12 Classic Diwali Desserts Everyone Should Know About

amanda mcarthur

nov 7, 2023

Sunday, Nov. 12, marks this year's Diwali festivities, celebrating the Festival of Light, India's most important annual holiday.

The special day honors lightness's triumph over darkness and good winning over evil, and celebrations include wearing gorgeous clothing, lighting up the home and performing ceremonies—including great feasts, with an emphasis on special desserts. We happen to believe this Diwali desserts deserve a special spotlight, and you can learn all about some of our favorites below.

Ladoos

If you see a towering stack of round confections at the table on Diwali, chances are that they're ladoos. These sweet treats are usually made with a base of flour and ghee and flavored with sugar and cardamom, sometimes rolled with nuts. It's also a very versatile dessert, so depending on who makes it, you can expect all kinds of different flavors and textures.

Shutterstock: Indian Traditional Sweet Food Besan ke Laddu. Made using gram flour, sugar, and ghee. Indian festival sweet. Diwali faral or snacks. copy space. Gram flour sweet Ladoo.

(via Shutterstock)

Barfi

Barfi is a unique, fudge-like dessert that's often served on a platter cut into neat squares. It's made with milk, ghee, sugar and spice, and beyond that, the sky's the limit in terms of the ingredients and flavors that can be included. We happen to think they're especially tasty with pistachios.

Shutterstock: Coconut barfi. Typical Indian sweet made from. Coconut and sugar

(via Shutterstock)

Gulab Jamun

If you eat at Indian restaurants often, chances are that you've seen the popular gulab jamun on the menu. These wonderfully spherical treats are made with fried dough and soaked in a wonderfully sweet sugar syrup with rose water and cardamom, resulting in lovely textural contrasts as you bite in.

Shutterstock: Indian sweet food Gulab Jamun served in a round ceramic bowl

(via Shutterstock)

Kheer

Kheer is one of our favorite Indian buffet staples, and it's also a must for any Diwali gathering. This sweet rice pudding is made with basmati rice, and gets even tastier with festive additions such as nuts, raisins and other types of fruit.

Shutterstock: Delicious Kheer traditional bowl, Traditional indian sweet dish, Pakistani dessert.

(via Shutterstock)

Also read about: All the Best Foods and Drinks We Tried in October 2023

Halwa

Halwa is another pudding-like dessert traditionally made with sooji (semolina), ghee and sugar, often with nuts and raisins mixed in. There's also our favorite variation, gajar halwa, which is made with fruits or veggies and is especially delicious when made with grated carrots and spiced with cardamom.

Shutterstock: Gajar ka halwa is a carrot-based sweet dessert pudding from India. Garnished with Cashew/almond nuts and Served in a bowl over colourful/wood background

(via Shutterstock)

Ras Malai

Ras malai might be one of the most unusual desserts on this list, but it's also among the very best. It consists of hunks of paneer (a type of soft cheese that doesn't melt) cooked in a thick syrup flavored with sugar, saffron and cardamom to soak up all of that delicious sweet flavor. It's also served with the syrup to be slurped up like melted ice cream.

Shutterstock: Bread Rasmalai is the tweaked version of traditional Ras malai using bread slices instead of paneer

(via Shutterstock)

Jalebi

Jalebi's eye-catching swirl shape makes it extra tempting, and they're just as tasty as they look. They're made by deep-drying a fermented batter and doused in a deliciously sticky cardamom and saffron syrup.

Shutterstock: Indian Sweet Jalebi or imarti. Jalebi is one of the most delicious sweets widely used in India. Selective Focus, Selective Focus on Subject, Background Blur.

(via Shutterstock)

Kaju Katli

Kaju katli is technically a type of barfi, but we think it deserves its own spot on this list for its great flavor and texture. It's a type of sweet fudge, with "kaju" translating to cashew, as the key ingredients are cashews and sugar, making for a decadent, melt-in-your-mouth experience.

Shutterstock: Kaju Katli is a traditional Indian Diamond shaped sweet or Mithai made using cashew paste, sugar, and mava or Khoya. served in a wooden plate over dark background. cashew barfi. Copy space

(via Shutterstock)

Also read about: 5 Alternatives to Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts to Switch Up Your Morning Routine

Kalakand

Kalakand may look a bit like barfi, but these desserts are denser and moister thanks to being made with milk and paneer. These treats are also flavored with cardamom before being cut into squares and topped with nuts.

Shutterstock: Indian Mithai Hot Kalakand Burfi Also Known As Alwar Mawa Qalaqand Barfi, Mishri Mava Or Khoa Milkcake Is Made Of Solidified Milk Meetha Doodh Khoya Malai Paneer. Topped With Crushed Pista And Elaichi

(via Shutterstock)

Peda

Think of peda as something between a cookie and a ball of fudge. The dough is flavored with sugar, saffron and cardamom before being shaped into balls, and the pieces are extra scrumptious with a pistachio nut on top.

Shutterstock: Malai Peda or white pera is a North Indian sweet Mithai or delight, prepared with full cream milk, sugar and cardamom

(via Shutterstock)

Mysore Pak

Mysore Pak is a traditional sweet with a final flavor and texture similar to shortbread. It's made with ghee, flour and sugar, plus cardamom, resulting in a sugary sweet cookie that practically melts on the tongue.

Shutterstock: Traditional Indian sweet dessert dish Mysore pak,pakk made with lentil flour ghee,

(via Shutterstock)

Rasgulla

Last, but certainly not least, is rasgulla, an extra sweet dessert of light chenna cottage cheese balls. These rounds are boiled in a cardamom sugar syrup, soaking the cheese all the way through for sweet, puffy perfection.

Shutterstock: Bowl full with Rasgulla and pistachios, a food table top, Pune, India.

(via Shutterstock)

Feeling chilly? Click HERE to check out some of our favorite warming drinks to enjoy when it gets cold out.

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