Homemade Turkish Delight

Last week I mentioned that we have enjoyed making Turkish Delight lately. My daughter loves The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. Even though she is only 2 and 1/2, we read the book out loud several months ago and she also enjoys watching the new version of the movie that came out a few years ago. 

Thanks to Pinterest, I found this recipe from Sprinkle Bakes. My first attempt at the recipe was pretty good, but not great. The second try was much better, but even now I think I can make improvements the next time we make Turkish Delight.

We made lemon this time and vanilla the first time.

I had some help from this little munchkin.

Just a few simple ingredients for our Turkish Delight: Corn starch, water, sugar, corn syrup, lemon extract, and food coloring.

I don't have a dish big enough to make this full recipe, so both times I have cut it in half. In the first stage of microwaving the water and corn starch, these little clumps formed, probably because of over-cooking. The second time we made this I cut back on the cook times. Even though there were still a few lumps, I was able to whisk most of them smooth and get a wonderful texture at the end.

After the water and cornstarch and smooth, add in that sugar!

We passed the time while the Turkish Delight was cooking in the microwave by singing songs. 

Keep whisking that Turkish Delight until it gets really thick and stiff. It will hold in the bulb of the whisk when it is done. You can also take a little bit out and roll it into a ball to test for doneness. My daughter really wanted to make our lemon Turkish Delight blue, but we ended up settling for yellow!

I use a mini loaf pan (its flimsy foil, but I have reused several times) to hold the Turkish Delight as it cools. Then lay the slab out on a cutting board. I patted it with powdered sugar before I cut it up. I used a bench knife to cut it into bite-size pieces, but you could use a regular knife or a pizza cutter too.

Coat all sides of the pieces in powdered sugar for the final touch!

I love that you can make this in the microwave instead of having to fool with a candy thermometer 

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups of cold water
3/8 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/8 cup light corn syrup
1/2 tbsp. pure lemon extract
2 drops yellow liquid food coloring
Cooking spray, or cooking oil (light taste, like canola) for greasing pan
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Method:
Put water and cornstarch into a large, microwave safe bowl (like Pyrex). Whisk until cornstarch is dissolved completely. Microwave for 1 minute. Whisk smooth. Take care to leave little to no lumps of cornstarch at this initial stage. Microwave again for 1 minute. Whisk mixture (it will turn white and paste-like). Microwave for 1 more minute. At this point I started using a potholder to remove the bowl.

Combine the sugar and corn syrup with the mixture, whisking smooth. Microwave for 2.5 minutes, remove the bowl and whisk the mixture smooth. Repeat this step 2 additional times, each time removing the bowl and whisking smooth.

At this time, your mixture should look transculcent and be a good bit thicker than when you started. Add the lemon (or another flavor) extract and the food coloring, whisking everything together. Microwave another minute, then whisk. At this point you may need to microwave at 1-1:30 minute intervals 2 or 3 more times, depending on the power of your microwave. The important thing is to whisk the mixture each time. You are looking for it to be quite thick, so thick that most of it gets suck in the bulb of the whisk.

Once the thickness is reached, transfer the mixture to a greased loaf pan (I used a mini one for this half recipe). To make it easier to transfer, I coated a spatula with Pam first. Spread the mixture as evenly as possible (this is rather difficult). Allow it to cool for a hour or two at least. We usually can't wait until the whole thing is cooled to try it!

The block should slide right out onto a cutting board where you can coat in powdered sugar (mixed with a little cornstarch). Delicious!

Have you ever tried Turkish Delight? Made Turkish Delight? I've heard that the really good stuff is supposed to melt in your mouth, and I this recipe does just that!