Kaju Katli without Sugar Syrup

Kaju Katli also called as Kaju Barfi is a famous Indian dessert made with Cashews. It’s a fudge prepared with Cashewnuts and sugar and optionally adding milk and flavored primarily with Cardamom and sometimes also with saffron and rose. Nonetheless, it tastes great in any flavor.

It is a wholesome favorite especially during Diwali, as it is rich because of the cashews and also has a great shelf-life as compared to the milk-based sweets like kalakand or rasgulla. I was not very fond of it as a kid, but taste preferences do change with age, and now a great fan of it. Also, it is not deep-fried and only mildly sweetened, you can call it a healthier dessert.

Kaju Katli is usually prepared by making sugar syrup, and adding powdered cashews to it. But here I am sharing with you a much easier method without making sugar syrup. And it turns out exactly like the store bought ones 🙂

Although this is a very easy recipe, there are some important rules to be followed while making this recipe. I am mentioning them in the notes.

Ingredients

3/4 Cup Cashews
1/4 Cup Milk Powder
1/2 Cup Icing or Confectioner’s sugar
Pinch Cardamom
Few drops Rose essence (optional)
Few strands Saffron (optional)
1 tbsp Water

Method

• Add the rose essence to the water. If using saffron, add the saffron strands to the water or grind them with the cashews.

• Heat the Cashews in the microwave for 30 sec. Alternatively you can also toast them for a few mins in on a stovetop.

• After the cashews have cooled, powder them finely in a blender. Pulse them a few times in a blender in 5 sec intervals mixing in between. Do not overblend them, else the cashews would start releasing oil and it will become cashew butter.

• Prepare a double boiler by boiling water in a big pot and placing a pan on it so that it becomes hot because of the steam from the water. Add the icing sugar to the pan. Keep mixing it so that it heats up uniformly.

• After 2 mins add the milk powder to the pan, continue stirring it till it heats up till it’s hot to touch. It takes about 5 mins in all.

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• Add the hot sugar, milk powder to the cashew powder and mix all of it together.

• Add the cardamom powder and the rose water and start kneading it. Do not add any more water or milk. The cashews will start releasing it’s own oil and the dough would come together in just about 5-6 mins.

• Once the dough is soft, place it on a flat surface with parchment paper. You can also use the back of a plate rubbed with ghee if you do not have a parchment paper.

• Place another parchment paper on it and start rolling it to about 8 mm thickness. Adjust the overall shape of the dough to a rectangle or square as you are rolling it.

• Very carefully apply the silver wark on the kaju katli. This is completely optional, but gives a rich look to it.

• Cut your preferred shapes of kaju katli. Popularly they are cut into diamond shape only, but I prefer squares, as it leaves less wastage on the edges.

• Leave it out for drying for an hour and your super delicious kaju katli is ready. The method is very easy but trust me it gives result just like the ones in any popular sweetshops.

Please try it out and do let me know how it turns out for you. I am sure you will also fall in love with it, just like me 🙂

Notes:

1. While preparing the cashew powder, do not grind them for long time intervals, as the cashews may start releasing oil and you will end up with cashew butter. Without anymore delay, let’s get to the recipe now.
2. Although you can roll the cashew dough on any flat surface, it’s always better to use a parchment or butter paper to do it, it will definitely make the job several times easier for you, as the cashew dough tends to be very sticky when hot.
3. You have to use confectioner’s or icing sugar only for this recipe. Icing sugar contains cornstarch which would absorb the excess oil in the cashews and also gives the necessary binding needed to hold the cashews together. If you want to replace it with regular white sugar, add a tbsp of cornstarch for every 1 cup of sugar added.
4. Adding milk powder is optional You can prepare this sweet with only cashew powder also. Milk powder gives it a nice flavor. And also helps in drying the katli faster.
5. Use only a double boiler to heat the icing sugar, as we need to just heat the sugar and milk powder together till they are hot to touch. We don’t want to melt the sugar and so cannot heat it directly.