Sugar-Free Sweets Recipes For Guilt Free Holi

Every time the fervor of festival starts setting in, the health conscious ones start making a safe distance from all the sweets that add to the taste of festivals. Holi is no different and even a single of delectable gujia feels like a sin on the weighing scale.

So, is there any way out or you should be kept depriving yourself of the sweets. One solution is to let the weight control/loss/management take a back seat for a while and you gorge on your favorite delicacies. Second is to make your very own healthy versions of holi sweets at home and enjoy them without being guilty.

Well, let’s go by the second one and wear our aprons to cook up some great and sugar-free yet mouth watering sweets at home to maintain the sweetness of the colorful festival.

Dates Gujia 

Ingredients 

For Gujia 

• Wheat flour 1 cup
• Ghee 3 tbsp
• 1 pinch Salt
• 1/2 liter Oil (for frying)

For Stuffing:

• Grated coconut 1 cup ( fresh or dried)
• Dates puree ( instead of sugar)
• 1 1/2 cups Milk
• Chopped dried fruits
• Cardamom powder 1/2 tsp
• Poppy seeds 1 tbsp

Method 

• Combine all the ingredients for gujia except oil for frying and knead the mixture to prepare a dough using water.
• Cover the dough with the wet muslin cloth and set it aside for some time
• Soak the dates in water a night before and blend them in a mixer the next day.
• This dates puree will be used in gujia stuffing instead of sugar to add sweetness, though it will be advisable to test the sweetness before adding to the stuffing.
• For stuffing, cook the stuffing ingredients like coconut, dates puree, milk, chopped dried fruits, cardamom powder and poppy seeds until they become dry.
• Divide the dough in 15 to 20 small parts and roll them into flat round rotis.
• Stuff the each roti with a spoonful of gujia mixture and fold it from the center.
• If you have the cutter, create the fluted crescent border. Remove the excess dough and seal the border using a little milk.
• Take a karahi and the heat the oil for 2-3 minutes. Fry at least 3 to 4 raw gujias at a time and fry them until they are golden brown.
• Remove the gujias in a paper bowl and let them cool.
• Store them in an airtight container.

Dry Figs & Nuts Rolls

Ingredients 

• Dry Figs/ Anjeer – 20 pieces
• Dates/Khajoor – 1 1/2 Cups
• Walnut – 1/3 Cup
• Almond – 1/3 Cup
• Cashew nuts- 1/3 Cup
• Nutmeg Powder – 1/2 tsp
• Desiccate Coconut – 3/4 Cup
• Sliver Varq – As required
• Water – 1 Cup

Method:

• Soak anjeer/figs in warm water for an hour
• Chop the de-seeded dates into small pieces
• Finely chop all the dry fruits mentioned in the ingredients and divide each dry fruit into two equal parts.
• Grind the soaked figs without using water, add chopped dates and blend to make a smooth paste.
• Now mix figs and dates paste with the half portion of each chopped dry fruit to make a soft pitiable dough.
• Add coconut to the dough to make it firm and nonsticky.
• Divide dough into four pieces and make smooth balls.
• Take each roll, keep it between a plastic sheet and roll to make a thin layer.
• Sprinkle chopped dry fruits on the layer and folding the layer to make a roll. You can use the same plastic sheet for rolling as it will prevent the dough from sticking and breaking.
• Fold the edges of the layer nicely while keeping it in a plastic sheet and repeat the procedure with remaining balls.
• Refrigerate the wrapped roll for 2 to 4 hours.
• Apply silver varq on the roll once its refrigerated and plastic sheet removed.
• Use a sharp knife to cut it in the desired shape while being gentle.
• Your dry fruit roll is ready to be serve

Oats & Dry Fruits Laddoo

Ingredients:

• 1/4 Cup – Oats
• 1/4 Cup – Cashew nuts/Kaju
• 1/4 Cup – Almonds/Badam
• 1/4 Cup – Pista
• 10 – Walnut
• 12 – Dates
• 8 – Figs
• 2 tbsp – Sesame Seeds (optional)
• 2 tbsp – Flax Seeds
• 1/2 tsp – Cardamom Powder (optional)

Method:

• Chop figs and de-seeded dates.
• Roast flax seeds until they start popping and let them cool once done.
• Use the same flax seed pan to roast oats for 2-3 minutes.
• Roast cashews, walnuts, pista, and almonds as well for a minute
• Take roasted flax seeds and oats to grind together into a fine powder
• Finely chop all the nuts or grind them coarsely mixing figs, dates and sesame seeds. Do not make a fine powder out of this combination. Keep them coarse to maintain a slight crunch.
• Take a kadhai, add oats powder, nuts, figs and dates mixture.
• Cook it on slow flame for 3-4 minutes
• When the mixture starts to come together add cardamom powder. Mix well again and take off from the flame. Let it cool.
• Once it is bearably warm to touch start making small laddoos from the mixture.
• If facing difficulty in binding them together add some ghee to it.

Notes:

• All these sweets recipes mentioned here can be kept for up to a week when stored in air tight condition.
• You can add nuts of your choice like raisins, pecan, etc.
• You can adjust the sweetness as per your taste and requirement by increasing/decreasing the quantity of the dates/figs used.
• You can also add jaggery if you want it to be sweeter.

Hope you will enjoy, first making, then relishing the taste of these no sugar sweets and mix in the joys of festivals without compromising on your weight.