Kaju Katli is a cashew sweet fudge which can be considered as our very own Indian Marzipan. Kaju katli also know as kaju burfi in some places is made with just 3 easily available ingredients cashew, sugar and water but it is a tricky sweet to make at home. There are so many colorful versions of kaju kathili available in any mithai shop today. Any Mithai dabba would surely have a kaju sweet disguised in such a fun and attractive way . As a kid those sweets always attracted me and once I grew the curiosity of how they make them grew more. I love making sweets but the irony is I am not much of a sweet tooth as I have mentioned in my other post, contrary to me my hubby has a sweet tooth and craves for sweet every time so that is why I make them often . My daughter’s favorite sweet is kaju kathili, though she will try few sweets if we ask her to she is not a big sweet tooth as well. Kaju kathli is the only sweet she is addicted to and can have more than 2 at a time 😛 ..
I had planned my letter K already but since daughter was asking for kaju kathli few weeks back I thought I should change and made these instead. This is such an easy sweet to make if you get the hang of it, I have been making this often and for diwali I make a bunch of sweets and kathli is default in the list. I always look for different shaped kaju in mithai shops to get inspired two of my fav shapes are matka or kalash and kaju kamal these are so attractive and they are always made to perfection in mithai shops. As I have posted kathli recipe here before This post will be a extension of the kathli giving them the mithai shop wala look. I have used veg vrak ( silver foil) , I always look for a vegetarian silver foil to decorate my sweets .Again a unhappy photographer I was held up with lot to do today didn’t get much time and light to photograph. Moving on to the recipe
 Ingredients
- Cashew nut pd – 2 cups
- Sugar – 1 cup
- Corn syrup – 1 tbsp (optional)
- Ghee for greasing (if needed)
- Silver foil/ Vrak ( optional)
- Food colors – Few drops (Optional)
Method
- Grind the whole cashews in a mixer till they are fine. Don’t over grind the cashews as they may leave out the fat/ oil and stick to form lumps with which you will not be able to make kaju katli at all. Grind only till they are fine , They might be fine but look coarse so touch the cashews and feel it whether it is fine pd.
- To make sugar syrup take a sauce pan. Put sugar and 1/2 cup water and allow it to boil. Add corn syrup once it starts boiling.
Cook them till it reaches one string consistency. To check one string consistency you can take little water in a small plate , put some drops of syrup in the water, if the syrup stay and doesn’t get dissolved . Another way to check is to rub some syrup with your thumb and index finger and stretch it a to forms a thread and that is single thread consistency. - Now add the cashew pd to the syrup in this stage. Simmer the flame to low and cook them stirring constantly till starts leaving the side of the pan.
- Switch off the pan and transfer it to a greased plate. and keep on mixing them with a spoon so that they don’t stick to the plate and dry off and also if you keep on mixing it will cool down a bit soon.
- Once it is bare able to touch but still warm knead them to a smooth dough, grease your hands while you knead if you feel the dough is sticky.
- Take a small portion of the dough cover the rest of dough as it will dry out. Shape the dough into circle and then half way through roll the neck part of the matka. Garnish it with vrak , pistachios as needed.
- For Kaju kamal you need to divide the dough to 3 portions and dye them yellow, red , green with a very good quality food color.
- Roll equal sized red balls first, the yellow balls will be slightly bigger the red and the green balls will be bigger than yellow.
- Flatten the yellow balls with your finger to form a thin disk, place the red ball inside the flattened yellow and cover them from all sides do the same with the green portion. So from inside it is red , yellow and then green.
- Cover with Vrak and cut them to cross from the top, slightly open the petals .
- With the leftover red and green dough I made strawberry shapes.
- Cashew nut pd – 2 cups
- Sugar – 1 cup
- Corn syrup – 1 tbsp (optional)
- Ghee for greasing (if needed)
- Silver foil/ Vrak ( optional)
- Grind the whole cashews in a mixer till they are fine. Don’t over grind the cashews as they may leave out the fat/ oil and stick to form lumps with which you will not be able to make kaju katli at all. Grind only till they are fine , They might be fine but look coarse so touch the cashews and feel it whether it is fine pd.
- To make sugar syrup take a sauce pan. Put sugar and ½ cup water and allow it to boil. Add corn syrup once it starts boiling.
