a gorgeous pink color. Remember, people eat with their eyes! Based on the reviews for Aarti’s Coconut Toffee, many complained the burfi was too sweet. Note, this dessert is supposed to be sweet, however I wasn’t looking for a toothache either so I reduced the sugar from 1 1/2 cups to 1 cup. This is a quick dessert that literally takes about 20 minutes to put together. Enjoy!
This Coconut Burfi is:
gluten-free
slightly lightened up
perfect for Diwali, or any Indian festival
simple & easy
delicious
Coconut Barfi
Ingredients
- 2 cups coconut desiccated
- 1/2 cup low-fat 1% milk
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 tsp cardamom powder
- 2 drops red food color
- cashews for garnish optional
Instructions
- Grease a round baking tray or plate with butter.</br></br>
- On medium heat in a nonstick pot, add coconut.</br></br>
- Dry roast until you smell the aroma, should be a couple minutes, and then lower the heat to low-medium.</br></br>
- Add milk to the coconut and keep stirring for a few minutes until the milk is absorbed. Turn off the stove and set aside.</br></br>
- Now make the simple syrup or chashni. In a separate pot on medium heat, add water and sugar.</br></br>
- Combine. This will form a simple syrup.</br></br>
- You want the syrup to form a thread like consistency… should look as follows, and be sticky.</br></br>
- At this point add the coconut to the syrup.</br></br>
- Keep stirring until all the syrup is absorbed. This will take about 3-5 minutes.</br></br>
- It's a process.. it will take a little effort, around 10 minutes.</br></br>
- Now add the cardamom powder. Keep stirring making sure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan..</br></br>
- Add just 2 drops of food color, literally!</br></br>
- Combine. Soooooooo pretty.</br></br>
- Once the coconut starts to form into clumps, you are done. Also, stirring won't be as effortless which is a good sign, hence you are done. Turn off the stove.</br></br>
- Transfer the coconut mixture onto a plate or baking tray.</br></br>
- Spread the mixture evenly. If the mixture isn’t hot, you can use your hands too.</br></br>
- Place the plate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. This will help the sweet solidify.</br></br>
- After refrigerating, this is what you should have.</br></br>
- Cut into diamonds.</br></br>
- OPTIONAL: for garnish, I chopped up a few cashews. Almonds would work well too.</br></br>
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?
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I love seeing your creations!
The mithai looks lovely, wanted to give u a quick & easy way to make the syrup. Put 1/2 cup wanter & the sugar in a microwave safe bowl. microwave for 2 mins, stir and microwave for another 2 mins, u'll have the syrup (chashini) ready for use.
This is so cool! I saw the Aarti Party episode you mentioned and at first wasn't sure what to think about this dessert. By the end of the episode I was thinking I should try it. Love your photos and all the history behind this celebration.
Best,
Veronica
@Cakelicious – thanks for the tip.
@Enchanted Cook – The dessert is pretty simple to make, but go with 1 cup of sugar, I think any more will be too much. Thanks for the compliment. 🙂 Let me know how it goes.
Beautiful story behind this celebration. I'd never heard of it before.
The burfi looks fantastic too.
I’d love for you to submit one of your beautiful photos, and a link to your post, to my new baking photo gallery showcasing the best baking, sweets and desserts on the web.
@bakeolicious.. thanks! Glad you enjoyed the story. Photo submitted! Thanks.
I"m making this, your aloo gobi, and your egg curry for Diwali on Friday! Crossing my fingers it all turns out well!!!! I'm counting on your perfect recipes 🙂
@Nandini – I'm glad you are considering these dishes for Diwali. I really hope the Coconut Burfi works out for you. Suggestion is to make burfi in 2 pots using pink food color and perhaps, green. It would make it very festive for Diwali! Good luck and let me know!
Maybe I should surprise my family with this on Christmas.
This turned out amazing. Ajay said it reminded him of his youth! It is so shockingly easy to make too. I will definitely be making this again soon!
@Nandini – I'm glad Ajay was reminded of his youth, hopefully he didn't start acting that way. 🙂 Just kidding! Stay away from the Bully!
Hey everyone just a quick tip after the barfi is done try putting it into a baking pan with walls. I think the reason it doesn't hold up is because it isn't tight enough when packed. Hope this works!
Thanks for sharing. It seems like a very simple dish and you can actually choose the color. Good post.
Thanks… glad you like it.