"Sandesh" is a not a word that is unfamiliar to us and neither is it a sweet that generally evokes rapturous culinary temptation. Let's be honest here. We've seen the Gram flooded with pictorial odes to mouthwatering baked delights all through the lockdown and entire editorials (or are they called pictorials on Social media?) lauding the genius (or enforced boredom) it takes to bake the perfect cake / cookie / donut / eclair / dalgona - ok that wasn't baked but I couldn't not mention it! You know who did not make the cut? Yups! Our very own tiny white ball of homemade goodness - Sandesh. One could be forgiven for thinking that hey, "White matters too!" in this particular context and I couldn't agree more.

There’s a lot of love behind these sandesh pies. From generations ago, there was a traditional sandesh made at home daily to cater to everyone' sweet cravings - a homemade, non fried calcium rich dessert. When my kids were born we tried the same thing, but GenX (or is it GenY or Z now?!?) being who they are, they were not quite so enamoured of the traditional sandesh. That’s when I started spinning the traditional sandesh into gursandesh cakes and adding a pie crust,chocolate and their favourite fruits like mango and strawberries to the sandesh to tempt them. The rest as they say is history. Now, not only do my kids love the Sandesh pies, but I actually have their friends requesting for more. Its an extremely soul satisfying dessert – for me as a chef, and as a mom.

Now we’ve got 10 different flavours including the fresh fruit Orange Sandesh pies, Biscoff Sandesh Pie and Mango Praline Sandesh Pie. Children have been enjoying all the flavours but are really digging into the fresh strawberry Sandesh pies. We’ve also been making Gur Sandesh cakes and Kesar Pista Rabri for celebrations of the older generation who may not like cakes. Recently we’ve started doing Sandesh Pie jars and those are a great hit as party favors or for potluck kind of gatherings – the portions are perfect for a single person, and serving is easy.