Kaju Katli
Kaju Katli is a rich and delicious Indian sweet that is a must for any festive occasions.
Equipment
- Frying pan / kadhai
- Spatula
- Silicon mat / Food grade plastic sheet
- Rolling Pin
- Knife
- sieve
- Bowl
- Grinder
Ingredients
- 250 gm Cashew powder / Cashew flour 2 cups
- 40 gm Milk powder 4 tbsp
- 200 gm Sugar
- 100 ml Water
- 2 teaspoon Ghee
- ¼ teaspoon Cardamom Extract Optional use ½ teaspoon cardamom powder
- 4-5 Silver Varak / Edible Silver foil optional
Instructions
- Ingredients
- Grind the cashews in small batches to make cashew flour / Cashew powder. Do not over grind it otherwise the cashews will release fat / oil. You don't want to end up with cashew paste.
- Sift the grinded cashews and re-grind the bigger coarse pieces.
- In a bowl mix the cashew powder and milk powder.
- Add sugar and water to a pan and cook it on medium heat. Keep stirring to combine well.
- Let the sugar water come to a boil. After few minutes you will see a lot of bubbles on top and the syrup will thicken a bit.
- Reduce to heat and take a small drop in a bowl or plate. Let it cool a little.
- Check the consistency of sugar by taking the cooled drop between you thumb and forefinger and stretch it apart. If you get one string consistency then its cooked perfectly.
- Add the Cashew powder and milk powder mixture to the sugar syrup and switch off the heat.
- Mix in the dry ingredients and sugar syrup to make a smooth dough.
- Add Elaichi / Cardamom extract and ghee to the dough and mix it all together.
- Ghee makes the mixture smooth and also adds some shine to the Kaju Katli.
- If you are using Silicon / baking mat then pour the dough over it and spread it well to cool it. Otherwise spread the mixture in the pan so that it cools off quickly.
- Once the dough as cooled a little, start kneading the dough with the help of silicon mat. Do not use your hands directly. The silicon mat protects you from the heat as well has helps maintain the color of the sweet.
- Alternatively if you are using a food grade plastic then put the cooled dough on the plastic sheet and kneed it to a smooth texture with the help of the plastic.
- This step helps soften the dough and take out any lumps or hardness from the mixture resulting in smooth melt in the mouth texture.
- Now roll out the dough on the plastic sheet or silicon sleeve till its about ¼ inch thick.
- Not let it cool and dry out for another 20-30 mins.
- Check the rolled out dough after 15 mins, in case its already cooled of and dried a bit then cut the rolled dough in the Katli shape/ Diamond shape. Be careful to not let the dough dry out for longer time otherwise it will be difficult to make proper cuts in it.
- If the surface is dried a little then lightly brush it with ghee. This will help the varak to stick to it easily.
- Cover the cut pieces with silver varak. Separate them and then store them in a air tight container.
- They will stay good outside for a couple of day and last for about 3 weeks in refrigerator.
Notes
- Using cardamom / elaichi extract gives the Kaju Katli a very good flavor as well as maintain the creamy color.
- You can add rosewater to the sugar syrup.
- Varak is just a decorative piece and doesnt change or impact flavors.
- You can directly use cashew flour that is available in the market for this recipe.
- Do not skip sieving the flour.
- You can skip milk powder.
- One string consistency of sugar is important for this recipe.
- If you do not have any plastic sheet or silicon mat then you can kneed it dough directly with your hand.
- Single string consistency happens at 223 F to 234 F or 106 C to 112 C.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!