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Carrot-halwa millionaire bars

• Gurdeep Loyal

Published: April 26, 2022 at 2:02 PM

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Makes 14-16 bars

Easy

Total time: 1 hr and 55 mins

+ cooling + setting

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This decadent hybrid recipe combines a buttery pistachio shortbread base with a layer of kewra (or pandan extract) scented caramel, and moreish, fudgy carrot halwa topping

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Try these carrot-halwa millionaire bars, then check out our gulab jamun, mango shrikhand, Indian banoffee pie and more Indian recipes.

Looking for other veggie cake recipes? Make our avocado and courgette cake and chocolate courgette cake.

Ingredients

Nutrition

PISTACHIO SHORTBREAD

• 250g unsalted butter

  softened, plus extra for the tin

• 125g caster sugar

• 1 large lemon

  zested

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 400g plain flour

• 2 tbsp cornflour

• 100g pistachio nibs

  plus 25g to garnish (and dried rose petals, if you like)

CARAMEL FILLING

• 100g unsalted butter

• 1 tsp kewra water

  (available in Indian shops and online, optional)

• 50g golden syrup

• 50g soft light brown sugar

• 397g tin condensed milk

CARROT HALWA TOPPING

• 900g carrots

  grated

• 2 tbsp ghee

• 100g caster sugar

• 1½ tsp ground cardamom

• 125ml whole milk

• 100g whole milk powder

• 1 lemon

  juiced to make 1 tbsp

Nutrition: Per bar (16)

• kcal530
• fat27.2g
• saturates15.5g
• carbs61.5g
• sugars39.9g
• fibre3.9g
• protein7.9g
• salt0.4g

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Method

• step 1

  Heat the oven to 170C/fan 150C/gas 3. Butter and line a deep 23cm x 30cm tin with baking paper.

• step 2

  Pour the sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer along with the lemon zest. Using your fingers, rub the zest into the sugar to extract the lemony oils. Add the butter, vanilla extract and ¾ tsp of fine sea salt, and beat with a paddle attachment for 2-3 minutes or until the sugar dissolves and it’s light and creamy.

• step 3

  In a separate bowl, mix together the plain flour, cornflour and pistachio nibs, then tip the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. With the speed low, mix for 1-2 minutes or until you have even sandy breadcrumbs.

• step 4

  Tip the mixture into the tin and press down gently to an even layer. Bake for 45-50 minutes, turning in the oven halfway, until lightly golden on top. Remove from the oven and cool.

• step 5

  For the caramel filling, put the butter, kewra water, golden syrup and sugar in a pan and heat gently, whisking, until the sugar has dissolved. Add the condensed milk and quickly bring to a boil, whisking the entire time. Let it bubble for 45-60 seconds or until it has tinted slightly in colour, then remove from the heat and thoroughly whisk again. Pour over the top of the shortbread base and leave to cool.

• step 6

  Tip the grated carrots onto a clean tea towel, then cover with another tea towel, press down and leave for 15 minutes to remove as much water as possible.

• step 7

  Heat the ghee in a large non-stick wok, then cook the carrots over a high heat for 10 minutes, stirring and scraping continuously so they don’t catch. Add the sugar and ground cardamom, and cook for 5 minutes over a medium heat, again stirring so it doesn’t catch. Add the milk, cooking down again for another 5 minutes. Finally, add the milk powder, cooking and stirring for 5-7 minutes or until it starts to come together. Stir through the lemon juice to finish, mix well, then spoon out and spread on top of the shortbread-caramel base.

• step 8

  Sprinkle with more pistachio nibs and dried rose petals, if you like, then leave to set in the fridge for 1-2 hours. Carefully cut into bar shapes (each about 5cm x 6cm) and enjoy with a cup of chai.

We have plenty more easy dessert recipes where this came from

Authors

Gurdeep Loyal

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