| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 2 hr |
| Prep: | 30 min |
| Inactive: | 1 hr |
| Cook: | 30 min |
| Yield: | 10 to 12 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups white granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 2 drops red food coloring, optional
- 1 1/2 cups desiccated unsweetened coconut
- 1 tablespoon ground raw, unsalted cashews, optional
- Chai, for serving
Instructions
- Line a 8- by 8-inch brownie pan with wax or parchment paper, overlapping the sides for easy lifting later.
- Pour some water into a very small bowl and put it in the freezer to chill (this is in case you don’t have a thermometer, or if you want to be super accurate).
- In a small saucepan, stir together the sugar and 1/2 cup water. Attach a candy thermometer to the pot (if you have one) and place over medium heat. Bring to a gentle boil.
- Continue to cook the sugar mixture (it should bubble adamantly), stirring occasionally, and checking the temperature, either with the candy thermometer or with a regular digital thermometer. Be extremely careful; bubbling sugar will burn you like nobody’s business.
- When the sugar mixture reaches 230 degrees F, turn the heat off. If you don’t have a thermometer, pull the chilled bowl of water out of the freezer and, using a spoon, drop a tiny dollop of the sugar mixture into the cold water. It should form long strings. This is called “one-string consistency” and it means that your sugar is at exactly the right temperature.
- Stir in the cardamom and red food coloring if you’re using it. Now, add the coconut and the cashew powder if using. Stir carefully until the whole mixture is an even pink hue. Quickly, pour into the prepared pan, smooth out so it’s an even thickness and allow to cool for about an hour.
- When hardened, pull out of the pan, and cut into either bite-size squares or diamonds. Enjoy with a warm cup of chai!
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 12 servings |
| Calories | 171 |
| Total Fat | 7 g |
| Saturated Fat | 6 g |
| Carbohydrates | 28 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Sugar | 26 g |
| Protein | 1 g |
| Cholesterol | 0 mg |
| Sodium | 4 mg |
Reviews
Total miss. Followed recipe exactly but it didn’t stay together so no good as a plateable treat.
I got a thermometer. I watched this sugar cooking like a hawk. As soon as it hit 230, I turned off the heat, removed the pan from the hot burner and as quickly as possible added the ingredients as specified. My result? A pan full of crystalized pink coconut that in no way stuck together like a bar of any sort. It IS however delicious. You can taste the coconut and cashew mixture really well, but this isn’t something I can give away unless I bag it and call it a really interesting bag of coconut cashew ice cream toppings.
My 6 year old & I watched Best Thing I Ever Made & I finally TRIED to make this for her. The 1st time it was like soup. Hating to fail, I bought a thermometer, paid $9 for cardamom, and went to 3 store looking for unsweetened coconut (finally found it at an Asian market FYI!. I followed the directions to a T, and the same result. I put it back on the burner & tried to boil out some of the liquid…it worked, but then quickly got hard. Total waste of ingredients & time, not to mention WAY TO SWEET! Sorry Arti, this is not a winner. 🙁
I loved it. I did not use cardamon or cashew. It was a litlle crystalized, but I liked it. I had to make more!
I also used a thermometer to 230, and yet mine is not sticking together. It’s mushy! It doesn’t hold its shape. I did make one chance to the recipe: instead of cardamom, I used Gingerbread spice. It shouldn’t have impacted the recipe like it did… I’m not sure why it didn’t work for me. I’ll try refrigerating it. Hopefully that will work, but it’s unlikely.
Otherwise, this recipe has a nice flavour and the colour is so nice!
I will try to make it again.
Otherwise, this recipe has a nice flavour and the colour is so nice!
I will try to make it again.
I used my candy thermometer and went to exactly 230. Result? seems like the mixture re-crystalized. Agree it is like eating a sugar cube . . . I was hoping this was going to have a little chewiness to it, as we love anything coconut around our house. Any candy experts out there have any suggestions? Love the way it looks in the pan! Salvage: crumble and sprinkle over an ice cream sundae. Looks wonderful!
Thought this recipe was great…make sure you use unsweetened coconut!! I did melt some chocolate chips and drizzled it over the bars..yum:-
I loved this recipe. But, to get the desiccated UNsweetened coconut, I had to do everything but climb the tree. The only coconut around my neck of the woods is sweetened. I think it was worth it and kind of fun using an actual nut. It was much easier to get into than I thought: they actually drew a line around it so I would know where to whack it. Once I got it shredded and spread out on a cookie sheet, It took about 15 minutes to dry the coconut shreds in the oven.
I will make this again.
BeaDidio is right, way too sweet! I love the cardamom flavor, but it is like eating a sugar cube! I was thinking about playing with the recipe and using less sugar, or fine sugar so that it does not have the gritty sugar taste. Not sure how to salvage the remainder due to the “gritty” texture…Sorry Aarti! I still love you and your personality!
Loved this. Did everything exactly as the recipe said, other than adding a teeny bit more cashews. The combination of cardamom, coconut and cashew smelled just like India (where my husband and I fell in love. This is going in his stocking for sure : Thanks Aarti!