Saturday 17 December 2011

Turkish Delight (theThrifty way)

Turkish Delight sums up Christmas for me. As long as it is rose flavoured & drenched in icing sugar, I am a happy woman.


I have intended to make it for years. I have had the recipe, cut out of a magazine, waiting for me but never quite got round to it...

Inspired by all the crafty goings on in the Making Winter December Blog Hop,  I decided to give it a go.

Here's what I did...

I put 450ml of warm water in a pan & stirred in 3 sachets of powdered gelatin (approx 30-35g gelatin). This was probably the trickiest part of the whole process as it did go a bit lumpy. If you are going to have a go, I would recommend thoroughly reading the instructions on your packet of gelatin- needless to say, I didn't!

Add 700g sugar (yes, I baulked too!), stir & return to the heat stirring gently until the sugar has dissolved.

Bring to the boil & then reduce to a simmer for 20 mins.

It did not look appetising at this stage...

It looked horrible so I scooped off the scum & let it cool for about 15-20 mins (by this stage it was much thicker but not set)


Then I stirred in 2 teaspoons of rose water & a cap of red colouring.

I lined a straight edged baking dish (approx 20cm square-ish) with greaseproof paper.

The mixture needed to set overnight so I took the dish to my chosen spot. (In order to avoid having to walk with a full tray of liquid, I poured the mixture into the dish in situ.)

At this stage I still thought it looked unappetising..

The following day; I turned the slab of jelly onto a board covered in icing sugar, sliced it into cubes & drenched them with even more icing sugar.

I cut 48 large cubes from the slab

Needless to say, I had a taste (or 2 or 3... as did Mr TH). Our conclusion; it is much more delicate tasting than shop bought ones & much more 'jelly-ish' with a comically wibbly wobble to it!

I will keep some for us & the rest has been wrapped up as presents for friends.

I shall make it again next year- maybe a lemon & pistachio or lime one next time...

16 comments:

Lucille said...

Now that's what I call advanced Christmas cookery.

Annie Cholewa said...

How delicious :D I am really short of time this year, but I am squirreling lots of the Making Winter ideas away for next year. When I will start early and *everything* will be homemade :D Including the limoncello ;D

Thrifty Household said...

I shall remember your leaf gelatine tip ready for next year Sue...my powder attempt did go through a distinctly wallpaper paste stage!

Not So Granny said...

I've always meant to try making turkish delight (my dad is a huge fan)
I tried making marshmallows a couple of years back, that was good fun. (James Martin has a recipe)but I can't say it was cheaper or better than the shop brought ones so haven't bothered again.

silverpebble said...

Oh I could so do with some right now. It looks fabulous.

Thrifty Household said...

It was very easy to make & I already had all the ingredients in my food cupboard anyway- quite why I had a box of gelatine powder is still a bit of a mystery to me as I can't think what I'd have used it for...

So the costs was fairly low- even with replacing the bag of sugar...

Scented Sweetpeas said...

oh wow, my Dad and I love turkish delight, I must give that a go ! Thanks for sharing the recipe.

Julie said...

I think I'll have to give this a go. My mum loves turkish delight -I can just imagine how happy she'll be if I turn up at Christmas with a box for her! Juliex

Ali said...

My Mum adores turkish delight - perhaps I should give it a go. Thanks for the inspiration!

dottycookie said...

Yummy yum. We are big Turkish Delight fans in this house. Especially the smaller members of the household!

Anonymous said...

Me, I'm the fan of Turkish Delight, have been ever since I first ate some as a child, probably in 1949 at Christmas.

The Coffee Lady said...

Eldest made some turkish delight at a Narnia week some time ago; delicious.

Anonymous said...

Do tell us about your experiments with flavours, when you make them

Mrs. Micawber said...

I see that the other Sue is also thinking of Edmund in "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". There's a nice bit about Turkish Delight in Dorothy L. Sayers's "Strong Poison" as well.

This looks much, much nicer than the storebought kind.

Anonymous said...

How delicious does that look? And your photographs have inspired my confidence enough to try to make some. Thanks Naomi- it's one of the many reasons I love reading blogs.

Calico Kate said...

Hmm think I will leave you to enjoy that all on your ownsome, not keen, not keen at all!
CKx

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...