Kaju Katli - Fudgy Cashew Thins (Vegan & Gluten free )

Ingredients (Makes 20-22 diamonds)

1.5 cups broken raw cashew pieces (Yield 1 cup +3/4 cup cashew powder)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
6 tbsp water
1-2 drops rose essence 
1 tbsp ghee (Optional, required during kneading, use any vegan substitute)

Method

Use cashews at room temperature. If you store your nuts in the fridge, take them out a night before and spread on the kitchen towel to air dry. 
The cashews should be at room temperature and completely dry before you start powdering them. 
Transfer the cashew pieces to a dry blender jar and in one go powder them as fine as you can. We need a loose, smooth powder. 
Take care that the cashews do not become pasty or release their oils and clump up or become sticky (this is very important). 
If you feel that there are few big pieces in the cashew powder, pick them out or sift the powder using a sieve, 
but do not overwork the blender to grind the cashews.

In a wide, heavy bottomed pan (I use my 10" skillet) or a kadhai, mix up the sugar and water. 
Set the pan on low flame and let the sugar dissolve. 
Stir (I use my rubber spatula) the solution once or twice while the sugar dissolves so that the sugar does not stick to bottom of the pan. 
While the sugar is dissolving, rub about 1/2 tbsp of ghee on a kitchen board (or the surface where you will knead) and set aside.

Once the sugar has dissolved, add the powdered cashews to the pan. 
Mix everything and brace yourself for some hard work. Keep on stirring and stirring as the mix cooks on low flame. 
The process will be slow in the beginning and you will feel that it will take forever but do not worry. 
Keep on stirring, scraping the mixture on low flame, do not let the mixture stick to the sides of the skillet. 

After about 18 minutes, you will see that the mixture starts thickening and coming together.
Add the rose essence (or any other flavorings) now if using and incorporate. 
We will shortly be getting there, once the mixture is thick, do not bother much about scraping the sides as they will be really dry. 
Around 22 minutes, the mixture will start resembling a soft, sticky dough and will clump up around the spatula. 
If you try to bring the mixture together in one place on the skillet, it will try to slowly spread (similar to how a glug of cold honey spreads on a surface)
It took me exactly 24 minutes to reach that stage. 
Depending on the flame settings and water content of the sugar, you can approximately look at 22-28 minutes to reach that stage.

Immediately transfer to the greased surface and leave to cool a bit until its safe to handle.
Once the cashew dough has cooled slightly, rub a teaspoon of ghee on your hands and very gently knead the dough for 5-7 minutes to form a ball. 
Remember that the dough needs to be warm when you knead so just wait till its safe to touch, do not let it cool down completely, 
else it will not knead and remain grainy.
Do not press very hard as you knead else the cashews will start oozing their oil but there should be enough pressure so that a small ball is formed. 
You can grease you hands or the dough with ghee in between if it starts feeling sticky.

One you get a smooth ball, flatten it out slightly. Place a large and wide sheet of wax or butter paper on the dough and using a rolling-pin, 
roll it out to a 1/3" thickness, or you can roll out as thin or thick as you like. 
Using a sharp knife  (or a ravioli cutter, like I did), cut into diamonds or squares or any shape you like.

Serve or store in an air tight container at room temperature for 5-6 days.

Notes 

The time of cooking noted in this recipe will vary if you are using any other kind of sugar than granulated, 
since the water content of different varieties of sugar is different.
You can use any kind of flavorings - cardamom, saffron or kewra (screw pine water) instead of rose essence .
This recipe can be use for almond powder too.