Homemade Turkish Delight

I went to a middle-eastern store the other day and bought some handmade Turkish Delight. I've never come across it in Malaysia, and wondered what all the fuss was about in the Narnia film when Edmund betrays his siblings for some Turkish Delight. I tried some that day and understood. The Turkish Delight was soft but chewy and so  deliciously perfumed. Wyld Man enjoyed them so much that I decided to learn how to make them from scratch.

Making Turkish Delight isn't that hard, as long as you follow the instructions to the letter, and have the correct tools on hand.

I got the recipe online here, but decided to make it red-food-colouring-free.

First, the lineup of ingredients.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Ingredients"][/caption]

• Neutral tasting oil/butter (not shown)


• 4 cups castor sugar


• 3 cups water


• 1 cup juice (I used undiluted apple mango juice) (or omit this and just use 4 cups water)


• 2 tbs freshly squeezed lemon juice


• 3 tbs gelatine powder


• 1 cup cornflour


• 1 tsp cream of tartar


• 2 tsp rosewater essence


• 4 tbs beetroot juice


• 2 cups icing sugar

You'll also need to set out your tools.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Tools"][/caption]

You'll need :

• baking paper (not shown)


• whisk


• spatula


• sugar thermometer


• measuring spoons and cups


• 2 large saucepans


• 1  28cm x 17cm slice pan

One essential tool is a sugar thermometer, which is a thermometer that clips onto your pot, with a scale showing the correct temperature to produce soft and hard forms of sugar/candy. I went and got mine specially for making Turkish Delight.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1504" caption="Sugar Thermometer"][/caption]

First off, slice the lemon in half.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Lemon"][/caption]

Then get your macho, handsome husband to squeeze it for you with his strong hands.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Squeeze"][/caption]

Line the slice pan with baking paper with sides overhanging. To make the baking paper stick, oil the pan completely  first.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Like this"][/caption]

Set one saucepan on the stove, and fill with 1 cup water, 1 cup juice and 4 cups sugar and stir over low heat.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Adding sugar to juice and water"][/caption]

Clip on the sugar thermometer and heat till completely dissolved. Increase heat to medium and keep watch till sugar reaches 125 degrees Celsius (firmball stage) which should take about 25 minutes. Some sources say 115 degrees Celsius is enough (softball stage). At this point, I've got a confession to make. I copied the recipe by hand, and instead of writing 125, I wrote 25. I was 100 degrees off the mark! But mine turned out ok in the end. Phew! So do what I say, not what I do.

Stir in the 2 tbs of lemon juice and remove from heat.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Lemon Juice"][/caption]

Take the other saucepan and fill with the the remaining 2 cups of water, cornflour (1cup), gelatine powder (3 tbs)  and cream of tartar (1tsp).  Turn heat to low and whisk briskly to remove any lumps. Gradually increase heat to medium and keep stirring till mixture boils and thickens as per below. Do not burn. This should take about 3-5 minutes.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Miracle mix"][/caption]

Don't you just love cornflour? I use it for thickening soups, tenderising meat, coating meat for frying, vanilla slice and now turkish delight. It's a miracle powder. You can also use it under your arm as a substitute for deodorant as well as use it as baby powder. Aside from that, you can starch your white shirts with a mixture of cornflour and water instead of using commercial aerosol spray starch.

Now pour the contents of the first saucepan into the cornflour mixture.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Pour 1 into 2."][/caption]

Stir to incorporate everything evenly. Whisk constantly to remove any lumps. My source said to pour through a sieve into another saucepan but I didn't find that necessary. Over low heat, simmer for an hour or till temperature reaches 110 degrees Celsius. The mixture should look very golden-like this.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Almost ready"][/caption]

Add the rosewater essence (2 tbs) and beetroot juice (4 tbs), and stir thoroughly. Pour into the lined slice pan. It should look like this.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Peel off the baking paper"]