Happy Diwali! Celebrate the festival of light with these delicious, Indian Diwali sweets including Ladoo, Burfi, Halwa and more from different regions of India. Eat them yourself or give them as gifts! All Dairy-free Eggless Vegan. This post was published Nov 7, 2015

Diwali is the Indian festival of lights and one of the bigger Hindu festivals celebrated in many parts of India. The festival spiritually signifies the victory of good over evil and celebrates kindness, compassion, prosperity, love and sharing. Before Diwali, people clean, and decorate their homes. People dress up in festive clothes, light up diyas (lamps and candles) inside and outside their home, participate in family pooja (prayers) typically to Goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity. Followed by fireworks, a family get together, loads of great food ( appetizers, lots of mains and sides), including mithai (sweets).

People also visit family and friends and exchange gifts in the days before the festival, and these Diwali sweets make great gifts, as well!

Indian sweets and desserts often use milk solids – khoya, clarified butter – ghee, fresh cheese- chenna, milk, cream and other forms of dairy, but you don’t need these to make delicious desserts! I have a huge collection of vegan Indian Diwali sweets, including burfis, halwas and ladoos along with fusion desserts like my Ras Malai Tres leches cake, Carrot Halwa cheesecake and pistachio kulfi tiramisu that will please a crowd. Let’s reduce the pain and suffering of moms by choosing dairy-free options for Diwali festival!
If you try any of these sweets and desserts, do let me know how you and your family liked them!

HAPPY DIWALI!!!

If you’re looking for more Diwali recipes, don’t miss my vegan Diwali menu! It uses one base sauce to create a 3-course meal plus rice! And if you don’t do onion or garlic, I have a no onion no garlic Diwali menu, as well. Any of these Diwali sweets would be amazing with these menus!

Continue reading: 40+ Vegan Diwali Sweets Recipes

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This 6-ingredient toasted coconut ladoo is ready in about 20 minutes. Sweet, fudgy coconut balls are a simple dessert perfect for Diwali or any other holiday celebration! This post was originally published on October 14,2016.

Just like dal, there are many variations of ladoos (sweet balls) depending on the region, family, festival, and preference. This toasted coconut ladoo is amazing with the cardamom as written, or you can add other flavors of choice, like vanilla, rose water, saffron or lemon zest, cocoa, peppermint for festive flavor.

Diwali — the big Hindu festival of lights– is just around the corner! Make these easy ladoos as part of your Diwali feast. If you want more Indian sweets to include, also make some besan burfi (chickpea flour fudge bars), kaju katli (cashew fudge), mango ladoo, dairy-free gulab jamun (doughnut holes), besan halwa (chickpea flour spoon fudge) or carrot halwa this Diwali. 

Toasted coconut ladoo is incredibly simple to make. Simply toast shredded coconut until it’s nicely golden brown. Add coconut milk or coconut cream and cook for a minute, then stir in cardamom and sugar and continue to mix and cook until the liquid dries out. Cool, shape and serve!

You can use dried or fresh shredded coconut for these ladoos. Fresh shredded coconut can be found in Indian stores in the frozen section. The dried shredded coconut often is not fine enough, so pulse it a few times in a food processor to reduce the shred size so that the coconut can absorb the liquid and flavor better and make less chewy ladoos.

Why You’ll Love Toasted Coconut Ladoo

• easy Indian dessert perfect for festival season
• fudgy, cardamom-scented sweet keeps well in the fridge, so you can make it ahead
• 6-ingredient, 20 minute recipe
• naturally gluten-free and soy-free as long as your vegan butter is soy-free.

Continue reading: Toasted Coconut Ladoo(Cardamom Coconut balls)

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Kulfi Tiramisu – this Indian tiramisu fusion combines creamy, cardamom-scented kulfi Indian ice cream with coffee infused cake to create a show stopping, layered dessert. It’s absolutely epic!

Aren’t Indian fusion cakes fun? I made my Rasmalai tres leches cake, and it has been very popular and it’s super delicious, so I decided to make another traditional cake into an Indian dessert version. This Indian tiramisu fusion recipe uses my tiramisu sheet cake and keeps the coffee in the cake layer.

