Pera is one of the popular Indian sweets prepared  for happy occasions, for example, when  announcing an engagement, birth of a child, or sent with an invitation to a wedding.

Pera is made with different milks cooked together with sugar and butter until it solidifies.  It is shaped into a ball and stamped with a design.

As kids we used to watch my mum make it and we used to help her stamp the design on it.  You can decorate it with nut in the centre or use different deigns to stamp it.  I use a pop bottle lid with the nuts, an empty thread spool and a fondant flower cutter. You may have a decorative wine glass, or a fancy cookie stamp.  It can be made into any size you like.  (between 1 oz to 3 oz is a good size)

You will find a lot of different recipes for pera, this recipe has been given to me by my friend Nargis, it takes longer to cook but is the best recipe I have found.

Ingredients

• 1-1/2             cups butter(3/4 lb)unsalted butter
• 1                   can (370 ml) carnation evaporated milk
• 250               ml creamer (half and half or whipping cream)
• 1 1/2             cups sugar
• 1/2                tsp cardamom ground
• 1/4                tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4                tsp saffron
• 4                   cups(1 lb) carnation milk powder
• 1/4                cup almonds and Pistachio finely chopped 
•                      (chopped)    

Instructions

1. Melt butter, evaporated milk, creamer and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  About 10 minutes.
2. Turn the heat to medium, add the powder milk, ground cardamom, nutmeg and saffron.  Mix well.
3. Cook stirring the mixture  until the color changes to light brown and the mixture is half(almost 30 to 40 minutes).
4. Remove it from the stove and let it cool until you can shape it.
5. Shape it into a small 1” ball.
6. Decorate it with pistachio or almonds, or decorate it with a stamp.