This is a five-step simple fudge recipe to make homemade, delicious Indian sweet Mixed Nut Coconut Burfi that will leave your family and friends guessing the hidden ingredient. Mixed nut coconut burfi or fudge is an easy to make Indian sweet with a twist of fennel flavor that makes it unique. You will be immediately curious about the source of the distinct essence and flavor in this burfi or fudge.
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Controlling the Sweetness in Mixed Nut Coconut Burfi
Since you’ll be making this dessert yourself, you can control the dessert sweetness to your liking. Market desserts are usually very sweet for me, which pushes health conscious consumers away from them. In this case, you can even opt to make two separate batches, one for kids and one for those who like less sugar.
What is Burfi?
The word Burfi or Barfi originated from Persian word ‘Barf’ or ‘Burf’, which means a slab of ice. Burfi, looks like a ice cube in shape, but is obviously made of ‘khoya’ i.e. milk solids. To make Khoya you boil milk till it becomes almost dough type consistency. Khoya is the main binder in most burfi recipes, with added ingredients to give it different flavors like mango burfi, cashew burfi, pistachio burfi, and gulkand burfi, etc. Making khoya at home is a time-consuming process, hence I opt to buy it from a store.
Desserts can be Healthy too…
This Mixed Nut Coconut Burfi recipe only needs a few key ingredients to make it that are easily available in the kitchen. First key ingredient, Coconut has low GI and is high in fiber. Other mineral in coconut, such as manganese, copper, selenium, potassium, iron, phosphorous, magnesium and zinc; help maintain the proper body functions. Nuts are also low in GI and provide the much needed proteins. Overall this Indian dessert is packed with nutrients and festive mood. Small portion sizes make sweets more fun without guilt.
Burfi Ingredients
Equal amount of grated fresh coconut, roasted and chopped mixed nuts, mawa/khoya and sugar/jaggery/ coconut palm sugar.
I took
From Pantry
- Coconut -1.5 cups fresh grated
- Mixed nuts (cashews, almonds, walnuts, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, melon seeds, chironji) - 1.5 cups roasted; whole or chopped
- Mawa/khoya - 1.5 cup grated
- Raw brown sugar - 1.25 cups (I reduced the amount of sugar since we like sweetness on lighter side)
- Water - ½ cup
- Spices
- Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
- Fennel seeds (optional, add for fennel flavor)
- Black pepper powder - ½ teaspoon
Burfi Method
- Prepare a baking sheet / thaali to set the fudge (paak) by applying little clarified butter (ghee) on the baking sheet (thali) surface and keep it aside.
- On medium heat add sugar and water to a pan. Let it cook for 10-15 minutes until it gets really thick, almost ready to crystallize again.
- At this point add maws/khoya and mix rigorously. There should not be any lumps. Mixing mawa to the sugar syrup will make sugar syrup thin that's why we needed a really thick consistency of sugar syrup.
- Turn the heat really low and quickly add coconut, nuts, cardamom powder, fennel seeds(if using), and black pepper powder and give a rigorous mix and transfer the mixture to the oiled thali or baking sheet.
- Spread out the mixture evenly and set aside to cool it down and after that keep it in the refrigerator for 1 hr.
- Now the mix-nuts coconut burfi or fudge is ready to cut into desired shape.
Tips for Making This Burfi Recipe
If you think the consistency of the mixture is still too thin, then cook it a little longer after mixing all the ingredients. Alternatively, if you think it is too thick to spread, add a little milk to it.
You can make this without mawa as well, in that case the consistency of sugar syrup should be thin (ek taar) now mix coconut, nuts, and other ingredients to the ek taar sugar syrup. Give it a good mix and spread the mixture to the oiled baking sheet (thaali) and keep it aside to cool down.
