No-Bake Kaju Barfi Cashew Bars (Vegan-Friendly)
As a Pakistani kid born in America, I grew up frequently visiting “the Indian store” for South Asian (desi) sweets and snacks. The sweet that I begged for most often was kaju katli or kaju barfi. “Kaju” is the Urdu and Hindi word for cashew. The sweet is essentially a cashew bar often cut into diamond shapes and topped with edible silver leaf foil. If you know, you know!
I recently came across Hearthy Foods’ line of grain-free flours and was particularly excited when I discovered their cashew flour. I immediately thought to try making my childhood favorite mithai, kaju barfi.
To my pleasant surprise, it’s very easy to make. Beware though, they’re seriously addicting. If you enjoy cashews and desserts, THIS IS IT!
Ingredients
90mL (1/3 cup) of water
150g (3/4 cup) of sugar — you can reduce this amount to 1/2 cup if you prefer not-too-sweet desserts
200g (~1 1/2 cups, packed) Hearthy Cashew Flour
1 tsp rose water
1/4 tsp freshly ground cardamom (fine powder)
2 tbsp softened butter or coconut oil
Optional: 24kt Edible Gold Leaf or Edible Silver Leaf
Recipe
In a medium saucepan, add the water and sugar and place over high heat. Bring this to a boil.
Once the sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture is continuously bubbling, add the cashew flour to the pot. Immediately stir until smooth.
Cook this over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture becomes a very thick paste. At this point, drop the heat to low and mix in the cardamom and rose water.
Keep stirring as it thickens some more. Add the butter or coconut oil to prevent it from sticking to the sides of the pot.
When it begins to resemble a dough more than a batter, remove from heat and scoop it out onto a nonstick surface (lightly greased cutting board, wax paper, baking sheet, etc). Flatten it out a little bit and let it cool for 3-4 minutes.
Once it is cool enough to work with your hands, knead the ‘dough’ for about a minute. Press down/smash, fold over and onto itself, repeat. This will help eliminate any lumps or grainy texture.
Use a rolling pin to flatten the dough out to just under 1/2” thick. You can apply edible gold or silver leaf foiling before OR after cutting the barfi.
Cut the barfi using a pizza cutter or even cookie cutters. Any scraps that are left can be kneaded into a ball, rolled out, and cut. Work somewhat quickly so that it’s easy to knead and roll the dough.
Pop the pieces into an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to a week.