No Narnia themed Trunk or Treat [1] (or any kind of party) would be complete without Turkish Delight, the candy with which the White Witch enticed and entrapped Edmund in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
I searched and read many recipes, and found a really fabulous one at Oh, the Things We'll Make [2]. Seriously, it's a great, thoughtful, detailed write-up and recipe, and I followed Tracy's instructions exactly, so I'm just going to send you over there for the recipe, not duplicate it on my blog.
But the pictures were so pretty! I wanted to write a post about the Turkish Delight in some way.
I did learn a few things for myself when making the Turkish Delight with Tracy's recipe [2], so I thought I'd share those insights with you in this blog post.
But first, a couple pretty shots of the candy in action at our Narnia Trunk or Treat [1]!
My little Mr. Tumnus (costume tutorial here [3]) couldn't wait to try the homemade candy (even after reading the book [4]).
Chewy and delicious!
If candy-making isn't your thing, you can buy ready-made Turkish delight [5], too. But if you're ready to try making your own, I have some tips and thoughts to add to the excellent recipe and tutorial at The Things We'll Make [2].
Homemade Turkish Delight Tips and Techniques:
Turkish Delight Tip #1:
The original recipe called for rose flavoring (rose water [6] or rose syrup [7]), but some of the comments I read in my search for a great Turkish delight recipe also mentioned using a bit of vanilla. And I had orange blossom water (buy here [8]) left over from my experiments in making homemade grenadine syrup. I used all three in my batch of Turkish delight, and the end result was an amazing flavor that totally reminds me of homemade Swedish fish. YUM.
Turkish Delight Tip #2:
At first I greased up and lined a 9x13 pan with parchment paper [9], but the mixture kept cooking down. So I greased and lined an 8x8 baking dish. And the mixture kept cooking down. By the time I got the texture I wanted, I knew I needed an even smaller container for cooling my candy. My daughter's plastic Ikea plates [10] to the rescue! It was absolutely perfect for this purpose. (And for holding craft paint, and for making mud pies, and for so many other things.)
Turkish Delight Tip #3:
The final step in making Turkish delight is dusting the exterior of the pieces in cornstarch. Even if you do that, you can't leave them in a dish like this for more than a couple hours!! Yeah, I learned this one the hard way and ended up with one giant Turkish delight candy. They will keep, but I'd store them in a container, separated by sheets of waxed paper between the layers.
Have you ever made Turkish delight? I haven't done much candy-making, but I do love it. If you have a favorite candy recipe, post it in the comments! I'd love to add to my collection of great candy recipes.