Turkish Delight - Delightful

Turkish Delight

When I talked to Vakkas of the Half Moon Cafe in Blarney about the Turkish Night - I had the idea of making my own Turkish Delight to bring in as a petit four after the dinner. So I searched and googled and read through all my cookbooks to find out how it is actually made. It is easier than you might think but harder than I hoped but nevertheless - challenges are there to be met. So I went ahead and came up with a recipe that I thought might work and wasn't too difficult either. If you look online, everyone will tell you that it is hard.......it isn't - at least not if you follow my recipe below. I tried it and it worked first time.... yippeeeee and trust me, it is so much better than shop bought stuff...

• 3 tbsp powered gelatin
• 60ml boiling water
• 660g caster sugar
• 500ml water
• 110g cornflour
• 2 tbsp liquid glucose
• 30ml rosewater (or less - depending on your taste)
• red food colouring
• icing sugar to toss the delight in

Line a square baking tin with parchment paper (baking paper) and set aside.

Gelatin

Sprinkle the gelatin over the hot water in a small jug and stand the jug in a pot of simmering water and stir until it dissolves - keep it that way.

Combine the sugar with 180ml of the extra water in a saucepan, stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to a boil and boil without stirring until the temperature reaches 116C on a sugar thermometer. Keep it at 116C for about 5 minutes, without stirring. Remove from heat.

Yeap, a lot of sugar

Combine the remaining water (310ml) and cornflour in another saucepan. Whisk until smooth and place over a low heat and bring to a boil, stirring all the time, until it thickens a bit (that can happen quite fast - no despair if it looks as if it is too thick).

Cornflour - it makes Turkish Delight

Bit by bit, add the sugar syrup, gelatin and liquid glucose into the cornflour mixture. bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, stirring all the time until the mixture thickens slightly (can take up to 10 mins). Remove from the heat, add the rosewater and enough food colouring to give it a rich rose colour (keep in mind that it is easier to add then to remove food colouring).

Cornflour milk

Great colour

Strain the mixture through a sieve into the lined baking tin. Stand until it cooled down and covered it with a sheet of slightly oiled parchment paper and stand overnight at room temperature. Remove the parchment paper, cut with a sharp knife (dust it with icing sugar after each cut) into square and dust generously with icing sugar (that keeps the squares from sticking together). Keep in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks