Jan 07, 2020, Updated May 27, 2023 This is an easy to make candy recipe that you can try at home during winters. It’s the Indian version of nut brittle.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. For more information on my Affiliate and Advertising Policy, please click here. I shared my love affair with chikki in this post of peanut chikki that I shared a year back. So, I don’t want to repeat myself again but just want to remind you guys that I love chikki, like with all my heart. If it was left to me, I would eat it pretty much everyday. To me winters always meant munching on chikkis all day long. In Delhi, we mostly got peanut chikki and that’s the one I really loved. However once we went to this place called Lonavala (it’s in Maharashtra) and it is known for its chikki. There were chikki shops everywhere, I was literally in chikki heaven and they had hundreds of varieties. I didn’t even know so many existed! It’s there that I tried the mixed nuts chikki for the first time. It was made of nuts and jaggery and I absolutely loved it. Now whenever the craving strikes, I make chikki at home and this time around, I made this Mixed Nuts Chikki.
This Mixed Nuts Chikki
✓ is made of nuts like cashews, almonds and pecans ✓ is a great sweet treat to enjoy during winters ✓ free of refined sugar ✓ made with only 3 ingredients- nuts, jaggery and little bit of ghee ✓ can be made vegan by using coconut oil in place of ghee The ingredients list to make this chikki is very small. You only need nuts, jaggery and some ghee. If you don’t know what jaggery is, it is unrefined sugar obtained from raw, concentrated sugarcane juice.
How Long to Cook The Jaggery
The most important thing though is to make sure that the jaggery syrup is cooked to the right stage. If not your chikki will not have a nice snap to it or you may over cook the syrup in which case it will become super hard. You have to melt the jaggery and cook until it reaches the right stage which is the hard ball stage. Hard ball is a stage in candy making. When sugar melts, the water boils away and sugar concentration increases as the temperature increases. Different candies require different temperatures depending on their texture. For the chikki, we are looking at the hard ball stage which is at 250-265 F. For this mixed nuts chikki, I cooked until the temperature reached around 260 F degrees and then added the roasted nuts to the jaggery.
How to Check The Correct Stage
This is obviously tested best when you have a candy thermometer. But if you don’t have one, drop some jaggery syrup in a bowl of cold water, it would settle at the bottom and you should be able to form a solid ball out of it. It will harden to a brittle consistency and would snap. That’s when you know it’s the right stage to add the nuts. The color of the chikki will depend on the color of the jaggery that you use. My jaggery was quite dark in color and hence the chikkis are dark too. Hope you guys give this a try this winter season.
Method
1- Chop the nuts and dry roast them for 4 to 5 minutes on medium heat. Remove on a plate. 2- To the same pan add jaggery, water, ghee. Set the heat to low. 3- Jaggery will melt and start to bubble. Once it starts bubbling let it boil for 4 to 5 minutes. 4- Until it reaches hard ball stage at around 260 degrees F. Heat should be low all time.
5- If you don’t have a thermometer, you can drop some syrup in a bowl of cold water to check the right consistency. It will solidify and you should be able to form a ball. It will harden as it cools and you should be able to snap it. 6- This is the right stage to add nuts. Stir in the roasted nuts into the pan along with crushed cardamom seeds. You may also add some fennel powder here if you like. 7- Mix until the nuts are coated with the jaggery syrup. 8- Transfer mixture to a sheet of parchment paper. Place another sheet of parchment paper on top and using a rolling pin, roll between the two sheets to 1/4 inch thickness. You may make some indentation with a knife where you plan to cut the pieces since once it hardens it might become difficult to cut it into clean pieces.
Let it cool down and then cut into pieces. Store mixed nuts chikki in an air tight container and enjoy as a snack!