Then, you top it with this amazing cardamom cream that would remind you of Indian Kulfi. No coming is needed for the cream layer. Just blend and pour. Once it’s chilled, it thickens into an almost ice cream-like texture, called kulfi.

Kulfi is traditionally made by slowly cooking down milk with cardamom and other seasonings, then freezing it. In this recipe, we skip all of that cooking down and use a combination of coconut milk and nuts to thicken the mixture without needing to use the stove at all.

For the kulfi tiramisu, I make the cake and split it into two, so you get these two thin cake layers with two kulfi cream layers. It is a delicious, decadent dessert that you can serve for festivals, like Diwali, or even the holidays and Thanksgiving!

Why You’ll Love Kulfi Tiramisu

• two sweet, coffee-flavored cake layers
• two creamy, cardamom-scented kulfi layers
• crunchy pistachios on top
• soy-free recipe. Options for gluten-free, coconut-free, and nut-free

More Vegan Indian Fusion Desserts

• Gujiya Peda– almond fudge stuffed with coconut and raisins
• Carrot Halwa Cake – Cardamom caramelized carrot cake
• Baklava Lassi
• Ras malai tres leches cake
• No-Bake Carrot Halwa Cheesecake – grain-free

Continue reading: Kulfi Tiramisu (Cardamom-Scented Indian Tiramisu Fusion)

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This carrot halwa cheesecake is grain-free and doesn’t need to be baked at all! You make the carrot halwa crust with cardamom spiced shredded carrots on the stove and the cheesecake mixture in your blender. Then chill this cake to set it up, then slice and serve. Nut-free option

The crust for this cake is based on gajar halwa( carrot halwa). This is made with shredded carrots that are cooked down and caramelized on the stovetop with toasted nuts and cardamom to boost the flavor. Then it is topped with a creamy cheesecake layer. Think cardamom scented flourless carrot cake cheesecake!

Carrot halwa is absolutely delicious and makes an amazing, grain-free base for this vegan carrot cake cheesecake topped with a simple, blender cheesecake mixture. Caramelized carrots topped with creamy vegan cheesecake cream and topped with pistachios, is decadent and festive!

Indian festive season is in full swing with navratri right now and Diwali coming up. This fusion dessert is a crowd pleaser for an Indian dinner party or a holiday party! Change up the spices and flavor to compliment your menu. Omit cardamom and add more vanilla for a Carrot cake cheesecake!!

Why You’ll Love Carrot Halwa Cheesecake

• no-bake dessert
• melt-in-your-mouth grain free carrot cake crust
• easy, creamy blender cheesecake
• naturally grain-free and soy-free
• nut-free option

More Vegan Carrot Cake Recipes

I’m slightly obsessed with carrot cake flavors! Try my other carrot cake-inspired recipes:

• Vegan Carrot Cake
• Carrot Cake Bars
• Carrot Halwa Cake
• Carrot Cake Bites
• Carrot Cake Cookies
• Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal

Continue reading: No-Bake Carrot Halwa Cheesecake – grain-free Indian Fusion dessert

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Gujiya peda — almond flour fudge with a swirl of coconut-pistachio-raisin filling — is a fusion dessert that tastes absolutely amazing! Serve it as dessert during Diwali or box it up and give it as a gift. It has just incredible flavors of saffron and cardamom. It’s also grain-free, soy-free, and gluten-free!

Happy navratri! The next whole month is filled with festive occasions and celebrations. Many parts of India celebrate these festivals in their own way. The common thread celebrating goodness, love and compassion, and family and food.

Let’s kick off the celebration with this fantastic gujiya peda. A fusion of two favorite Indian desserts.

Peda, which is basically just milk solids flavored with saffron, cardamom, or both and then cooked and formed into these soft, flat fudge cookies.

Gujiya / Karanji are sweet, half moon-shaped pastries filled with different kinds of fillings. One of those fillings is a coconut, nut, and raisin paste. 

I am using that delicious filling from the gujiya in a vegan peda – almond flour peda, and then rolling it up like a pinwheel. You can also stuff the fudge balls and make stuffed Ladoo or shape them like Burfi bars with a layer of peda and a layer of the coconut gujiya filling and then slice into bites.

It tastes absolutely amazing, and there is very little cooking involved. There is no standing around and cooking down your milk for hours to get the final result. Or making the pastry dough, rolling it out and making each pastry, and no deep frying!

