Last updated on September 16th, 2019
Dry fruits laddu is an easy sweet recipe for festivals like Ganesh Chaturti, Diwali, holi. You can make these super quick laddu with dry fruits in 15 minutes. You just need to soak dates and fig 30 minutes beforehand. Without any oil, ghee or butter and refined sugar these dry fruit laddu are energy dense and rich healthy sweet for toddlers and kids. Also these are one of the best edible gifts that you can give in pretty packing this festival season. Here is how to make best dry fruit laddu easily at home.
Dry Fruit Laddu- Easy energy dense homemade snack!
Every week I make it a point to have some healthy homemade snacks ready for my kid’s snack box. I rotate between fresh fruits and these through the week. With some very less effort such healthy snacks can be made easily at home.
Few healthy snack box choices for kids are roasted makhana, peanut chikki, roasted cashews, millet cookies, whole wheat pizza crackers etc.
Dry fruits laddu are very similar to energy balls or bliss balls. Just that energy balls or bliss balls found in USA or other countries have flavor variations like coffee or chocolate. Indian dry fruit laddu is mostly flavored with cardamom and nutmeg.
These dry fruit laddus are a top favorite at home. I make them very often especially during winters. There are few snacks like atta ladoo, ragi ladoo, raab, panjiri, besan ladoo I make during winters to build up immunity. While these sweet treats are good year around, they are especially great during winters.
Now there are so many variations with this dry fruit laddu recipe. While the base is dried dates wit cashews and almonds, you will find few recipes with sesame seeds and few with dried coconut.
I do not add coconut in this recipe though I add sesame seeds or flax seeds. Recently I have started to add roasted makhana in dry fruit laddu recipe. The flavor and texture of makhana in this laddu is too good.
With all the sweetness from dates, figs and richness from nuts, you don’t need to add any sugar or ghee or oil in this recipe. Dates and figs also act as binding agent in this recipe. So this dry fruit laddu is vegan, gluten free, refined sugar free.
You can serve dry fruits laddu as snack with tea or as dessert. For toddlers and kids you can pack this laddu in snack box or serve as after school snack with flavored milks like pistachio milk, badam milk, cardamom milk, saffron milk or hot chocolate, spiced hot chocolate.
This Dry Fruit Laddu Recipe Is
Easy, quick & simple
Vegan & gluten free
Delicious, rich and energy dense
No refined sugar or jaggery
Best festival sweet easy to pack and gift
Highly nutritious and wholesome for toddlers and kids.
How To Make Dry Fruit Laddu (Pictorial)
1. Soak pitted dates and dried figs in warm water for 15 minutes.
2. In the mean time dry roast phool makhana in a thick pan for 3-4 minutes. Remove to a plate.
3. In the same dry roast the nuts and raisins for another 4 minutes.
4. Add the roasted ingredients to a mixer jar and powder coarsely.
5. Drain the water from soaked dry fruits and grind to a fine paste.
6. Take the nuts powder and dry fruits paste in a bowl.
7. Add cardamom powder and dry ginger powder.
8. Mix very well. Do not add any water or milk. The dry fruits are more than enough for binding.
9. Using a tablespoon scoop out portions and shape into small balls or laddus.
10. Spread the shaped laddus on a plate and let sit for 15 minutes.
11. Store in airtight containers and serve dry fruit laddu as required. You can even warp them in chocolate paper or muffin liner as in this maladdu recipe.
Some Tips For Making Dry Fruit Laddu
To make dry fruit laddu use medjool dates if available. The dates should be very soft. Also soak the dates and figs in warm water for 15 minutes for easy processing. I sometimes add dried apricots too. But make sure they are sulphur free before using.
The nuts we usually add in dry fruits laddu are almonds and cashews. Here I have also added pistachios, walnuts and some pecans.
One ingredient that I have started to add recently in this dry fruits laddu recipe is phool makhana. The texture and flavor of phool makhana is too good in certain Indian sweets.
Another ingredient you can add in this dry fruit laddu recipe is gond or edible gum. It is a very nutritious and warming ingredient suitable for harsh winters. Just roast 1/2 cup gond for few minutes, powder and mix with other ingredients. You can also check this gond ladoo for detailed instructions.
I prefer to roast the nuts until aromatic as it adds to the flavor. Here we are only dry roasting it. However if you prefer you can totally use raw nuts.
Omit any nut you would not prefer. You can also add nuts based on your region like hazelnuts, Brazilian nuts in this recipe.
Other options you have while making this dry fruits laddu are 1/2 cup roasted dry coconut, 2-3 tablespoons sesame seeds or flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, peanuts etc.
Serving Suggestions
This dry fruit laddu is suitable for navratri fasting. Not only all the ingredients used in this laddu are had during fasting, also these are high in nutrition and provides instant energy. This is a rich dessert suitable for diwali too just like kaju katli, badam katli, badam halwa.
This laddu with dry fruits and nuts is an excellent source of instant energy to growing toddlers and kids. Once you have introduced nuts, you can feed them with these laddus. While making for very small kids, shape small sized ladoos as it is easier for them to grasp and eat.
For bigger kids you can serve these dry fruit laddu as breakfast or after scool snack with warm milk or milkshakes or juices.
More laddu recipes
Dry Fruit Laddu Recipe
Dry Fruits Laddu
Ingredients
- 20 dried dates
- 12 dried figs
- 1/2 cup almonds
- 1/2 cup cashews
- 1/4 cup pistachios
- 1/4 cup walnuts
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 1/2 cup phool makhana
- 1/2 teaspoon dry ginger powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder
Instructions
- Soak pitted dates and dried figs in warm water for 15 minutes.
- In the mean time dry roast phool makhana in a thick pan for 3-4 minutes. Remove to a plate.
- In the same dry roast the nuts and raisins for another 4 minutes.
- Add the roasted ingredients to a mixer jar and powder coarsely.
- Drain the water from soaked dry fruits and grind to a fine paste.
- Take the nuts powder and dry fruits paste in a bowl.
- Add cardamom powder and dry ginger powder.
- Mix very well. Do not add any water or milk. The dry fruits are more than enough for binding.
- Using a tablespoon scoop out portions and shape into small balls or laddus.
- Spread the shaped laddus on a plate and let sit for 15 minutes.
- Store in airtight containers and serve dry fruit laddu as required. You can even warp them in chocolate paper or muffin liner as in this maladdu recipe.
Notes
- You can easily change the proportion of ingredients in this recipe. Dried dates and figs are for binding so do not increase or decrease them drastically.
- You can leave out figs and just use dates. use around 30 dates.
- The recipe can be doubled or halved.
- Using a tablespoon to scoop out portions yields uniform sized laddus that look good while gifting.
- These dry fruit laddu stays good for around a week at room temperature or for 15 days in refrigerator.
Nutrition
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