“Its Diwali in few days”, I said to my daughter.
I thought so, you are cleaning every nook and corner of the house” replied my daughter.
Diwali, is one of that auspicious occasion that holds a special place in my heart. It comes after monsoon so deep cleaning of the house makes sense to me. In the name of festivities we all do some extra cleaning, decorating and shopping for the house. Full of light Diwali is a festival of love, prosperity, enlightenment, gratitude and new beginnings. Most important of all – an occasion for loved ones to get together, share splendid meals and enjoy the moments of togetherness.
When I travel down the memory lane I remember we used to prepare scrumptious Diwali sweets at home. These home made sweets were then exchanged with friends, neighbors and relatives. But as time changed and we got busy with other immaterial things, store bought sweets took the place of home made. I still follow the age old tradition of making everything at home and for one thing I am glad that I am gluten free, which makes me and my family eat a little healthier. We eat less sweets now than what we used to eat few years ago and our favorite sweets are usually made from besan, nuts, milk and milk products. I share with you a ricotta cheese burfi that has an irresistible rich taste of kalakand. It is a popular milk and cheese dessert topped with pistachios and almonds.
Traditionally to make kalakand, paneer is added to thickened milk, then sweetened and cooked until it becomes a solid mass. In this recipe I am using ricotta cheese with condensed milk to get the desired texture of kalakand. When cooking with condensed milk and cheese one needs to be careful not to let it stick to bottom and burn. If you are some one like my daughter who likes to nibble on slightly browned crispy cheese then cook a small portion of cheese and condensed milk further till it gets slightly burnt and dry. Add pieces of chocolate or Tim tam as you see in the picture below and enjoy chocolate cheese mess.
RICOTTA CHEESE BURFI
Ingredients:
600g saputo ricotta cheese
1 tin condensed milk
1/4 cup butter
a few drops of rose water and 1/4 tsp cardamom powder
1/3 cup thinly sliced and chopped almonds and pistachios
Method:
1. Grease a cookie tray. Line with parchment paper.
2. Melt butter in a medium non stick pan. Add ricotta cheese and condensed milk and cook on medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Once the mixture starts to thicken stir every minute or so to avoid the mixture sticking to the bottom and forms a soft lump. Remove from heat. Stir in rose water and cardamom powder.
3. Spread the mixture evenly in a tray to approximately 1/2″ thickness.
4. Sprinkle pistachio and almonds, press gently onto the ricotta mixture. Set aside for 1 hour.
5. Cut burfi in diamonds, squares or rectangle shapes and separate out with a spatula.
Why wait for Diwali make and enjoy the burfi now!
Hopefully, I will be publishing my next post from my own domain. Till then I wish all of you my heartfelt wishes for a prosperous Diwali filled with Joy, love, health, wealth and happiness.
Malti
Now this is a delicious sweet. I am going to make this. It is so very easy to follow. Happy diwali to youand your family!
Malti
one more thing I like the desert idea of your daughter.
Balvinder Ubi
Thank you Malti,even I liked it but I ate without tim tam.
DivyaGCP
Wow!! you are moving to your own domain?? Congrats and best wishes..
I have a similar recipe in my space. I call it Instant Kalakkand.. 🙂
Balvinder Ubi
I have to check that if it is instant. I still have to move so my fingers are crossed.
Nami | Just One Cookbook
Happy Diwali to you and your family! This is a beautiful Diwali sweets! I look forward to visiting your blog on your own domain next time. Good luck!
baker in disguise
haha.. couldnt help laughing about the diwali cleaning bit… its the same story out here!! as for the kalakand with rivotta.. absolutely yum!! Happy diwali to you and your family!! 🙂
Balvinder Ubi
Thanks S and Happy Diwali to you as well.
mylittleitaliankitchen
Interesting one. This a great little bites. Ricotta is so good in baking, I use it all the time and when I am in Italy I buy the fresh full fat one….pure heaven!
Anne Regalado
Bal , your Diwali sounds like the Chinese New year here or our New year back home re cleaning every nook and crannies ! lol I’ve eaten plain cheese burfi before and really love it 😀 Yours is more of a gorgeous version with that lovely pistachios and almonds topping !
I’ve already visited your own domain 😀 Anyway , enjoy the Diwali and think of me while you’re eating some of those delectable Diwali sweets ! 😀
Balvinder Ubi
Still there is lot to be done on the site but thanks for visiting.
Yes, nuts makes a lot of difference to the taste of burfi.
Asmita
Happy Diwali to you and your family!
The barfi looks so tempting and finally I have a recipe that I can trust and make at home. Thanks for sharing.