If you’ve tried this Mixed Nuts Chikki Recipe then don’t forget to rate the recipe! You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram to see what’s latest in my kitchen!
title: “Mixed Nuts Chikki Dry Fruit Chikki " ShowToc: true date: “2024-09-23” author: “Gordon Martin”
Jan 07, 2020, Updated May 27, 2023 This is an easy to make candy recipe that you can try at home during winters. It’s the Indian version of nut brittle.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. For more information on my Affiliate and Advertising Policy, please click here. I shared my love affair with chikki in this post of peanut chikki that I shared a year back. So, I don’t want to repeat myself again but just want to remind you guys that I love chikki, like with all my heart. If it was left to me, I would eat it pretty much everyday. To me winters always meant munching on chikkis all day long. In Delhi, we mostly got peanut chikki and that’s the one I really loved. However once we went to this place called Lonavala (it’s in Maharashtra) and it is known for its chikki. There were chikki shops everywhere, I was literally in chikki heaven and they had hundreds of varieties. I didn’t even know so many existed! It’s there that I tried the mixed nuts chikki for the first time. It was made of nuts and jaggery and I absolutely loved it. Now whenever the craving strikes, I make chikki at home and this time around, I made this Mixed Nuts Chikki.
This Mixed Nuts Chikki
✓ is made of nuts like cashews, almonds and pecans ✓ is a great sweet treat to enjoy during winters ✓ free of refined sugar ✓ made with only 3 ingredients- nuts, jaggery and little bit of ghee ✓ can be made vegan by using coconut oil in place of ghee The ingredients list to make this chikki is very small. You only need nuts, jaggery and some ghee. If you don’t know what jaggery is, it is unrefined sugar obtained from raw, concentrated sugarcane juice.
How Long to Cook The Jaggery
The most important thing though is to make sure that the jaggery syrup is cooked to the right stage. If not your chikki will not have a nice snap to it or you may over cook the syrup in which case it will become super hard. You have to melt the jaggery and cook until it reaches the right stage which is the hard ball stage. Hard ball is a stage in candy making. When sugar melts, the water boils away and sugar concentration increases as the temperature increases. Different candies require different temperatures depending on their texture. For the chikki, we are looking at the hard ball stage which is at 250-265 F. For this mixed nuts chikki, I cooked until the temperature reached around 260 F degrees and then added the roasted nuts to the jaggery.
How to Check The Correct Stage
This is obviously tested best when you have a candy thermometer. But if you don’t have one, drop some jaggery syrup in a bowl of cold water, it would settle at the bottom and you should be able to form a solid ball out of it. It will harden to a brittle consistency and would snap. That’s when you know it’s the right stage to add the nuts. The color of the chikki will depend on the color of the jaggery that you use. My jaggery was quite dark in color and hence the chikkis are dark too. Hope you guys give this a try this winter season.
Method
1- Chop the nuts and dry roast them for 4 to 5 minutes on medium heat. Remove on a plate. 2- To the same pan add jaggery, water, ghee. Set the heat to low. 3- Jaggery will melt and start to bubble. Once it starts bubbling let it boil for 4 to 5 minutes. 4- Until it reaches hard ball stage at around 260 degrees F. Heat should be low all time.
5- If you don’t have a thermometer, you can drop some syrup in a bowl of cold water to check the right consistency. It will solidify and you should be able to form a ball. It will harden as it cools and you should be able to snap it. 6- This is the right stage to add nuts. Stir in the roasted nuts into the pan along with crushed cardamom seeds. You may also add some fennel powder here if you like. 7- Mix until the nuts are coated with the jaggery syrup. 8- Transfer mixture to a sheet of parchment paper. Place another sheet of parchment paper on top and using a rolling pin, roll between the two sheets to 1/4 inch thickness. You may make some indentation with a knife where you plan to cut the pieces since once it hardens it might become difficult to cut it into clean pieces.
Let it cool down and then cut into pieces. Store mixed nuts chikki in an air tight container and enjoy as a snack!
If you’ve tried this Mixed Nuts Chikki Recipe then don’t forget to rate the recipe! You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram to see what’s latest in my kitchen!
