Apple Halwa - Indian Desert Made With Apples

Apple Halwa is a delicious Indian twist to making the best out of the apples during the Fall Season. This is a perfect dessert to make for the festival season with the abundance of apples around.

This is another attempt at creating an Indian recipe with apples. Earlier, I had made Apple pickle and Apple rasam to keep up with my idea of having an Indian flavor profile as a theme. Apple halwa was such a success with the boys.

My younger kid, who is not a big fan of sweet desserts, loved this one. My husband related this to one of his favorite halwas, which is pumpkin halwa, also called Gulkunthu in Tamil. Overall, I was very happy with what I made, and this is opening up my imagination to come up with more apple recipes.

If you are a chewy halwa lover, then you have to give this Bombay Karachi Halwa a try as well. So simple to make and ready in under 30 minutes.

Preparation time - 15 mins
Cooking time - 40 mins
Difficulty level - medium

Ingredients to make Apple Halwa - Serves 6

• Apples (any variety) - 4cups (grated)
• Sugar - 2 cups
• Ghee - 2 or 3 tbsp
• Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
• Saffron - few threads (optional)
• Slivered almonds or cashews - to garnish

Procedure -

• Peel the apples and grate them. In a non-stick, heavy-bottom pan, heat about 1 tablespoon of ghee and add the grated apples. Fry the apples until all the moisture disappears (about 12 mins).

• Remove the apples and keep them aside. In the same pan, add the sugar and add about 1 cup of water to it. Let it come to a boil and then lower the heat.

• We are looking to get a one-thread consistency for the syrup. This is a term that scares off most of the brave halwa makers. Keep cooking the syrup, and once in a while, use your ladle to drip some syrup. If the syrup drips as drops, then it is not ready yet. Once the sugar starts forming a thread-like dripping action, you know that it is the right consistency. This takes about 10 to 12 mins.

• At this stage, add the fried apples to the sugar mixture and mix well. Add the remaining ghee and keep cooking on medium-high heat.

• Once the apple halwa starts to leave the sides of the pan, you know that it is ready to be taken off the flame. At this stage, add the cardamom and the saffron and give it one good mix before turning off the flame.

• Serve the apple halwa warm or at room temperature, garnished with almonds or cashews.

Expert Tips

• I made the sugar syrup only to reduce the cooking time. If we add the sugar directly to the apple, it will take longer to cook and to come to the right consistency.
• Before adding the sugar, taste the apples. If the apples are very sweet, the amount of sugar can be slightly reduced. The apples that I used were sort of tart, so this quantity worked well for me.

More Apple recipes to make

Spiced Apple Jam

Apples are everywhere and this is the perfect season to make some Spiced Apple Jam. The spices in the jam will make the whole house smelling fabulous. 

Check out this recipe

Apple Thokku | Apple Pickle

This spicy Apple pickle is the best use of all the excess apple that we pick during the fall season. Apple pickle / Apple thokku works great for tart and/or sour apples.

Check out this recipe

Baked Apple Chips

Baked apple chips is one of the best recipes with all the freshly picked apples that I have ever made. These are so addictive and yet guilt free as they are made using just apples and are baked. Flavor the apple chips as you like. Cinnamon sugar topping happens to be my favorite!

Check out this recipe

Apple Turnover with Phyllo Pastry

Delicate and flaky Apple Turnover with Phyllo (Filo) Pastry Sheets is the perfect dessert to make this holiday season to entertain your guests.

Check out this recipe

Baked Apple Roses With Puff Pastry

These fancy puff pastry apple roses are incredibly easy to make and super elegant. These Puff Pastry Apple Roses will make a wonderful center piece for your holiday dinner.

Check out this recipe

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Recipe

Apple Halwa

Apple Halwa, a delicious Indian twist to making the best out of the apples during the Fall Season. This is a perfect dessert to make for the festival season with the abundance of apples around.

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Course: Dessert, sweets

Cuisine: Indian

Diet: Vegetarian

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes minutes

Servings: 6 servings

Calories: 368kcal

Author: Sandhya Ramakrishnan

Ingredients

• ▢ 4 cups Apples Any variety (grated)
• ▢ 2 cups Sugar
• ▢ 3 tablespoon Ghee
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Cardamom powder
• ▢ Few Saffron Optional
• ▢ Few Slivered almonds or cashews - to garnish To garnish

Instructions

• Peel the apples and grate them. In a nonstick heavy bottom pan, heat about a tablespoon of ghee and add the grated apples. Fry the apples until all the moisture disappears (about 12 mins).
• Remove the apples and keep aside. In the same pan, add the sugar and add about a 1 cup of water to it. Let it come to a boil and then lower the heat.
• We are looking to get a one thread consistency for the syrup. This is a term that scares off most of the brave halwa makers. Keep cooking the syrup and once in a while use your ladle to drip some syrup. If the syrup drips as drops, then it is not ready yet. Once the sugar starts forming a threadlike dripping action, you know that it is the right consistency. This takes about 10 to 12 mins.
• At this stage add the fried apples to the sugar mixture and mix well. Add the remaining ghee and keep cooking on medium-high heat.
• Once the apple halwa starts to leave the sides of the pan, you know that it is ready to be taken off the flame. At this stage add the cardamom and the saffron and give it one good mix before turning off the flame.
• Serve the apple halwa warm or at room temperature, garnished with almonds or cashews.

Notes

Expert tips

• I made the sugar syrup only to reduce the cooking time. If we add the sugar directly to the apple, it will take longer to cook and to come to the right consistency.
• Before adding the sugar, taste the apples. If the apples are very sweet, the amount of sugar can be slightly reduced. The apples that I used were sort of tart, so this quantity worked well for me.

Nutrition

Calories: 368kcal | Carbohydrates: 78g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 19mg | Sodium: 2mg | Potassium: 89mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 75g | Vitamin A: 45IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 5mg | Iron: 1mg

Tried this recipe?Mention @Sandhya.Ramakrishnan or tag #MyCookingJourney!