Kesar Pista Kulfi

This year for my mom's birthday, instead of buying a cake like we usually do, I wanted to attempt making her favorite dessert... Kesar Pista Kulfi!

My mom is definitely my biggest critic. In fact, we always play this game where I ask her to score my food on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest), and I legit never have been able to get a 10 from her yet. My dad on the other hand, always tell me I broke the scale and he's never tasted anything better. I don't think I could ever fail a recipe in his eyes, it's all about the balance I suppose ;)

Jokes apart, this is definitely my favorite recipe! And I think after you make it, you'll see exactly why! It's not only super easy but also so decadent and rich in flavor!

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

• 2 cups heavy cream

• 1 tsp saffron threads

• 1 can of sweetened condensed milk

• ¼ cup pistachios, chopped

• 2-4 tbsp of pistachios for garnish

• 8 paper cups

• 8 popsicle sticks

Preparation

1. In a small pan, heat 1 cup of heavy cream and add the saffron threads. You don’t want to cook it too much, just let the heavy cream come to a boil and then you can take it off the stove and let it cool. The goal isn’t to burn the milk, but rather give the saffron threads to disintegrate within the milk so the flavor gets absorbed. Once the milk has cooled, place in the refrigerator for about 7-8 hours.

2. For this step, you can either use a hand blender or a stand mixer. Combine the saffron milk and the other half of the heavy cream that we didn’t use earlier and whip in a bowl at high speed for about 5-6 minutes or until you have soft peaks form. Sometimes blending time can vary in a blender, just aim to have soft peaks, that’s the consistency you want.

3. Next, add the condensed milk and ¼ cup of pistachios and continue whipping until you have mixed it thoroughly.

4. Then, add the mixture into small paper cups and gently tap the cup to the kitchen surface to level out the mixture.

5. Finally, garnish each cup with the pistachios and place popsicle sticks in each cup.

6. Freeze overnight and enjoy!

Tips

• I strongly recommend using paper cups so that instead of waiting for the kulfi to come to room temperature, it is easier to just peel the paper off and enjoy it while it’s still cold.

• Do not add any sugar on top of the condensed milk, the kulfi will be too sweet.

• You can also garnish with saffron threads or rose petals.