This homemade Chocolate Barfi (burfi) is easy to make with ricotta cheese, milk powder, and other simple grocery store ingredients. No khoya needed. Make this delicious Indian sweet for Diwali, Raksha Bandhan, and all your special occasions.

What is Barfi?

Barfi (also spelled burfi) is an Indian fudge-like treat traditionally made with milk and sugar. It's most often flavored with nuts and cardamom. The milk is dried by boiling and reducing it to a semi solid stage.

In India, this milk product is available in markets and is known as khoya or mawa. But outside of India, it can be difficult to find. That's the problem this recipe solves.

Barfi also comes in many flavors. My [coconut barfi] is a more traditional version, while this one gets a chocolate upgrade.

Why Ricotta Instead of Khoya?

This recipe skips the khoya entirely. Many easier chocolate barfi recipes use condensed milk because like ricotta, it's also readily available. I find that condensed milk recipes taste more like an undercooked fudgy brownie than a barfi. 

To be clear, it is still good but just does not have the right texture. So I made my own "mawa" using a combination of milk powder and ricotta cheese. The ricotta and milk powder cook down into a homemade mawa substitute with the right crumbly, milky texture.

Ingredients:

You only need a handful of grocery store ingredients to make this chocolate barfi:

Ricotta cheese and dry milk powder are the base. Together they cook down into a homemade mawa substitute, so there's no need to hunt down khoya at a specialty market. Whole milk ricotta works best here.

Sweetened cocoa powder gives the barfi its chocolate flavor. Make sure it's sweetened cocoa (I used Ghirardelli), not unsweetened baking cocoa. I haven't tested this recipe with unsweetened cocoa, so I can't vouch for the swap.

Sugar and butter sweeten the mixture and help it come together.

Almond flour adds body and a subtle nuttiness that echoes the nuts in traditional barfi.

Cardamom is the classic barfi spice. I've used it to make delicious cardamom cookies. Freshly ground has the best aroma, but store-bought works.

For decorating my way, you'll also need marzipan, gold luster dust, and whole almonds. These are optional, and I cover them in the next section.

How to Make Chocolate Barfi

The first step in making barfi is cooking the milk solids. Constantly stir the ricotta over low heat to dry it out, about 10 minutes. Then add the milk powder, butter, and sugar while still heating and stirring until you have a crumbly mixture. It should look like crumbled cheese with no clumps of milk powder.

(Note: For these process photos, I made a half batch. If you make the full recipe, your quantity will be double what's shown.)

Once you have that crumbly consistency, add the cocoa powder and stir it in well. This is the point where plain barfi becomes chocolate barfi.

I like to transfer the mixture to my stand mixer here. Mixing on medium speed evens out the texture and helps the barfi cool by releasing steam. If you don't have a stand mixer, a bowl and some arm work do the same job.

When the mixture is ready, transfer it to a parchment-lined cutting board and roll it out into a large square about ½ inch thick. You can cut and serve it as is, or keep going with the marzipan finish below. 

How to Decorate with Marzipan

Marzipan gives the barfi a smooth, elegant finish in place of the more traditional edible silver foil. It's optional, and the barfi is just as good without it.

Roll out the marzipan thin, about ⅛ inch or less, and big enough to cover the top of your rolled-out barfi. Lift it carefully, smooth it over the top, and press out any air bubbles. Trim the sides to make a clean square, then cut into smaller squares.

To decorate, dip a food-safe paintbrush in vodka (or clear vanilla, lemon, or almond extract), then into a small amount of luster dust to create a thin paste. Take only a tiny bit of luster dust out of the container before dipping.

You won't need much. Paint a design onto the marzipan and finish each piece with a whole almond pressed on top. Crushed pistachios are a beautiful swap for the whole almonds, and they add the green contrast you see on traditional barfi.

Storage and Gifting

Store the barfi in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. The marzipan-topped version keeps the same way. I don't recommend leaving it at room temperature since the base is fresh ricotta.

If you are preparing gifts for Diwali or any other occasion, chocolate barfi can be nicely placed in a cardboard candy box. Separate layers with neatly cut wax paper and tie a pretty ribbon around the box.

Looking for more Indian-inspired sweets? Try my ghughara or pistachio white chocolate bark.