Diwali gifting is quite popular across the country, and one of the most frequently gifting boxes you get contains dry fruits. They’re nutritious, long-lasting, and packed with flavours that lend themselves beautifully to both sweet and savoury dishes. But if you have surplus packs and boxes of dry fruit left from the festive season and don’t want them to go past their expiration date, why don’t you whip something creative?
Once you get tired of munching the dry fruits and nuts, you can set aside some portion that you want to use up sooner. No matter if you want some guilt-free treats or incorporate them into desserts, this article has some of the most creative ways of utilising your Diwali’s lot of dry fruits.
Dry Fruit-Stuffed Dates
For health-conscious people, dry fruits stuffed in dates are one of the best utilising the stock of nuts. Taking a pack of dates, you can make the most of them using their natural sweetness and the crunch of dry fruits; here’s a quick snack. You can make a mixture by chopping mixed nuts like almonds, cashews, pistachios, etc, and stuffing them into dates. These are not only healthy but also tasty to munch on during the day.
Dry Fruit Chutney
Dry fruit chutney is a unique and rich condiment that can take care of your Diwali’s leftover dry fruit boxes. You can pick your favourite dry fruits like raisins, dates, almonds, walnuts, and more. To make the chutney, you can soak dates and raisins till they are soft. Then, you can blend them with some ginger and green chillies. Once smooth, add in almonds and cashew nuts and blend till smooth. You can adjust the consistency with water, and your dry fruit chutney will be ready.
Energy Bars
Are you still buying energy bars from your store next door? Using your surplus stock of nuts, you can make guilt-free energy bars at home without any preservatives. All you need to do is take some oats and dry fruits and mix them with honey. Once you get a consistent mixture, spread and cut into bars. Let the bars cool and eat them as a pre-workout boost or for a healthy treat.
Dry Fruit Ladoos
Ladoos are the classic Indian sweet that is a must after having a traditional meal. To make a healthier version of ladoos that incorporates nuts, you can make dry fruit ladoos. You can start by chopping some almonds, cashew nuts, raisins, dates, walnuts, and even figs. As per your preference, you can either blend them into a paste or leave them as is. Next, roast the mixture in some ghee and shape it into small balls. Further, garnish a nut and enjoy.
Nutty Cake
If you want to bake something that also uses nuts, you can make a dry fruit cake. Just like any other cake, you can mix the dry ingredients like flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. In another bowl, you can whisk eggs and then gently add to the dry mixture. Now, fold in chopped dry fruits, pour the batter into a baking pan, and bake for a nutty cake.