Balvinder Ubi
Happy Diwali to you and your family Asmita!
Try the burfi this diwali.
yummychunklet
I am definitely going to try my hand at burfi this year. I miss the Diwali celebrations I went to during college!
Navaneetham Krishnan
Lovely sweets for the occasion Bal. We too have cut down on sweet, not like those days when I was growing up. But sure, to lighten up Diwali, this barfi will be fabulous.
Kit @ i-lostinausten
Happy Diwali Balvinder . I’ve been seeing lots of Diwali goodies & this is another lovely treat. Another wonderful idea of your daughter that always amazed me! Have a great gathering with families & enjoy . 🙂
Guru Uru
Perfect to celebrate upcoming Diwali my friend, I wsh I too could cooklike you for it – aaaah school 😉
Hope you and your family have a perfect one!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Lizzy Do
Mmmmm…a chocolate and cheese mess sounds fantastic! Diwali sounds like a fun festival…celebrating the best things in life! Your homemade treats will be perfect 🙂
Tiffany
Happy Diwali!!!! 😀 And love the Burfi! My favorite part??? The pistachios of course! 😀
Ambreen
Happy Diwali to you, Balvinder! Delicious looking irresistible burfi, perfect for the occasion. Congratulations on moving to your own domain, lovely new look 🙂
Soni
Congrats on the new look! Looks lovely and so does your dessert! Ricotta is perfect to be used in desserts like these 🙂 Happy Diwali to you too 🙂
Kitchen Belleicious
what a wonderful, new and interesting dessert! I love hearing about your memorylane and things that remind you of those times. This dish looks fantastic
Nava Krishnan
Happy Diwali to you and everyone at home. Love the new look of your blog, its simply great. You made the right choice to move to wordpress.
Blackswan
Happy Diwali, my dear! These lovely bakes are perfect for entertaining & I’m sure u’re gonna have a great time 🙂
Nami | Just One Cookbook
Now that Diwali is here, Happy Diwali again! And huge congrats to your beautiful new look! At first I clicked a different link! So happy that you made the decision to move! 🙂
Alida
You have done it!! This is a really pretty and easy to navigate site. I really like your new look: delicate and very restful to the eye. Well done! PS: I love these little cakes, they look delicious X
Balvinder
Alida, all the hard work of migrating is done by a young boy. He is still working on getting my links back.
Amelia
Hi Balvinder, this snack look awesome. Love the generous amount of topping, the combination of almond and pistachio look great. yum yum…..
Have a great week ahead, regards.
Shannon | JustAsDelish
Happy Diwali & congrats on the new site! This is a lovely Diwali treat, yummy dairy goodness 🙂
LinsFood
Happy Diwali, Balvinder! Hope you and your family had a wonderful time! I don’t think I’ve ever come across cheese barfis before! I must surprise my Indian friends with this on Sunday as I’m attending a Diwali do. Thank you!
Liz
Congrats on your new domain, my friend!!! Happy Diwali to you and your family!
PS…what a yummy treat!
Blackswan
Bal, head over to Shirley’s Luxury Haven quickly for a surprise!
baker street
Love the new layout, Neetu! Very clean and elegant! Love it.
Joanne T Ferguson
G’day! I have never previously even heard of burfi; your website and photo made me curious and when I saw it, I knew it just had to be “on the list”. Thank you for inspiring me and I am glad this sweet milk with cheese and nut sweet dessert experience was not missed! 🙂
Balvinder
I am surprised that you have not heard of burfi before But aNY WAY I am glad that you were inspired by my burfi, tried and had good result with it.
Joanne T Ferguson
Perhaps I have seen MANY and especially during your holiday festival, but it was not until I saw your recipe and photo that inspired me to try and make…For anyone else like myself, this recipe is GREAT! Thank you!
Jasmine
Looks good, I’m going to try this out. Would be helpful if you could include how many pieces this would make. I have to make dessert for a pooja for about 50 people, and need that information.
Balvinder
Jasmine, this burfi tastes good, too. It will be a nice desert for pooja.
I am not exactly sure, how many pieces I made, but I tried to count looking at the picture it looks like 24.
Sarla DILWALI
I would like to ask about setting of BARFE At what temp it would get set?
Is there a way to check?
thank you. It is great the recipe is easy and not many steps to follow ,also only four ingredients needed ricotta condenced milk , one stick butter, and sliced nuts of your choice
you had explained nicely thanksthanks
sd
Balvinder
Hi Sarla dilwali, I like your last name 😉 thanks for liking the recipe.
This burfi sets at room temperature.