This is the perfect, healthy and wow biscuit, it only has a few ingredients and no sugar or butter.  I had learnt to make Arabian Flowers over the spring time when one of my husband’s cousins was getting married. Leading up to the wedding, a variety of food was made at their home for all the different events that took place. I was so glad and grateful for the opportunity when we were asked to help make these show stoppers!!  It is always good to learn and share new recipes. I was just so pleased that the humble puff pastry and dried dates can be made into such beautiful and pretty looking biscuits. The main ingredient is dried dates, and I don’t really enjoy dry dates very much, but love fresh dates, so for people like me and children it is a good way to get us to eat food that is good for us Dates are said to be rich in fibre, calcium, vitamins and minerals, and also said to have good medicinal properties.

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This is a very simple Indian dessert, which I grew up making with my mother.  We would sit with a large tray of the barfi mix that my mother had made and we would press it down with the back of a bowl, then top it with slivers of almonds and pistachios.  We felt quite important as that was the finishing touch to the sweet.

This sweet is similar to fudge in texture and there are many different versions you can make out of it.  Here I have added some dessicated coconut and dry chopped cranberries, topped with chocolate.  This year I made these for Diwali and got my son to help with mixing the ingredients into a crumble. He really enjoyed getting his hands ’soft and sticky’ as he put it.  So life is a full circle, what my mother passed on to me I am passing on to my son.

In the past I have also used fresh blueberries and that tastes good too.  I have also been sent a recipe by my cousin sister, which has mango in it. I cannot wait to try that out, once I do I will post that on as well.  Later I will also post another recipe which is a layered/sandwich barfi, which tastes and looks very good too. These sweets are good to give as food gifts, if you are going for a dinner party or over the festive period for friends and family.

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