It is the peak of festive season here, Diwali is in the air, young girls & boys are on a shopping spree buying clothes, accessories, electronic gadgets, fireworks, etc. to celebrate this Diwali grander than the previous years. Men are looking forward to spend this weekend with his near & dear. Women are toiling away in the kitchen to treat her family & guests with scrumptious goodies. We usually prepare coconut burfi a couple of days before Deepavali as it is made using fresh coconut meat that won’t stay fresh longer.

My mother-in-law used to make perfect coconut burfi using refined sugar, and she serves us her snowy white burfi with crunchy savories as tea-time snacks. It has been difficult for me to match her sublimity whenever I tried to replicate her recipe.

Now I used coconut sugar for the first time in this recipe as I felt coconut sugar as a perfect sweetener for coconut based sweets & desserts. Coconut sugar is obtained by boiling coconut sap drawn out from coconut flowers nectar just like the palm sugar obtained from the sap of palm trees through palmyra flowers and the maple syrup from the sap of maple trees.

I feel it is ideal to use coconut sugar for making desserts and sweets especially in this festival of sweets. Besides coconut sugar contains a special nutrient called inulin which is good for gut health and also aids in slow absorption of glucose.

Incidentally I found my coconut burfi made using coconut sugar soft, chewy & crumbly with delicious caramel flavour. You can also treat your family & friends with these caramel flavored coconut fudges in this Diwali, and the recipe is as below:
Coconut Burfi Recipe:

Ingredients:
Coconut | 1 (large) |
Coconut sugar | as needed |
Roughly chopped cashew nuts | as desired |
Ghee | 1 tsp |
A pinch of cardamom powder |

Coconut burfi making:
Shredding coconut meat is the most difficult part of this recipe. Generally people prefer to shred it using coconut scraper, but I prefer to cut the coconut meat into pieces, remove its brown skin using a peeler, and then blitz those chunks into shreds as below. Now lets prepare coconut burfi.

- Heat a non-stick pan with ghee in medium flame.
- Add chopped cashew nuts and fry for few seconds.
- Then add shredded coconut meat and saute for 1-2 minutes.
- Add coconut sugar into the pan and saute until the sugar melts away.
- Now reduce the flame to low and keep stirring until we could smell the aroma of roasted coconut (it took about 10 min. for me).
- Remove from heat.
- Grease a square dish with ghee and transfer the coconut mixture onto the dish.
- Spread the mixture uniformly using the back of a measuring cup.
- Draw lines using a knife when the mixture is warm so that we can cut them into squares after an hour or more.
- Serve coconut burfi at room temperature.

Tips & Tweaks:
- I don’t like sugary coconut burfi, so I used coconut & sugar in the ratio of 2:1. But you can check the sweetness of the mixture when sugar is melted away and add more sugar, if needed.
- Some may not like the crumbly texture and they may like to see a neat square. In that case we can add some cocoa powder/ cashew powder/ roasted chickpea flour (gram flour) as a binding agent.
- You can also refer the gif below for the coconut burfi recipe with refined sugar replacing cashew with pista. I have grated coconut using coconut scraper for this recipe.

