This is all time favourite sweet of everyone. Very few people dislike this sweet.  Since a long time I wanted to try this sweet at home. It’s Diwali. What better occasion is required to try this sweet. 😊

Kaju katli can be prepared in different ways. The cashews can be powdered, and the powder can be used to make the sweet. Another method is grinding the cashews to a fine paste and then making the sweet. I made the katli, grinding the cashews to a fine paste. If you are using the cashew powder, grind the cashews in small batches, then sieve the powder. The remaining bits can be ground again. Grinding bigger batch of cashews for a longer duration, can make it ooze out oil and make the powder sticky. So take care.

Ingredients

2 cups- Unsalted raw cashews

2 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter)

1 ¼ cup sugar

1 teaspoon cardamom powder

½ cup milk

Method:

Grind the cashews with milk, to a fine paste using a mixer grinder. Make sure there are no bits and pieces of cashews.

Heat a nonstick pan, boil sugar and ¾ cup water for few minutes on medium flame. Once you get one thread consistency, lower the flame. You can use 2 fingers for this purpose. Take a spoon of the syrup and test with the fingers. When you pull apart the fingers if you see one thread, its done.

Add 2 tablespoons of ghee to the same pan. Add the cashew paste and cardamom powder. Keep stirring the paste. Do not allow the paste to burn. It will take about 15-20 minutes to bring the paste to a lump. The paste separates from pan. You can take ½ spoon of the paste and put it on a plate. If you can make a ball without the paste sticking to your hand, then it’s done. It may still look semi solid, but when it cools down it will be hard.

Put a parchment paper on a flat surface, you can use wooden board or kitchen counter for the flat surface. Apply a teaspoon of ghee on the paper. Pour the cashew mixture from the pan there and allow it to cool. Take a spoon and apply some ghee on the back and use it to flatten the cashew sugar mixture. You can use a rolling pin too. Make it ½ an inch thick and a square shape. Allow it to cool. Make diamond shape using a scale and knife or a cookie cutter.  To make diamond shape, cut the katli at 45-degree angle. Run the knife under the katli to lift it from the parchment paper after it cools down.

The Katli was soft, and I liked the texture of it. it was definitely tastier than the store bought one. If you like my recipes please like and subscribe.

Tips:

½ cup Milk powder can be added if you like along with the cashew paste.  Some do. If the lump is soft and hard to cut, transfer again to the pan and reheat for a minute or two. If its too hard add few spoons of water and soften it on the stove.