We simply make a quick custard in under five minutes and then add it to almond flour to make the dough. Then, we make the coconut-nut mixture in the food processor and just spread it all out, roll it up, and slice, and you’re good!

Why You’ll Love Gujiya Peda

• soft, cardamom-scented almond flour fudge outside
• nutty, sweet saffron-flavored filling inside
• only 5 minutes cooking time!
• delicious dessert that makes a great gift
• soy-free, gluten-free, and grain-free treat

More Vegan Diwali Desserts

• Ras Malai Cake
• Almond Halwa
• Malai Burfi
• Toasted Coconut Ladoo
• gulab jamun

Continue reading: Gujiya Peda (Indian Fudge With Coconut Pistachio Raisin Swirls)

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Carrot halwa cake is a fusion recipe that uses traditional Indian dessert (Gajar Halwa which is a cardamom scented carrot fudge like dessert) as the topping for a flavorful cake. It has such an incredible mixture of flavors and textures! Glutenfree option

Carrot halwa is an Indian dessert made with shredded carrots cooked down with sugar and milk. They caramelize into this amazing, roasted carrot flavor. It is often flavored cardamom, and it has some roasted nuts and raisins in it. 

Carrot Halwa is usually made in springtime with the first crop of juicy, red carrots. Red carrots are generally not easily available here, so I end up using orange. But if you can find some red carrots, they are amazing. You can also use a mix of the orange and purple carrots, which also works amazingly for this carrot halwa cake.

For the cake, we cook the shredded carrots with a little bit of cardamom, lime zest, and maple syrup until they are just al dente, and then we add it to the cake. This helps the carrots cook and caramelize when baking for the delicious caramelized flavor and texture.

If you add the carrots directly to the cake, they do get cooked, but they’ll have more of a steamed carrot kind of flavor. So I highly recommend cooking the carrots before adding to the cake batter. 

Why You’ll Love Carrot Halwa Cake

• carrot cake flavors you love with layers of incredible Indian dessert flavors
• sweet, spiced carrots have an incredible, roasted flavor!
• easy to make with nut-free and gluten-free options

More Vegan Carrot Cake Recipes

• Carrot Cake Bars
• Carrot Cake Cookies
• Carrot Cake Bites
• Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal
• Carrot Cake Pancakes

Continue reading: Carrot Halwa Cake

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Why make just 1 dessert when you can make 2? These layered Carrot Halwa Coconut Burfi Bars use only few ingredients and come together super quickly. The perfect bites for any festive season.

These consist of a moist layer of shredded coconut Burfi that tastes a bit like a coconut macaroon with cardamom. The topping is made with sweet, caramelized shredded carrots which we season with a hint of cardamom and lime. DIVINE.

Like all Indian sweets, these burfi bars are seriously sweet but you can reduce the amount of sugar used by a bit to make them less sweet. Indian sweets and desserts are usually served on special occasions and festivals(Indian holidays), they aren’t eaten as an everyday thing. They tend to be small portions and a bit on the sweet side.

They are easily portable, so make for a great edible gift. They last quite a bit so you can make them ahead of time with no problem.

Just make sure you chill them well before cutting them or they will not cut into neat slices.

With those gorgeous layers, they already look pretty impressive but a sprinkling of chopped pistachios takes them to the next level. You could also sprinkle them with some culinary rose petals, or apple culinary silver or top witb other nuts or seeds.

More Indian Sweets:

Vegan Almond Burfi

Vegan Almond Halwa; Instant Pot Badam Halwa (No Oil)

Vegan Malai Burfi (Milk Cake)- Indian Fudge Bars

Vegan Gulab Jamun Dry Mix

Rasmalai Tres Leches Cake (Vegan)

Continue reading: Layered Carrot Halwa Coconut Burfi Vegan

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Calling all lassi lovers: Here’s a fresh, summery spin on one of my all-time favorite desserts: Baklava! Have you ever tried it? It is a sweet dessert made of layers of flaky phyllo pastry filled with crushed pistachios and/or walnuts and sweetened with syrup.

I took the flavors of this delicious Middle Eastern dessert – lemon, cinnamon and of course pistachios – and combined them into a delicious refreshing Indian lassi that is perfect for a hot day.

