Quality Desserts

There are several desserts on this site that are for special occasions & not for everyday fare. Therefore you will find ingredients that are fattening and high in calories. My philosophy is, everything in moderation. So long as you don't have platefuls of these calorie laden goodies you should be okay.

If you have diabetes, exercise care and rely on your doctors advise about whether you can eat these rich desserts. Many of these desserts have large amounts of butter & sugar. Do consider alternatives to ingredients like sugar, butter & milk.

To access all the delicious recipes for special ocassions please click on the links above.

Diwali or Festival of Lights is one such special occasion when most Hindus celebrate the festival with lots of good & rich food, desserts, snacks & sweetmeats. The recipes here are a few of the traditional sweets that are usually made at Diwali.

Although I have mentioned brand names such as Klim Milk powder, you may use other brands of full cream milk powder. I usually use Mawa Milk powder that I buy from the local Indian stores.

You will note that many recipes call for ground cardamom, (also known as elachi), ground nutmeg, & colored sliced almonds. These items can be prepared ahead of time. Although cardamom powder is sold in stores, I prefer to grind my own as the smell & flavor is so much more robust. Ground nutmeg can be bought at stores or you can grate a nutmeg to have that fresh, strong flavor.

If you like the effect of color, buy food color & the separate the almonds into different batches (about a 2 tablespoons each). Then add a few drops of food color to each batch. Get the children to participate and enjoy the “magic” they can create. Green, red and orange are commonly used colors. After spreading the almonds with color, dry them in the microwave for about 3-6 minutes or until the almonds feel firm.

Most Indian grocery stores stock cardamom & cardomom powder. I use a coffee grinder just for spices. Rinse, dry and then grind spices in the coffee grinder. I use the skin of the cardamom as well.

Some of the recipes call for ghee (a form of melted butter). I have included a recipe on how to make ghee. For those who wish to skip this ingredient, regular butter works very well too.