Kesar Badam Katli / Saffron Almond Barfi

This was one of the new sweets I made this Diwali. Slightly different from the well known Kaju Katli. Its a good way to finish off those almonds lying in your pantry.

Ingredients:
Almonds/ Badam - 1 cup
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Water - 1/4 cup
Milk Powder - 2 tsp (optional)
Ghee/Clarified Butter - 1 tsp
Saffron/Kesar - few strands
Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 1 pod

How to cook Badam Katli:

• Crush cardamom seeds and saffron in a mortar pestle to a fine powder.
• I have used Raw Almonds with skin for this Burfi. Discard the skin if you want your katli to look white or pale yellow. Grind almonds in a dry blender jar to a fine or a slightly coarse powder.
• In a thick bottom pan, add sugar and water. Keep stirring until sugar dissolves. Add saffron and cardamom powder. Continue cooking until sugar syrup turns sticky. Touch the sugar syrup and check to see if it sticks to your fingers.
• Lower the heat and add almond powder. Continue stirring at low heat until no lumps are seen. Add 1 tsp ghee and stir for a minute or until the barfi mix starts leaving the edges of the pan. Feel free to add ghee generously if you like.

• Turn off the heat and take a small piece of the mix. Check if you can form a round smooth ball. If so, your barfi mix is ready. If not, cook for another minute.
• When the barfi mix turns slightly cold enough to handle, add milk powder and knead it well to form a ball. Milk powder is not essential, but I like the slight flavor of milk. And milk powder won't reduce the shelf life of barfi. 
• Grease a wooden board or a flat surface with few drops of ghee. Also, the rolling pin. Roll the ball into 1/2 cm thick even layer. Using a sharp knife, cut diamond shape burfi pieces. You can use a cookie cutter for different shapes. Gather the edges and knead them again to form a ball and repeat the process.

Enjoy Almond Katli any time you like. Keep them refrigerated.