Turkish Delight

Well, making this was definitely an adventure! Click HERE to watch the YouTube video!

I traveled to Turkey in 2011 for 2 weeks and fell positively head over heels in love with the country. So now that we're a full year into the pandemic, I'm traveling with my recipes! I have such fond memories of wandering through the spice market in Istanbul and buying so many different flavours of Turkish Delight to try. Oh what a foodie paradise that place is! I can't say I executed this recipe perfectly, but I think it was a very solid first effort!

INGREDIENTS:

-3 cups white sugar

-1 1/4 cups corn starch

-2 1/4 cups water, divided

-3 tbsp. lemon juice

-3/4 cup pistachios

-3/4 cup hazelnuts

-1 tbsp. orange blossom water

-1 tbsp. rose water

-liquid food colouring

-1/2 cup cornstarch

-1/2 cup icing sugar

HOW TO:

1.) Line two 6" square pans with parchment (or wax) paper so that the bottom and sides are all covered. Brush the pan with a little oil so the paper sticks, then sprinkle a little cornstarch on the pan bottom.

2.) Dry roast the pistachios for a few minutes in a hot frying pan. Repeat for the hazelnuts.

3.) Bring 1 cup of water to a boil, then add the sugar and lemon juice. Reduce the heat to medium (but it will still be boiling). A foam will form on top and you will want to cook until the liquid reduces but before it goes a caramel colour (mine went that colour and it was still OK)

4.) Cook it until the liquid has the thickness of a thin gel (it will move slowly across the bottom of your pan when you scrape it back with a spatula)

5.) Mix the corn starch with the 1 1/4 cup cold water and stir to dissolve all the lumps.

6.) Add this mixture to the sugar syrup. Reduce the heat to low and stir constantly. The mixture will get pretty thick pretty fast.

7.) It's hard to describe but...you know the mixture is ready when it detaches from the bottom of your pan as you are stirring it. The best way to describe it is that the mixture stops being "tacky" to the touch, and to the bottom of the pan. This cooking process will take from an hour to an hour and a half. You don't necessarily need to stir it constantly, but I would check it every few minutes and give it a stir.

8.) Divide the dough into two bowls. Add the 1 tbsp. rose water and food colouring (I added at least 8 drops) plus the hazelnuts (I didn't add hazelnuts to mine, but wished I had!)

Mix well and press into the prepared pan.

****Put a couple of tbsp. of cornstarch into a bag or bowl to have beside you to aid in pressing the ultra sticky mixture into the pan.

9.) Add the orange blossom water, food colouring and pistachios to the second batch and mix well. Press into pan the same as the first one.

10.) Cover with tin foil and leave out for 24 hours at room temperature.

11.) The next day remove the Turkish Delight from the molds and remove the paper. Cut them into small squares with your sharpest knife. Brush a little oil on the knife if it's sticking.

12.) In a medium sized bowl combine the icing sugar and corn starch. Toss the cut pieces of Turkish Delight in the mixture to prevent them from sticking together.

NOTES:

*Turkish Delight will keep for up to a month at room temp. in a sealed container, but I found the plastic container I kept them in made them "sweat" a bit so they had to be tossed in the icing sugar/ cornstarch mix again

*Use more food colouring than you think you need as it will be diminished when you toss them in the icing sugar/ cornstarch mix