Kaju Katli

काजू कतली, a delicious sweet, an all time favorite, a quick and perfect recipe. I remember my childhood when my mom made kaju katli during Diwali festival. She used to fill a big steel box (dabba as we called it) with this sweet with wax paper in between every layer to prevent the silver foil from being destroyed. Now being away from home I do miss her Kaju Katli. She does prepare this sweet while I am in India, and sends a box full for my husband :)


Here is her recipe :)

Ingredients:
1 cup powdered cashews
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 1/2 tbps. milk
1 tsp. ghee (clarified butter)

To keep in mind:
You can powder cashews at home. Traditionally in India my mom had a special machine to powder nuts (cashews, peanuts, almonds). it was like a rotary shaver that would shave the nuts and prevent the oil from the nuts to be secreted, thus keeping them soft, fluffy and dry.  Now she uses a cheese grater to powder cashews.

However, I use a regular mixer grinder to powder cashews. One needs to be careful not to over grind it and to avoid being mushy.

Prepare a surface to roll the ready mixture. You could roll the mixture on clean granite or stone counter.  Or on a surface covered with wax paper. Grease the rolling pin with ghee (clarified butter)

Method:

1. In a heavy bottom nonstick pan mix powdered sugar and milk well. (powder regular sugar) You could also use cane sugar or confectionery sugar. (If you are making this sweet to be consumed during fast or festival to offer God, avoid using cane sugar since it contains cornstarch that can not be consumed during fast).
2. Heat the mixture on medium heat till sugar dissolves and the solution comes to a boil.
3. On low heat, add the powdered cashews to the mixture and mix well.
4. When the mixtures turns to a dough-like consistency and starts to leave the pan surface, turn off the heat and add ghee to the ready mixture and mix well.
5. Put the mixture on the ready surface.
6. Apply some ghee on your fingers and pat the mixture flat. 
7. While the mixture is hot, roll it with greased rolling pin. (allowing the mixture to cool might make it difficult to roll and would be brittle and could form cracks.)
8. Roll the mixture to form a square or a rectangle shaped sheet (avoid rounding edges to obtain maximum diamond shaped kaju katli)
9. You could determine the thickness of your sweet. I would like the thickness of 1/2 - 1 cm.
10. Apply varkh (edible silver foil or gold foil). The edible silver foil looks great. No worries if you do not posses one. We have another idea to make it look presentable :)
11. While still warm, cut diamond shaped pieces using a pizza cutter or a sharp knife.
12. If you did not decorate your kaju katli with edible silver foil, make a saffron solution by dissolving few strands of saffron in 2 tbsp of hot milk. When the desired color is obtained, brush the solution on the kaju katli or just dot it using your index finger.
13. Share with friends and family and enjoy your festivities!

Also check of Kesar Kaju Katli recipes:

Try this recipe and share your picture on Shital's Kitchen facebook page with #shitalskitchen. I am sure your family will love this fresh, homemade, Kaju Katli!