Almond and Rose Squares

Preparation

Grease a small tray or parchment paper (or the back side of a baking dish) with ghee or oil. Set aside.

Wash the roses. We only need the red petals for the recipe, so discard the green sepals and base. Pat petals dry with a kitchen towel.

Rinse and clean almonds, then pat dry. Grind almonds with rose petals in a grinder, until you have a smooth powder or paste. Set aside.

In a wok or pan, mix half sugar and water. Bring to a boil. After the first boil, reduce heat and boil sugar syrup until thickened and you have a two-string syrup. (A two-string syrup means when you take a drop of syrup between two fingers then stretch the fingers, the syrup that sticks between your fingers forms two threads or strings. It will akes about 2 minutes to make a two-string sugar syrup since we are using a very small amount of water.)

Add almond-rose paste or powder to the sugar syrup. Stir well. Cook mixture over very low heat until almond paste starts pulling away from the sides of the pan, about 2 minutes.

Turn off heat and set mixture on greased tray. Grease your palm and spread evenly. You can also use a rolling pin to roll the mixture. Roll it to about ¼-inch thick layer. Let mixture cool, about 10–15 minutes.

Cut cooled mixture into squares of desired size. Serve, or store for up to a couple of weeks.