Makar Sankranti Sweets - Sesame Chikki / Brittle made with Brown candy and Indian Jaggery

Today made sesame chikki for for Makar Sankranti with some variation. I  mixed black and regular sesame seeds and used brown Candy instead of regular jaggery. Chikki / Brittles  got nice crunchy/chewy  texture. I had picked this Brown Candy pack from Asian Grocery store and it looks just like our Desi jaggery..also for the first time I used light corn syrup, it gave smooth binding and shiny glaze. I prepared few mix and match batches of chikki. Plain Combination of jaggery and sesame makes those chikkies quite addictive. Posting ahead two variations of  Til chikki / brittle.

A) Black and White mix sesame chikki with Brown Candy

Ingredients :-

• 3/4 Cup crushed Brown Candy ( 1 stick shown in the picture below)
• 2 Tb.spoon light corn syrup
• 1/4 Cup - Black sesame seeds (lightly roasted)
• 1/4 Cup - Regular white sesame seeds (lightly roasted)
• 1/4 T.spoon - Ghee

Method of making chikki  with Brown Candy :-

1. Heat 1 quart heavy gauge pot/pan with handle, make sure it is not too hot. Add 2 tablespoon light corn syrup. Once it starts boiling you will see lot of bubbles, wait for 20-25 seconds and add crushed brown candy, stir with spoon for a  30-40 seconds.
2. Add 3 tablespoon water and keep stirring, maintain medium heat. Try to crush hard pieces of brown candy by pressing back of the spoon. Stir vigorously to dissolve all brown candy. Let it boil for 2-3 minutes. Keep stirring as it is boiling. Syrup will  turn  a bit darker.
3. Now add black and white sesame seeds and mix well. Let it boil for little more than 1 minute. Add 1/4 teaspoon ghee, mix well  and stir for another 30 seconds.. scrape all sides of the pot with flexible spatula and shut off the gas.
4. Take either flat dish or cookie sheet or cake pan (8 inch diameter will work good) grease it lightly with ghee and pour sesame and brown candy syrup at center and spread with spatula as wide as possible. I made thin layer of half centimeter thick. Once you roughly spread it, use flat bottom glass or bowl to pat-press-stretch. Allow it to set for 1-2 minutes.
5. Score horizontal and vertical lines with either knife or stainless steel turner/spatula. I used the one that is shown in picture below, by holding  it in vertical position press with pressure to mark lines. If it sticks to edges of spoon/knife then allow it to cool little more. Just rough marks are fine because once chikki is cooled it easily cracks in marked lines. Store in a jar or plastic ziplock bags.

Picture of Brown candy and Indian jaggery.

Light corn syrup brings soft flexible texture
 You can almost bend the chikki while it is cooling.

This stainless Steel Spatula easily scored chikki lines.

B) White sesame & peanut chikki /Tilgul vadi with Indian Jaggery

Ingredients :-

• 5 cubes - Indian jaggery (cubes shown in white cup) (equals 1 cup loosely packed grated jaggery)
• 1/2 Cup - White sesame seeds (lightly roasted)
• 1/4 Cup - roughly crushed roasted unsalted peanuts
• 2 Tb.spoon - light corn syrup
• 1/2 T.spoon - Ghee

Method of making chikki / Tilgul vadi  with Indian Jaggery :-

1. Heat heavy bottom 1 quart pot with handle. Once it is moderately hot, pour 2 tablespoon light corn syrup and allow it to boil and bubble 15-20 seconds. Add grated jaggery and stir with spoon on medium heat. It will turn too dry, quickly pour 2 tablespoon water and allow it to boil for 2 minutes. Keep continuously stirring and make sure all jaggery chunks are dissolved fully.
2. Add sesame seeds and crushed peanuts, ghee - mix well with jaggery syrup. Let it simmer  for  two minutes on medium low heat. Keep stirring. Shut off the gas and scrape all sides of the pot with flexible spatula and bring jaggery-sesame mass  at one end of the pot by tilting the pot.
3. Pour it on greased cookie sheet or plate at center...spread with spatula as per desired thickness. Use flat bottom of glass and smooth out chikki spread by pat-press-stretch process. Allow it to cool for 1-2 minutes. Score vertical and horizontal lines with knife or stainless steel spatula.Give enough time to cool before you break chikki squares. Store in a jar or ziplock bags.