Barfi (Indian Milk Powder Barfi) (2024)

Milk powder barfi is a popular Indian sweet made with ghee and milk powder, and flavored with cardamom. This fudge-like dessert recipe makes use of pantry ingredients, and will be ready in less than 30 minutes.

What is Barfi?

Barfi (sometimes written burfi) is a popular Indian milk-based dessert, similar to fudge. It is super popular during festivals such as Diwali, Holi, Rakhni, and often distributed among friends and family.

People typically purchase barfi from a mithai ki dukaan, a store that specializes in making mithai or Indian sweets.

There are many different flavors of barfi such as besan barfi (also known as besan burfi, made with garam flour), kaju barfi (also known as kaju katli, made with cashews), pista barfi (pistachio flavored barfi), badam barfi (almond flavoured barfi).

The most common barfi flavor is the plain barfi. This contains ghee and milk, and uses cardamom for favoring.

While typically purchased from a store, you can make barfi at home using a few pantry staple ingredients. (People living abroad usually make it at home as they don’t have easy access to an Indian dessert shop.)

Traditional milk solids for barfi

Traditionally, barfi is made using khoya or mawa which are dried evaporated milk solids. Milk is slowly simmered in a large pot till all the moisture evaporates and only solids remain.

You can make khoya or mawa at home or purchase them from Indian grocery stores or an Indian dessert shop.

Since making or procuring khoya or mawa can be difficult, a popular substitute is to use milk along with milk powder. By using milk powder, it’s possible to make barfi in less than 20 minutes.

The recipe I am sharing with you today is a plain barfi. The recipe uses milk powder, and cardamom flavors the dessert.

Ingredients in sweet barfi

The ingredients for barfi are relatively simple: ghee, milk powder, milk, sugar, and cardamom.

Ghee – Barfi is made using ghee or clarified butter. Ghee is easily available at Indian grocery stores or specialty grocery stores. It’s also possible to make ghee at home using butter. If ghee isn’t available, you can use butter or oil, but they will change the flavour of the final dish.

Milk powder – Milk powder, also sometimes called powdered milk, is a manufactured dairy product that is made by evaporating the water from milk until it is dry. You can easily find it at regular supermarkets. Once purchased, store it in the pantry. Nido brand by Nestle is the most common brand in Pakistan and India. Whole milk powder may be hard to find in the States, but any non-fat powdered milk should work just fine.

Do not use evaporated milk or condensed milk for this recipe.

The color of the milk powder does impact the color of the barfi. Usually barfi (made traditionally with khoya or mawa) is white or off-white in color, but by using milk powder it can have a creamy beige colour.

Milk – If possible use whole milk.

Sugar – You can adjust the sugar to your personal preference. Add more if you prefer a sweeter barfi, and add less if you want it to be less sweet.

Cardamom – My personal preference is to use fresh cardamom pods. Peel the pods, and then crush the seeds with a mortar and pestle (or the back of a spoon). However, you could use cardamom powder instead.

Garnish – Traditionally barfi is garnished with nuts (either almonds or pistachios) and chandi ka varq (edible silver leaf). For this recipe, I have used sliced almonds, chopped pistachios, and rose petals. You can use a variety of nuts, or just one type of nut based on personal preference.

Important tips for making this milk powder recipe

It is important to keep the heat on low and stir constantly throughout the process of making barfi. Otherwise the barfi may stick and burn on the bottom. This will also impact the colour of the barfi, and turn it light golden brown or caramel-toned.

Turn the heat off once the mixture forms a dough. If you overcook the barfi, it will be chewy. To test if the barfi is ready, take a small piece of the mixture and roll it into a ball. If you are able to form a ball, the barfi is ready.

If possible, use a non-stick saucepan to make the barfi. It does take a few additional minutes for the mixture to thicken when using a non-stick pan, however, it will ensure the barfi doesn’t stick on the bottom.