Kaju Pista Roll Recipe - My 300th Post & A Giveaway !

Yep,Today I am Writing 300th Post. I am so happy and excited, woke up early in the morning started making sweet to celebrate the moment :) Blogging has changed my life a lot, made me more energetic creative and over all more colorful. My first blog was about my life love story :) That time also, I use to recollect all my sweet memories and tried to wrote my real story with lovely quotes and poems. But later, lots of pressure from my family members not to continue so I stopped writing. Then finally I got to know about creating a food blog and started posting my recipes online. First few months, like you all I was posting my recipes with full enthu I didn't bother about anything / anyone, just keep on posting 4-5 recipes per day and cooking a lot. Yes, I was so much addicted and later when I saw people commenting here and joining my site which again doubled my energy. Without you all I couldn't reach this soon and so I thank each and every one who visit my space and also a very very special thanks to all my dear blog buddies who always supported and encouraged me thru their valuable comments and often embraced me by showering awards and much more. Thank you n Thank you friends !!!
        Coming to today's recipe, everyone's favorite Kaju Pista Roll / Cashew Pistachio Roll or in other words- Pistachio stuffed Cashew Nut Sweet Rolls :) Actually I want to post Kaju Katli as my 300th post but on Nov 10th I wanted to share my sweet memories with my friends so I posted it earlier. And again thanks a ton gals for all your wishes on that day:) For the first time I tried this Kaju Pista roll and it was a grand success  :) I never thought that I could made these delicious rolls at home. My kids , OMG they don't have patience and today also it was very difficult to take pictures with them. I already gave some pieces to them but they want the whole big rolls :) and fighting with me and at last I couldn't shot anything creatively, simply took few pictures and gave it to them.  Please refer my Kaju Katli recipe for detailed picture for making cashew dough. Now to the recipe..

Ingredients
For Pistachio Stuffing

1. Pista/Pistachio(Raw)    1/4 cup
2. Sugar    1 and 1/2 tbsp
3. Milk    1-2 tsp
4. Green Food Color    a small pinch(optional)

Method

• Preheat oven to 200 degree Fahrenheit.
• Spread the  raw pistachio in a oven safe dish and keep it for 8-10 minutes and set aside to cool completely.

• Once it had cooled completely, grind it in a blender along with sugar to a fine powder.
• Then sift the powdered sugar-pistachio mixture using a strainer. 
• Now transfer the sifted pista powder to a bowl, add food color n milk mix everything well and keep aside.

For Cashew Dough/outer covering

1. Cashew nuts(raw)    1 cup (levelled)
2. Sugar   1/2 cup(heaped)
3. Ghee   1 -2 tsp  ( to grease hands n plates)
4. Milk   1-2 tbsp
5. Milk -Mawa Powder  1-2 tsp
6. Water   1/4 cup

Method

• Grind cashew nuts in to a fine coarse powder using blender.
• Then sift them using mess strainer ( this is optional)
• Take a pan , add sugar and water and cook in medium heat.
• Keep stirring until sugar dissolves completely and get fine thread like consistency. To check this, take a small bowl with 1-2 tbsp of water and drop few drops of sugar syrup and it should form fine threads and is should not dissolved in water.
• Then add cashew powder and stir well and keep stirring in low heat.
• Cook for about 3-4 minutes and when the mixtures starts bubbling and thick, wet your hands and take small piece and roll it u should be able to roll without sticky. that's the perfect consistency.
• Now turn off the stove and pour the cashew mixture to a greased plate and wait for a minute( to cool) and grease your hands and add milk and milk mawa powder and start kneading it gently like a dough.
• Keep kneading the dough until it forms a smooth dough and cashew mixture starts leaving oil. 
• Kaju Pista Roll Method
• Now Divide the (cashew) dough in to four equal portion and take one portion and roll it on a greased surface/butter paper to a rectangle shape.

• Then take about 1tsp of pista-sugar mixture, roll it to a long thin cylinder like shape(see picture) and keep it on one end of the rolled cashew dough and start rolling tightly.

• Roll it tightly then cut the rolled long cashew pista  in to 2 " long pieces and trim the ends so that the pista stuffing tweaked out.
• Now using your hands, take one kaju pista roll and roll by pressing gently to get smooth texture and 

• Tap both ends gently on the plate so that you will get a smooth round ends.

• Do repeat the same for remaining cashew and pista dough. 
• If you want, you can decorate them with varak/edible silver paper. Kaju Pista Rolls are ready to Serve !!

• Lastly i had some lemon size cashew pista ball( left after trimming) , i rolled them thinly and cut in to diamond shaped and enjoyed :)

Notes:

As the cashew dough cools, it get dried up little so don't panic, add few drops of milk and again knead on a greased surface to get back its shape and texture.

Adding milk will reduce its shelf life. So handle properly and store it in refrigerator.

With the above quantity u will get around 10 kaju pista rolls and few pieces :)

Sifting the flour using strainer really helps you to get fine grainy texture without any lumps.

Now to the most interesting part of this post,"Giveaway" I am today here with my 300th post and so happy I could make this within a year. Its all only because of your support and encouragement. So in order to thank my readers and fellow bloggers, I am here with a giveaway- a very useful and wonderful book " The taste of Home "Fall Baking" . I have chosen this because we all love to bake and prefer homemade freshly baked goodies right??  I have already received, the taste of home cookies book and I liked it a lot. so thought to give a lovely book from Taste of Home and chosen this Fall Baking book as a giveaway.

This book includes: 

126 recipes of Cakes, pies, cookies, brownies, muffins, yeast breads & more

Basics for beginners and hints for seasoned cooks

Photos of every recipe & handy kitchen tips

Bonus: Homemade Halloween treats sure to scare up fun!

and some  more facts about the book..

Fall is the perfect time of year to turn on the oven and bake a delicious treat to share with family and friends. In the new edition of the Fall Baking Cookbook, you'll find 126 scrumptious recipes that feature the comforting flavors of autumn. Each recipe has been tested by the professionals in our Taste of Home Test Kitchen to ensure great results every time!
With recipes for cakes, pies, cookies, cheesecakes, brownies, breads, coffee cakes, muffins and more, you can whip up a fresh-from-the-oven favorite for any occasion. We've also tucked in lots of tips, hints and how-to's, too. Softcover, 146 pages

Hope you like this book :)

Currently this giveaway is open to all US Readers/ followers only ...sorry, next time will do for all.

You can enter this giveaway by three ways..Each one count as an entry

• Follow my blog Publicly , if you are already following just leave a comment.
• Like "Spicy Treats" Facebook Page.
• Just visit Spicy treats FB page and click "Like" Button or Simply Click on Facebook Pop out here (right side) n press "Like"
• Already liked my page then leave a line ...
• Subscribe to "Spicy treats" via email. Only verified email subscribers count as an entry.To subscribe enter your email Id below and please verify your email once get confirmation from FeedBurner.

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Spread about the giveaway in your space or FB is highly appreciated.

And also you can share your positive/negative opinions about Spicy Treats (if you wish), really it will help me to do more in right way :)

These are the three simple steps to enter the giveaway and it ends by December 31st, 2011

I will select one lucky winner (rangom.org) at the end of December 2011.

Good Luck!!!