kaju katli – is a popular dessert in India, prepared with cashew powder and sugar syrup and just a teaspoon of ghee. Vegans could substitute ghee with coconut oil or vegan butter. Kaju katli has a smooth, thin, and melts in the mouth texture. Katli means thin. In Northern India Kaju katli is prepared during festivals like diwali, navaratri, and also raksha bandhan.

When I had this mouthwatering dessert for the first time, I thought preparing cashew burfi is not an easy task. Eventually, I tried to prepare but I didn’t get the perfect consistency. However, I was able to fix it. That’s the thing with cashew burfi, it is easy to fix even if you go wrong.

Tips for making Kaju Katli/Cashew Burfi

• Sugar syrup
  • Some people make it 1 or 2 string consistency but after melting the sugar, you can just cook till the syrup thickens a little bit. Don’t have to wait till it gets 1 or 2 string consistency.
  • After adding the cashew powder, you just need to cook further until it reaches the thick consistency.
• Pulse the cashews in intervals, Do not grind them continuously as cashews release oil. Do not put all the cashews at once in a blender. Grind them in batches.
• Kneading is the key to achieve smooth texture.
• Knead the cashew mixture when it is warm.
• Cool it completely and wait at least an hour before cutting it into slices.
• If you are not able to cut it neatly, that means the mixture is undone. You can put it back in the pan and cook few more mins until it gets a little thick or you could add a spoon of milk powder and try to knead.
• If it is too hard to knead and cut, you could either add little milk or water and knead it.

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Step by step photo instructions

Grinding Cashews

Powder the cashew in a blender. Cashews should be in powdered form and dry(shouldn’t be oily).

Making Kaju Katli Mixture

Heat sugar and water in a thick bottomed or non stick pan on med heat. Sugar dissolves in the water.

when the sugar syrup comes to a rolling boil, add the cashew powder.

Stir and keep on stirring the cashew mixture on a low flame.

The cashew mixture would start thickening. Add 1 tsp ghee.

Cook the kaju mixture for approx 5-7minutes till the whole mixture starts to come together and separates from the pan. (check if it is ready by taking out 1/4 sp of kaju mixture and cooling it, grease fingers then roll it into a ball that should not be sticky).

Turn off flame and spread the kaju mixture in the same pan and let it come to a warm temperature.

Making Kaju Katli

Grease a butter paper or a parchment paper with a little ghee.

Scrape the pan and remove the kaju katli mixture (it becomes dough consistency), transfer it from the pan to parchment paper.

Knead the cashew mixture by folding the parchment paper sides. The dough becomes smooth. (refer the video)

Place a butter paper on top of the dough and then using a rolling pin, roll the dough gently till you reach a thickness of 3-5 mm in the dough, let the rolled dough completely cool and wait 1-2 hrs to make it into slices.

Using a sharp knife cut the cashew dough into squares or diamond shapes.

Serve the kaju katli or keep in an air tight container. It will be fresh up to a month if refrigerated.