Dry Fruit Barfi | Date Rolls | Dry Fruit Halwa

Sweet, chewy, and irresistible, this Dry Fruit Burfi (also referred to as Dry Fruit Halwa or Date Rolls) is a simple, quick and easy sweet you can make during Diwali or any festive season. My simple vegan recipe for Dry Fruit Barfi is made without any added sugar, making it a totally guilt-free treat!

About Dry Fruit Barfi

Many varieties of barfi and Ladoo are made in Indian homes during festivals like Diwali, Holi, Ganesh Chaturthi, Navratri etc.

While I always use festivals as an excuse to make some difficult recipes, I wanted to post a few easy Diwali sweets too. This nice batch of Dry Fruit Barfi is one of my favorites.

Made with just 11 ingredients in less than 30 minutes, this is an easy dessert recipe that even bachelors can feel confident about making.

Aside from using mixed dry fruits like dates, figs, raisins, I have also added nuts, sesame seeds and desiccated coconut to this barfi. Since it is made of dry fruits and nuts, this burfi is warming in nature, making it a perfect treat for cold seasons.

I have not added any sugar to Date Roll recipe. The natural sweetness comes from dates, figs and raisins, making this a guilt-free sweet that you can enjoy during any festive occasion.

The recipe yields 360 grams of barfi. Feel free to make these a couple of days before Diwali and refrigerate.

Share this healthy dessert with your family, friends, and guests, and revel in their delight at how delicious it is.

Ingredients & Substitutions

• Seedless Dates – In my opinion, dates are Nature’s candy. They’re sweet, sticky, and the perfect base for this barfi. Use any soft dates that are available to you.
• Dried Figs – You can also use dried apricots, plums, or prunes if you wish.
• Golden Raisins – While I make this sweet with golden raisins, feel free to use dark raisins or currants instead. But make sure they are without seeds.
• Almonds, Cashews, Pistachios, & Walnuts – Feel free to use the nuts you and your family prefers and what is easily available to you.
• Desiccated Coconut – Shredded coconut can also be used. The coconut must be unsweetened.
• White Sesame Seeds – Black sesame seeds can be used instead, but note that they are more difficult to toast without browning since you can only use your nose and not your eyes to tell how far they have cooked.
• Coconut Oil – Or any neutral oil (e.g. ghee or sunflower seed oil).
• Rose Water – You can also substitute ¼ to ½ teaspoon cardamom powder or a few strands of saffron threads depending on which flavor you prefer.

Looking for more easy sweets recipes? Try my Barfi Recipe, Kaju Katli, 7 Cup Burfi, Suji Halwa, or Dry Fruits Ladoo next!

How to make Dry Fruit Barfi

If you’ve never made this Indian dessert before, you’ll be surprised at how easy it is to pull off. Here’s how it’s done:

Prep and Process Nuts and Dry Fruits

1. Blanch 6 to 7 dried figs and 1 tablespoon of raisins in hot water. Boil ⅓ cup of water and place it in a bowl.

Add the dried figs and raisins. Cover and keep the bowl aside for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, drain the water and keep aside. If the figs are not too dry, then you do not need to blanch them.

2. While the figs are blanching, take the following nuts in a grinder or food processor – ¼ cup almonds, ¼ cup cashews, ¼ cup pistachios, and ¼ cup walnuts.

3. Pulse or process the nuts for 3 to 4 times or more till you get them in tiny bits and pieces. Don’t make a powder or paste.

You can also chop them finely, but this will take much longer. To save time, I recommend using a mixer or food processor.

After pulsing, if you get slightly large pieces of almonds in the mixture, then remove and chop them.

I rinsed the nuts with water before adding in the grinder jar. Hence there is some moisture in the ground mixture.

4. Remove the coarse mixture of nuts and keep aside.

5. In the same grinder jar or food processor, add figs, raisins and ¾ cup seedless dates (chopped).

6. Now process these into a coarse paste. Keep aside.

Make Dry Fruit Halwa

7. Heat 1 teaspoon of coconut oil in a pan. Add 1 tablespoon of white sesame seeds. You can use ghee or any other neutral oil instead of coconut oil.

8. On a low heat, stir and sauté till the sesame seeds crackle and their color changes. Sesame seeds are optional and you can skip them. 

You can also add poppy seeds instead of sesame seeds. Let the poppy seeds crackle before you add coconut.

9. Then add 2 tablespoons of desiccated coconut. Just stir the coconut. No need to brown it.

10. After stirring the coconut, add the ground dry nuts mixture

11. Stir and sauté for about 3 to 4 minutes on a low heat. Keep on stirring while sautéing.

12. Add the ground dates-figs-raisins mixture.

13. Stir lightly. Here its slightly difficult to stir. So just mix lightly.

14. Now switch off the heat and add 2 teaspoons of rose water. You can also use ¼ to ½ teaspoon green cardamom powder or a few saffron strands instead of rose water.

15. Keep the pan on the kitchen countertop and mix very well.

Portion and Slice Nuts and Date Rolls

16. When the mixture is cool enough to handle, then divide it into two portions.

17. Apply a bit of coconut oil on your palms and roll each mixture part into a log.

18. Allow to cool at room temperature and then slice into neat Date Rolls.

You can also spread the Dry Fruit Halwa mixture in a greased plate or tray. On cooling slice in squares.

Remove the slices and keep them covered in a container. Refrigerate and the sweet keeps well for about a week in the fridge.

19. Serve Dry Fruit Barfi or Date Roll as a festive sweet or as an after meal dessert.

FAQs

This recipe of Dry Fruit Barfi from the archives, originally published in November 2015 has been updated and republished on January 2023.