Recipe
Mixed Nut Coconut Burfi with a hint of Fennel
Ingredients
- 1.5 cup Coconut Grated
- 1.5 cup Mixed nuts - cashews, almonds, walnuts, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, melon seeds, chironji Roasted - Chopped or whole
- 1.5 cup Mawa/khoya Grated
- 1.25 cup Raw brown sugar
- 1.5 cup Water
Spices
- 1 teaspoon Cardamom powder
- 1 tbs Fennel seeds Optional for flavor
- ½ teaspoon Black pepper Powder
Instructions
- Prepare a baking sheet / thaali to set the fudge (paak) by applying little clarified butter (ghee) on the baking sheet (thali) surface and keep it aside.
- On medium heat add sugar and water to a pan. Let it cook for 10-15 minutes until it gets really thick, almost ready to crystallize again.
- At this point add maws/khoya and mix rigorously. There should not be any lumps. Mixing mawa to the sugar syrup will make sugar syrup thin that’s why we needed a really thick consistency of sugar syrup.
- Turn the heat really low and quickly add coconut, nuts, cardamom powder, fennel seeds(if using), and black pepper powder and give a rigorous mix and transfer the mixture to the oiled thali or baking sheet.
- Spread out the mixture evenly and set aside to cool it down and after that keep it in the refrigerator for 1 hr.
- Now the coconut and mixed nuts fudge is ready to cut into desired shape.Fennel flavored Coconut Mixed Nut Fudge Indian Sweet/Dessert
- Tips: If you think the consistency of mixture is still too thin, then to set cook little further after mixing all the ingredients. Alternatively, if you think it is too thick to spread add little milk to it. You can make this without mawa as well, in that case the consistency of sugar syrup should be thin (ek taar) now mix coconut, nuts, and other ingredients to the ek taar sugar syrup. Give it a good mix and spread the mixture to the oiled baking sheet (thaali) and keep it aside to cool down.
Farzana says
It's super tasty. I made balls of it since it wouldn't stay together. Can we use jaggery instead of sugar?
Rupali Agarwal says
Hey Farzana, Thank you for trying and leaving the comment. Yes! you can use jaggery instead of sugar. It will just slightly modify the color and flavors. Next time watch the consistency of your sugar syrup as that is the most common reason for it not sticking together. In this case seems like your syrup consistency may be on a thinner side. Let me know if you try again. Regards - Rupali
Pratima says
instead of brown sugar, can i use regular sugar?
Rupali Agarwal says
Yes, you can!
Rupali
namita says
Any tips on how to know that chashni is ready to add coconut ?
Rupali Agarwal says
If you have candy thermometer ? then wait until sugar syrup temperature reaches 238 F. If you don’t have thermometer then wait until sugar syrup is really thick, three thread consistency or almost ready to crystallize.
Hope this helps!
Rupali
dialoguein says
very easy and delicious recipe.Can we use desiccated coconut instead of fresh coconut grated (I noticed we don’t cook much after adding the coconut ??
Rupali Agarwal says
Thank you for the kind words. Yes, you can use desiccated cocnut instead of fresh.
Rashmi says
Hi
Thanks for sharing yummy recipe 🙂
Can we use desiccated coconut instead of fresh coconut grated (I noticed we don’t cook much after adding the coconut) ??
I will wait for your reply .
TIA
Rupali Agarwal says
Definitely you can use the desiccated coconut ? as well. Fresh coconut elevates the flavors much more that’s why I have used fresh coconut. Yes you don’t need to cook it too much once Chashni is done, then it’s more like mixing all ingredients into that chasni. Hope this helps
Jigna says
Is there a home made recipie for khoya or if using store bought which one to use
Rupali Agarwal says
I don’t have a recipe for homemade Khoya yet on blog. I mostly use store bought Nanak brand Khoya since that’s the only brand average at my nearest Indian store. But you can definitely find some homemade Khoya recipes on google search.
Puja says
Awesome one
But is there any other alternative for Khoya/Mawa?
Rupali Agarwal says
No, not for this recipe. Though you can use milk powder but the process and method would be different.