Wednesday, 25 October 2017

How To Make Homemade Turkish Delight

I absolutely love making yummy treats that I can gift to family to friends at Christmas. A few years ago I made fig, date and onion chutney which I gave away with a little bottle of my red berry liqueur, each wrapped with a twist of festive ribbon and tied with brown labels suitably marked 'Eat Me' and 'Drink Me'.

This is another of my favourites. There always seems something indulgent about Turkish delight. It's something I don't eat all that much throughout the rest of the year but come wintertime, I can't help but make up a batch.


What's more, it's so unbelievably easy! I mean, who has time for faffing when there's mulled wine to be drunk?
Ingredients:

700g (1.5lb) caster sugar
3 x 12 sachets powdered gelatine
150g (5.5oz) cornflour
75g (3oz) icing sugar
Juice 1 lemon
500ml water
2 tbsp orange flavouring

How to make it:

1. Wet a 20.5cm (8 inch) square tin with some water, then line with clingfilm.



2. Sift the icing sugar with 75g (3oz) cornflour and liberally cover the inside of the tin with some of this mixture, leaving plenty to coat your finished product with later. I would suggest popping the rest in an airtight tub as it won't be needed for a number of hours and the moisture in the air could cause it to clump together.



3. Put the caster sugar, gelatine and the rest of the cornflour into a large pan and mix together with a whisk. Then gradually whisk in the water and lemon juice. 




4. Still whisking, heat gently until the sugar is dissolved. Bring it to the boil then simmer for 20 minutes on a medium heat. You will need to keep stirring every now and then to make sure it doesn't stick.


5. After this time, the mixture will now have turned pale yellow and thickened. Take off the heat and leave to cool for 5 minutes. Whisk in the orange flavouring and pour into your prepared tin. Leave it to set in a cool, dry place for at least 6 hours or overnight. Do not cover or refrigerate.




6. Dust your worktop with some of the reserved cornflour mixture, turn out the Turkish delight onto the surface and remove your tin. Carefully and slowly remove the clingfilm. I'm not going to lie, this is the sticky, messy bit. I find if you can coax the edges of the Turkish delight away from the clingfilm, the rest of the film should peel away fairly easily.




7. Use a dusted knife to cut the Turkish delight into pieces, toss them in the cornflour mixture so they are thoroughly coated and transfer to an airtight container for storage. Or into your mouth. For testing.




Kept in the container at cool room temperature, the Turkish delight should last for about a month. 


I've made this twice now with orange flavouring, and am considering trying a different flavour next time. Rose? Ginger? Almond and coconut? My trouble is - I can't decide!

Will you have a go at making this yourself? Let me know how it goes!

12 comments:

  1. I love Turkish delight! This looks yummy and not too tricky to make either :) #blogstravaganza

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  2. I'm definitely going to try this out! Turkish is my all time favourite! Thanks so much for sharing with #Blogstravaganza xx

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  3. Oh my goodness! My husband's favorite treat, and frankly I had no idea I could make this at home! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe, I'm pinning it for future reference :-)

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  4. I have to admit that I'm not a fan of rose flavoured Turkish delight but love it flavoured with orange. It would make a great homemade Christmas present.

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  5. I'm not even sure I've ever tried Turkish Delight! I really love the idea of making edible gifts for family and friends - especially with your creative twists. Thank you for sharing with #blogstravaganza

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  6. Oh I bet these are awesome! Perfect for Christmas x

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  7. I'm not going to lie. I couldn't have even hazarded a guess at how to make this! Thanks for the post. Looks delish!

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  8. I only know one person in my family who likes this delicacy. #Blogstravaganza

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  9. Yum! Who would ever have known that it's very possible to make up your own Turkish delight. I might even give this a go! Thanks so much for sharing with the #dreamteam x

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  10. #thesatsesh oooooh i wanna make this now! love the idea - i went through a phase of making marshmallows a while a go, may be this could be my new sweet treat.

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