Persian Halva - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon powdered saffron
1/2 cup rose water
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup oil
Garnish
pistachios
almonds

Preparation

Boil the water and sugar together.
Take off heat and add saffron, rose water, and cardamom. Set aside.
On medium heat, heat the butter and oil in a non-stick pot.
Add the flour and stir consistently for about 30 minutes or until brown. This step takes away the raw taste in the flour and is essential in the overall flavor of your Halva.
Remove from heat.
Gradually add the sugar water mixture into the hot flour and stir very quickly for about 3-4 minutes. It will bubble vehemently at first but will slowly turn into a paste.
Pour contents into a dish and decorate as you wish.
Traditionally it is simply decorated with simple shapes using a spoon and sprinkled with shards of pistachio or almonds.
For the truffle like nut-coated Halva, I allowed it to cool at room temperature, and then refrigerated it for an hour. Next I took spoonfuls of Halva and rolled them between my hands and ran them through powdered pistachios and almonds.