Dates, Nuts, & Coffee Laddu

The Diwali Festivities are ON!  And we absolutely love to celebrate our festivals with lots of love, cooking, and food :)  

Here is one of the simplest, quickest dessert recipe, ever!!  A little twist on Date & Nuts laddu.  Half way through making the laddus, it occurred to me that why not I add instant coffee to it!! How can someone resist that idea? Coffee aur puchh puchh? Kabhi nahi :)  I added it, and absolutely loved that surprise ingredient!  You can try adding it to a portion of the dessert too, and see how you like it. These are essentially 'no-rule' laddus, as far as ingredients and proportion of each ingredient goes.  So get your creative hats on!

As Diwali approaches, the weather gets little cooler, atleast here in the US and in India.  And dates really go well with that weather.  Dates and Nuts are packed with an impressive list of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals!  Also, no ghee/butter/sugar added - so this one is a relatively healthier dessert, which can be made in under 15 minutes!!

Recipe:

Dates - 60 pieces (medium sized), pitted

Nuts - 2 1/2 to 3 cups.  I used Almonds, Pistachios, Cashew nuts in equal quantity

Instant coffee powder (optional) - 3 tablespoons (or to taste). I used Nescafe'.

Milk - 1 tablespoon (for soaking saffron)

Saffron - 1/2 - 1 teaspoon

Ghee/butter - 1 - 1 1/2 tablespoon

Grated coconut (dry or fresh) - 1 tablespoon (for garnishing)

• Warm the milk and add saffron to it. Keep it aside.  This can be done even a few hours ahead so that the saffron is soaked well.
• Dry roast each of the nuts separately.  Pulse them in food processor into medium sized pieces.  
• Puree the dates in the food processor.  If the dates are nice and soft, it would become a nice lump of mixture.  If not, can add a few tablespoons of milk.  I did add a little milk, as the dates were not as soft.
• Heat ghee/butter in a pan (preferably non-stick) on a medium heat.  Add the date mixture, and cook for about 5-6 minutes.  Turn off the heat.
• Add the chopped nuts, coffee powder, and mix really well, if needed with two spatulas.  It might be a bit hard, but the nuts will integrate well in couple of minutes.
• when it's cool enough to handle, roll it into little smaller than golf ball sized laddus.  Once the laddus are rolled, put a small droplet of milk from the one in which saffron is soaked.  Top it with a strand of saffron.  

Enjoy!