Diwali 2025: Chefs Share Easy Mithai Recipes For Festive Season
Image Credit: Freepik

With Diwali around the corner, this is precisely the time when families divide up tasks for the annual ghar ki safai (deep cleaning) to welcome Goddess Lakshmi. Praying for prosperity and wealth, Diwali rituals include a pooja, lighting diyas, and, of course, preparing bhog. With the scare of synthetic ingredients and adulteration around the festive season, many families choose to make mithai from scratch.

However, there’s only limited time with the tight-packed schedules, long office hours, and Diwali preparations. So, to help you out, here are some beginner-friendly sweet recipes curated by chefs across India to make the most of the festivities. Whether you want to make ladoos or katlis, follow these easy recipes and make lip-smacking Diwali mithai.

Apple Badam Ka Halwa 

By Executive Sous Chef Upender Gupta, The Orchid Hotel, Shimla

Ingredients:

  • 100 g almonds, soaked in hot water for 1 hour, peeled, and ground coarsely
  • 20 g sooji
  • 80 g pure ghee
  • 100 g sugar, made into syrup
  • 2 pinches of cardamom powder
  • 1 apple, chopped

Method:

  1. Heat ghee in a wok and add sooji. 
  2. Sauté for some time over a slow fire until the aroma is released. 
  3. Now add the ground almonds to the wok and sauté for a short time over a slow fire until they turn golden brown. 
  4. Add sugar syrup and chopped apple, then cook for 5 minutes. Finally, add cardamom powder. 
  5. Serve hot and garnish with dry fruits.

Almond Jaggery Katli 

By Chef Kabita Singh, California Almonds

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup almond flour
  • ⅓ cup jaggery
  • 3 tsp ghee
  • 1 tsp cardamom powder
  • A few threads of saffron, for decoration
  • Silver vark, for decoration
  • Butter paper, for folding and shaping

Method:

  1. Heat a pan, add 1 tbsp ghee, and roast the almond flour on a low flame for 2–3 minutes.
  2. Transfer the roasted flour to a tray and let it cool down.
  3. In the same pan, add grated jaggery and a little water. Allow the jaggery to dissolve completely, then cook for an additional 30 seconds on a low flame until it reaches a one-thread consistency.
  4. Turn off the flame and gradually pour the warm jaggery syrup (don’t let it cool down) into the roasted almond flour, adding a little at a time and mixing thoroughly each time.
  5. Add 2 tbsp ghee and cardamom powder, mix well, and knead until the mixture becomes soft.
  6. Place the mixture between sheets of butter paper and roll it out using a rolling pin. Apply silver varak on top.
  7. Let it rest for 30 minutes. Cut into diamond shapes and serve.

Hazelnut Ladoo

By Pastry Chef Ashwani, Courtyard by Marriott Bengaluru Hebbal

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup gram flour (besan)
  • ½ cup ghee or unsalted butter
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • ½ cup chopped hazelnuts
  • ¼ cup hazelnut powder
  • ¼ tsp cardamom powder

Method:

  1. Roast the gram flour and hazelnut powder in a pan with ghee or unsalted butter until fragrant and lightly browned.
  2. Gradually add powdered sugar to the roasted gram flour and mix until well combined. Add cardamom powder to the mixture and mix well.
  3. Toast the hazelnuts in a pan until fragrant and lightly browned. Chop the toasted hazelnuts and add them to the ladoo mixture.
  4. Shape the mixture into small ladoos.
  5. Press a few chopped hazelnuts into the centre of each ladoo.