When the normal food is prepared with a sweet taste in Gujarat, should we even ask about the desserts? The state, to its credit, has some of the best lip-smacking desserts that can make even the staunchest food’s critic’s mouth to water. Some of the common desserts and their brief explanation are explained below.

Puran Poli

This is a kind of a bread that has sweet stuffing in it. The bread is usually made from Bengal gram and the stuffing that goes into it contains a rich mixture of jaggery, milk, coconut, ghee, cardamom powder and nutmeg powder. This is a dish that is usually prepared during important festivals. Apart from Gujarat, this is a dish that is common in Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Sutarfeni

This is again a bread kind of dish and it gives the appearance of a sweet, flaky dough when prepared. Towards the end, to add to the richness, the dough is garnished with a generous dose of pistachio nuts. Dough, sugar, water and a rich combination of powdered pistachios, almonds, cardamom and saffron strands are the main ingredients for this dish.

Halvasan

This is a sweet dish that can be done as balls or squares as per the comfort level of the people. This sweet is made of wheat, sugar, milk, doses of cardamom, almond, pistachio, nutmeg, saffron and mace powders to add to its rich texture. After preparing the dish, this sweet is usually rolled on slivers of badam before being served to the guests.

Malpua

Though, this is a sweet that is prepared by Muslims mostly during the month of Ramadan, this is quite a common dish in Gujarat as well. Some parts the state use ripe bananas as the base, while some other areas use milk, semolina, ghee, maida and yoghurt for preparing this dish. In most areas of Gujarat, this is how it is prepared. These sweet pancakes are made from a thick batter prepared from a combination of plain flour, rice flour, sugar, water and shredded coconut.

Shrikand

This is one of the most common desserts of Gujarat and has many fans across the globe. Strained yoghurt is the main ingredient for preparing this sweet. This is then mixed with sugar and garnished with cardamom, nutmeg, saffron and other nut powders as desired  and stored in the refrigerator so that the sugar content gets nicely mixed with the dish. Usually this dish is served chilled. Though, this sweet is available in the stores as readymade these days, nothing can beat the taste of this dish when prepared in the authentic way in most of the Gujarati households.

Basundi

This is a sweet that is made from dense milk after boiling it for a long time so that its content gets reduced into half. The taste of the dish depends on the amount of cream that is added during the boiling to get a very thick consistency of the milk. When the milk reaches the desired quantity, general doses of saffron, sugar, cardamom etc. is added and served chill.

Though, there are many other desserts that form part of Gujarati cuisine, the above mentioned are some of the most famous and commonly prepared in Gujarati households.