Megala, your blog is great! I love learning about the culture behind lots of the food you make. They are all so unique~
Thank you. 🙂
I know that I’m a year late😅
But great recipe!
Thank you.
Love your blog so much Megala! Thanks
Thanks so much! 🙂
Dear Megala,
I can leave a comment here again! Happy! Thank you.
I love coconut flavor. I am in my hometown now so I can start cooking for my parents! Thank you for the nice recipe.
Thank you! 🙂
Yummy coconut barfi.. best thing is less calories
It was delicious, but the fact is that all the sugar has almost same calories. 🙂
Thank you so much for stopping by.
Thanks for the following dear.
So beautifully made….feeling like jumping over and grab the plate…my favourite !!
Hahaha! Come on over here! 🙂
Thank you so much.
Megala, I like the use of coconut sugar! That caramel burfi has me drooling here. Hope you had a fabulous Diwali!
Thank you.
Sorry to say Megala , but today how did I have given comments on your site without login. Otherwise I will have to log in everywhere.
Great recipe .
Thank you.
Oh wow, that recipe looks really nice and lot of lovely info too, as always
Hi, how are you? Nice to see you back here. Thanks so much.
Thank you dear. I know, didn’t write a recipe for so long. Hope you are well and had a wonderful Diwali?
Yes, thank you. 🙂
Wow! This looks so delicious 🙂
Thank you. 🙂
Looks so yummy! My favorite!❤️❤️
Thank you.
Your photography is amazing. This looks so chewy & good! Enjoyed learning about coconut sugar.
Thank you. 🙂 Have a wonderful Wednesday!
Wonderful recipe of coconut burfi using coconut sugar!
Thank you.
That’s a grt idea to use coconut sugar in the place of refined one.
Thank you.
This sounds like a great snack!
Yes, it really is. 🙂 Thank you.
Hey, Megala
I loved the knowledge you share about coconut barfi and maple syrup.
Your Barfi looks so yummy ?.
Love,
Prashasti Patel
Thank you so much.
That looks so yummy Megala mam. Great
Thank you.
This looks so yummy! I there a plant-based substitute that I can use in place of the ghee?
I think we can use coconut oil in place of ghee in this recipe, but coconut oil is not always the best substitute for ghee, and it is hard to find the perfect one. 🙂
Thank you so much.
Hope you had a wonderful Deepavali, Megala!
Deepavali is never complete without coconut barfi. I must try this version with coconut sugar. Thanks for the recipe.
Yes, thank you so much.
Happy Diwali, Megala. Lovely Diwali recipe.
Thank you so much! Hope you had a fantastic Diwali celebrations with your family. 🙂
Tasty burfi
🙂
I wish I could try it 🙂 I love coconut! I hope you are having a wonderful time with your loved ones Megala! Happy Diwali! 🙂
Yes, thank you. 🙂
I love coconut barfi, my fave Indian sweet! Made it for last year’s Diwali. Your barfi looks so good. Hope you had a great Diwali Megala 🙂
Thank you! 🙂
I love coconut barfi and can have them any time .It’s a favorite at our home .Thank you for sharing some useful tips and they look perfect . Happy Diwali again !!
Thank you.
🙂
These sound great! I use coconut oil quite a bit, but I’ll have to try out coconut sugar!
Thank you.
Scrumptious coconut burfi’s ? Will definitely make these ! Wish you and your Family a Happy and Prosperous Diwali ?
Thank you so much. Hope you had a wonderful Diwali. 🙂
Wow. My student just shared some coconut things to me. They do look like coconut burfi! I will ask him tomorrow.
What a wonderful coincidence!
Ahh! That’s interesting. 🙂 Thanks so much.
Delicious treat for Diwali. Thank you for the quick and healthy recipie.
Glad you liked it. 🙂 Hope you enjoyed a wonderful Diwali in your part of the world.
How lovely that you have such a heritage of cooking, Megala, and that cooking makes you think of your family. So many layers.
So true! Cooking triggers beautiful memories. 🙂
Thanks, Tracey.
(EN) I could feel the atmosphere: firecrackers outside and delicious sweets at home.Thanks for sharing, Megala ?
(IT) Ho potuto sentire l’atmosfera: petardi fuori e deliziosi dolci a casa. Grazie per la condivisione, Megala ?
Yes, you are right. 🙂 Hope you could celebrate Deepavali with sweets & savories in your part of the world as well. 🙂
I love coconut and this looks exceptional – really superb ?
Thank you! 🙂
A right time to make these burfis, Megala. Lovely recipe as always. Happy Diwali to you and your family dear. Have a great day.
Thank you! Wish you a very happy Diwali to you & your family!
Welcome ?? ??? dear Megala
Happy Diwali! I hope you get to enjoy the festivities after all the cooking and prep are done! Your sweet treats look amazing and love that you are using coconut sugar~ I’ve been using it too for it’s healthier aspects as well as coconut oil in baking. This makes me want to bake some goodies this weekend!
Yes, I won’t enter into my kitchen from tomorrow afternoon onwards. 🙂
Thanks so much Kristen! Have a wonderful weekend!
A perfect one for Deepavali!
Sweet greetings, Megala!! 🙂
Thanks dear friend. 🙂 Happy Diwali!
This looks so yummy, happy Diwali!
Thanks much. Happy Diwali to you too.
Very nice!
Thank you.
An all time favourite Megala. The tips at the end are very helpful. Wishing you and your family a very happy Diwali ✨?
Thank you so much. Wish you all a very happy & prosperous Diwali! 🙂
Wow, this looks so yummy and healthy too. Can be eaten without guilt ?
Wishing you a very happy Diwali
Thanks much Deepika! Wish you the same. 🙂
Coconut sugar is new healthy sweetener. I wish if it could be little less expensive, it would be accessible to many.
Coconut Burfi is very tempting ? ?
Wishing you a very happy and prosperous Deepawali Megala ??
Yes, it is really pricey, upto 10-15 times costlier than refined sugar. But I think we can use this for festivals like Diwali. 🙂
Thanks so much for reading & commenting.
Wishing you & yours a very happy Diwali! 🙂
These look so tasty! 🙂
Thanks Ronit! 🙂
Ciao Megala! HI! Tell me please, Diwali Dipavali o Deepawali is one of the most important Indian festivals and is celebrated in October or November. It symbolizes the victory of good over evil and is called the “festival of lights”: during the party it is in fact used to turn on lights (candles or traditional lamps called diwa). In many areas of India the festivities include fireworks…..
everything is correct? Did I find the right definition?
Alessia
Yes, absolutely true. 🙂 You can plan for a visit next year to witness the festive spirit here. 🙂
Thanks so much, Alessia!
would be very nice Megala!! I could think about it seriously! Bye! Have a good day!
I love coconuts, so delicious and healing to the body.
Yes, it is. Thanks so much.
You’re welcome?
It looks delicious! Thank you, Megala, for sharing your recipes with us!
My pleasure! 🙂 Thanks so much for your time.
And yes a very Happy Diwali ??
Thanks Vidya! Happy Diwali to you & your family! 🙂
Awesome ?. This is a great idea of adding coconut sugar Megala. For a moment i thot it was jaggery luking@ the colour of the barfi. Coincidently it is coconut beet vadi@ with my place ?
Yes, it looks like a jaggery but has a caramel flavour. Sounds interesting, isn’t it? 🙂
Hope you would love to try this sweetener.
Thanks much for stopping by.
Oh yes I’ll be checking it out
Happy Deepavali Megala… Looks so yummy ?
Thanks so much.
Happy Deepavali to you and your family, esp. to your Amma. 🙂
Aww I just told her..
Her question – how did you remember her? Hehehe
Yes, you spoke about her a long ago. 🙂
Awww❤️❤️❤️❤️??
Best addition of coconut sugar in coconut Burfi ? less calorie and healthy as well.
It’s my fav traditional sweet though?
Happy DEEPAVALI to u and your family?✨
Happy Deepavali Jyo❤️
Thanks so much. Wish you the same. 🙂
Great information about coconut sugar, thanks Megala. 🙂 The coconut burfis look delicious, Happy Deepavali 🙂
Glad you liked these. Thank you so much!
Happy Diwali to you & yours!! 🙂
Thanks a lot, Megala 🙂
Thanks Megala 🙂