What’s a lassi?

Lassis are a refreshing blended drink originating from the Punjab region. It is usually made with dahi (yogurt), water, spices, and sometimes mint or fruit to add some flavor.  It is basically a yogurt-based milkshake or smoothie.

Lassis come in all kinds of flavors, some are salty, while some are sweet. You might have tried the most popular variety – mango lassi – at Indian restaurants. This lemon pistachio lassi is my new favorite flavor! You’ve got to try it!

If you ask me anytime is a good time for a Lassi but it’s especially soothing after a spicy curry. So next time you’re looking for a light dessert drink to finish a spicy meal, Lassi could be the drink you are looking for.

More refreshing drinks:

• Vegan Black Forest Shake
• Turmeric chai iced tea
• Dark Chocolate Shake (Refined Sugar-free)
• Vegan Turmeric Lassi
• vegan cookie dough blizzard
• brownie batter milkshake 

Continue reading: Vegan Baklava Lassi

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Shahi Tudka – I think of this as a Royal French toast. But it’s actually more of a dessert than a breakfast food. It’s a sweet Mughlai dessert often made by frying bread in ghee (clarified butter) or oil, then soaked in a cardamon scented sugar syrup then topped with Indian Rabri. The Rabri which is a saffron scented thickened milk pudding can be made thick or thin and the bread soaked in it completely or served with the Rabri topping.

In this Vegan version and my lighter take of shahi tukda, I bake the bread. Baking toasts the bread evenly. You can use a toaster too, but the bread doesn’t toast evenly or fry out enough and can get soggy quickly that way. I make a thick custard like Rabri with all the same delicious flavors and assemble and serve.

I bake the sliced bread instead of frying, and then coat it in some sugar syrup and top it with a delicious vegan rabri. Oooh, la la!

Despite the sugar syrup, it’s not a cloyingly sweet dessert as Indian mithai tend to be. It’s creamy and delicious with the crisp toast lightening it up.

This is a great dessert to serve during Ramadan. Its easy delicious and festive.
Don’t have saffron? Use cardamom instead or use other flavors like rose or vanilla.

More recipes using saffron:

• Saffron Pistachio Milk Shake
• Kesar Peda
• Kesar Kulfi
• Vegan Kesar Burfi

More Indian desserts

• Almond Burfi
• Malai Ladoo
• Gulab Jamun

Continue reading: Shahi Tukda (Crisp syrup soaked toasts with Indian Rabri custard)

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This Vegan Ras Malai Tres Leches Cake combines two of my all-time favorite desserts, Rasmalai and Three Milk Cake!  A new Latin twist on one of the most delicious Indian sweets out there –  traditional Bengali Ras Malai / Rasmalai.

Ras Malai meets Tres Leches

Tres Leches is a light and airy sponge cake soaked in three kinds of milk: usually evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream. Bengali Ras Malai traditionally consists of small soft cheese curd balls or mini cakes immersed in saffron and cardamom-scented sweetened thickened milk. Can you already guess what we did here to combine the two? Yes, we bake a moist vegan sponge cake and soak it in a rich, homemade 3 milk mix seasoned with cardamom and saffron. The result is simply divine!

After the vegan tres leches cake has chilled, a simple coconut whipped cream and some chopped pistachios are added as finishing touches. If you want, add some vanilla or cinnamon to the coconut whip as you prepare it. It’s the cozy season after all. You can serve it topped with the whipped coconut cream or serve with a custard made of the 3 milk mixture!

Tres Leches Cake is always best served chilled and while the flavors make this perfect for Diwali, fall, and winter, I am thinking that this cake would also be the perfect summer cake.

This dreamy indulgent vegan tres leches is the ultimate make-ahead dessert because it only gets better with time, perfect for holidays, and any occasion that calls for cake.

More Diwali and holiday recipes:

• Vegan Ras Malai  
• Almond Halwa, 2ways and Almond Ladoo GF
• Malai Burfi  GF
• Basundi
• 7 Cup Burfi – GF, Nutfree
• Malai Ladoo
• Brown Rice Kheer
• Gajar Halwa, skillet, Instant pot
• Gulab Jamuns
• Easy Kaju Katli 

Continue reading: Rasmalai Tres Leches Cake (Vegan)

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