- Cook them till it reaches one string consistency. To check one string consistency you can take little water in a small plate , put some drops of syrup in the water, if the syrup stay and doesn’t get dissolved . Another way to check is to rub some syrup with your thumb and index finger and stretch it a to forms a thread and that is single thread consistency.
- Now add the cashew pd to the syrup in this stage. Simmer the flame to low and cook them stirring constantly till starts leaving the side of the pan.
- Switch off the pan and transfer it to a greased plate. and keep on mixing them with a spoon so that they don’t stick to the plate and dry off and also if you keep on mixing it will cool down a bit soon.
- Once it is bare able to touch but still warm knead them to a smooth dough, grease your hands while you knead if you feel the dough is sticky.
- Take a small portion of the dough cover the rest of dough as it will dry out. Shape the dough into circle and then half way through roll the neck part of the matka. Garnish it with vrak , pistachios as needed.
- For Kaju kamal you need to divide the dough to 3 portions and dye them yellow, red , green with a very good quality food color.
- Roll equal sized red balls first, the yellow balls will be slightly bigger the red and the green balls will be bigger than yellow.
- Flatten the yellow balls with your finger to form a thin disk, place the red ball inside the flattened yellow and cover them from all sides do the same with the green portion. So from inside it is red , yellow and then green.
- With the leftover red and green dough I made strawberry shapes.
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Gayathri Kumar says
My daughter is a huge fan of kaju kathli, but I don’t make it often. I buy her two kathlis and she leaves me alone. Seeing your kamal and matkas, I am tempted to try this for her. These are such cute shapes and so much fun to make.
Priya Suresh says
Even my daughter is a huge fan of kaju katli, and those cute looking kamal and matkas are seriously adorable and damn pretty to eat them. I cant eat if i spend hours in finish making this cuties. Well done Manju, you have magical hands gal.
Sandhiya ThirumalaiKumar says
Wow, those kamal and matkas are the cutest kaju katali i have seen so far. You have shaped them so well. I can’t even take my eyes from the kalash shape,so perfect manjula. Never tried kaju katli at home because i’m afraid that i myself will finish the whole 🙂 but now you’re really tempting to try !!!
Vaishali says
I must say you are a pro at making these Indian sweets . Both the matka and kalash and even the strawberry have come out real neat ! Perfectly shaped right out of a mithai shop . Lady ! You sure have loads of patience .
harini says
Love the exotic look of these beauties. We are all kaju kathli fans. But I don’t think I am creative enough to make these beauties. We are a restless bunch at home. So the moment the kaju kathli is done, we pounce on it and finish 🙂
Pavani says
Manjula, you are a pro in making these beautiful desserts. I would probably just admire them without eating. These kamal shaped katli look amazing. You gave so much attention to detail — kudos to your efforts. Where do you buy silver foil?
manjulabharathkumar@gmail.com says
Thank you Pavani for those kind comments 🙂 Silver foil I got it from India 🙂
Srividhya Gopalakrishnan says
Deivame neenga engaiyo poyiteenga… Kaju sweets are my weakness and you are killing me here. Can I become your sishyai? super pa.
Sharmila Kingsly says
Beautifully played with the kaju katli and the sweets are more realistic. Interesting way to attract kids. You can very well start your own shop 🙂 I will be your regular visitor!!
kalyani says
nice ones. like most of us already said start your own sweets and snacks ka dukaan. we shall be willing customers…
Srivalli says
Seriously Manjula, those are some beautifully crafted sweets!..though I don’t like cashew and sweets in general, I can so admire the craftmanship displayed here!
Mayuri Patel says
Wow giving kaju katli a whole new avatar, shaped into cute strawberries, shaped int kaju kamal and my best the kaju matka. They look so cute.
Priya Srinivasan says
i m speechless manju! Looks amazing!! Even my lil one loves kaju katli! love everything here, those kaju kamal and matkas looks inviting, perfect for parties and great gifting idea.
Kaju strawberries are so very eye catching!!!
Padmajha PJ says
These mithai looks so professionally done! I can never make anything like this! You are so talented Manjula. I am in awe of your creation!!
manjulabharathkumar@gmail.com says
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Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
Manjula, you are a true artist! Love how beautifully you have shaped the pedas. It’s high time you start your designer mithai store. Lovely post!
preeti garg says
Wow.. looks so cute and tempting… just like market brought.. Superb choice.