Badam Burfi (Almond Burfi, Badam Katli)

Whip up this traditional Badam Burfi aka Badam Katli with just 4 ingredients. Rich, delicious and ready in minutes, it’s a delightful treat for any occasion. This almond burfi can be made with whole almonds or store bought almond flour to save time. In this post I show how to make it the easiest way along with tips & tricks to make 2x and 3x recipe.

About Badam Burfi

This almond fudge is a traditional sweet-treat from Indian cuisine. It is smooth, rich & has a melt-in-the-mouth texture and is lightly scented with cardamoms or rose water. With the convenience of store bought almond flour I have been making this more often because it just takes 20 minutes to whip up a batch. More over these make a fantastic gift & everyone will love these.

Traditionally badam burfi is made with soaked ground almond paste which is cooked with sugar and ghee. Some sweet shop versions also have milk, milk powder or mawa included for a richer texture. Years ago I would make this badam katli with homemade almond flour as it was not something easily available all the time. In the past few years I have been making it with store bought flour and that saves plenty of time.

Either use store bought flour or make your own from whole almonds following the “make your own almond flour” section below, after the stepwise photos. You can also use the same flour to make
Badam milk
Easy badam ladoo
Badam payasam
Badam halwa recipe

How to Make Badam Burfi (Stepwise Photos)

If you are a beginner please watch the video in the recipe card before you attempt.

1. Grease 2 parchment papers lightly with ghee or any neutral oil. Keep them aside. You can make this in a heavy bottom steel pan or non-stick. If using a non-stick pan, add half to one teaspoon ghee first. This is just to protect your non-stick pan.

2. Pour ¼ cup (60 ml) water and add half cup organic sugar. Give a gentle mix.

3. Dissolve it completely on a medium heat. Mix well to check if all the sugar is dissolved.

4. Turn the heat to low and add 1 cup blanched fine almond flour (100 grams).

5. Mix well to incorporate the flour into the sugar syrup, making sure to break up any lumps. Increase the heat to medium and cook stirring constantly until the mixture turns thick, for about 7 minutes.

6. Add 1 teaspoon ghee across the pan and cook for a little longer, for 2 minutes until the almond mixture turns thicker and comes together like a mass (check next picture).

7. It also leaves the sides of the pan. The whole cooking process takes you around 9 to 10 mins (for 1x & 2x). Note that if you are using a kadai and not a wide pan, the cook time can change. Turn off the heat & stir in the ¼ to ½ cardamom powder. My cardamom powder is with the shells so I use half tsp.

8. It should look smooth and moist at this stage.

9. Test if the mixture is ready to set: With a small spoon, take a small portion of the mixture from the center of the pan (not from the edges) and cool down. Grease your fingers and roll to a ball. It should hold shape and be dry but not sticky. If it is sticky cook for a little longer, another 1 to 2 mins.

10. Scrape off all the mixture from the spatula using a spoon. Transfer the hot mixture to a greased parchment paper.

11. Hold the edges of the parchment paper to cover the hot mixture and knead it several times for 2 minutes, until the mixture becomes really smooth. (See the pictures and video). If you feel the mixture is turning dry at the edges, you need to be faster.

12. You will have a smooth badam burfi mixture. Shape it to a square or rectangle using the parchment paper.

13. Cover with another parchment paper and roll with a rolling pin to a thin sheet of 1/8 to ¼ inch thickness.

14. If you want you may sprinkle some thin sliced pistachios and roll once more. Or pat the edible silver paper (vark) gently.

15. Let it cool down a bit and cut with a greased knife to squares or diamonds. I made 2x recipe, so got about 18 burfis. If you make 1x – cut them to 9 squares. Knead the edges again and shape to burfi if you want. If it dries out you won’t be able to do that.
Cool down badam burfi completely before you store it in an air tight container. It keeps good for 7 to 10 days at room temperature and in the refrigerator for a month.

The color of your burfi will depend on the kind of organic sugar. The burfi in the main pictures was made another time while I was in Singapore, using Australian sugar . The burfi in the stepwise pictures & video was made when I was in Bangalore, using Indian sugar. It is only the color that’s different, the texture and taste is the same.

To increase the shelf life at room temperature, wrap individual pieces of badam burfi in a parchment paper and store them in an air tight container for 2 weeks.

Make your own Almond Flour for burfi

1. Add ¾ cup almonds to 2 cups of hot boiling water. Off the stove and rest them for a minute or 2.

2. Drain off the water and rinse under running water in a colander.

3. Spread them on a clean absorbent cloth.

4. Skin becomes loose. Just remove them, they come off easily.

5. Air dry them until completely dry. Do not powder moist almonds as the almond powder will be too coarse.

Optionally you can add them to a wide pan and roast them lightly till they look dry and moist free. Do not discolor the almonds.

6. Cool them and powder them in a blender. Keep this aside

7. Do not aim to get fine powder. A slightly coarse powder (like we make for kaju katli) will do. Do not over blend otherwise the nuts will release oil.

Expert Tips

• Sugar syrup: We don’t need a string consistency for this recipe. You can just add the almond meal once the sugar dissolves completely in the water.
• Water: Adding too much water to make the syrup will increase the cook time and may also affect the color of the badam burfi. So just use as mentioned in the recipe.
• Toasting almonds: Blanched almonds have some moisture in them. So I have toasted them lightly just to dry them up. You may also air dry or sun dry them. Trying to blend moist almonds most times makes the almond meal very coarse. So dry them well and then blend them.
• Making almond flour or meal: The key to a good almond burfi is not to over blend the almonds. Almond meal can be slightly coarse and is just fine to use the coarse one here. Do not over blend the almonds to the extent they begin to release oils.
• Color: I do not use any kind of food coloring in our foods. So I have not added anything here. But you may add some organic color if you prefer.
• Flavor: We love the cardamom flavor so I have used only that. However you may also use few drops of rose or kewra water for fragrance.

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