Many people who have read “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe” are familiar with this dessert. For a tea party, a Christmas celebration, or even if you just wanted to surprise someone, this would work great.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 10 mins |
| Additional Time: | 3 hrs |
| Total Time: | 3 hrs 30 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 12 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups water
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons light corn syrup
- ½ cup orange juice
- 3 tablespoons orange zest
- 3 (.25 ounce) envelopes unflavored gelatin
- ¾ cup cornstarch
- ½ cup cold water
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup chopped pistachio nuts
- confectioners’ sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Bring 1 1/2 cups water, sugar, and corn syrup to a boil over medium-high heat in a large saucepan. Cook, stirring frequently, until the temperature reaches 240 degrees F (115 degrees C) on a candy thermometer. Set aside and keep hot.
- Stir together orange juice and orange zest, sprinkle with gelatin, and set aside. In a small bowl, dissolve cornstarch in 1/2 cup cold water, then stir into hot syrup. Place over medium-low heat, and simmer, stirring gently, until very thick.
- Remove syrup from heat, stir in orange juice mixture, vanilla, and pistachios. Sprinkle a 8×8-inch pan generously with confectioners’ sugar. Pour the Turkish delight into the pan, and let cool in a cool, dry place (not the refrigerator) until set, 3 to 4 hours.
- When cool, sprinkle the top with another thick layer of powdered sugar. Cut into 1-inch squares, and dredge each well with confectioners’ sugar. Store at room temperature in an airtight container.
Reviews
I couldn’t eat it because I couldn’t read it. When I read to “sprinkle it with gelatin” I couldn’t find gelatin on the list of ingredients I said “Oh No!” I clearly understand most of us do not have babysitters and copy editors where I agree I add but that is why we need precise instructions. Sorry.
I have made Turkish Delight before with my kids and it ALWAYS turned out horrible! This was fairly easy to make and ended up tasting pretty good. Great recipe.
I made the Turkish Delight. My question, is it mandatory to put the pistachio nuts in the mix? I would love to take this as a treat to functions that I attend.
My husband made this for us. It is true that ours never got very thick after we added the cornstarch/water mixture. It was a little thick, but not as thick as the recipe stated that it should be. In the end it turned out good, though. We did omit the pistachios. It was pretty tasty, not overly sweet.
Not the easiest recipe I’ve made, but turned out ok. I added a touch of grenadine to the orange mixture.
This recipe is not that bad but not perfect. This recipe has a lot of flaws which leaves a lot of room for error.
I made this recipe for a cast party for The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe . Since we had nut allergies in the cast I substituted the pistachios for equal amounts of shredded unsweetened coconut which complimented the orange flavor. It is the sweetest dessert I have ever made but as the mother of the white witch and Fenrus Ulf I was duty bound to supply this tempting dessert. No need for anything sweet for at least a month! Stirring often is the key to this recipe’s success!
If you want to try this in other flavors, check out “aplets”, “cotlets” or other recipes for turkish delight. Aplets are delicious! I love the traditional recipe, but in the middle east other flavors (lemon, orange, lime, mango) are found also. Just experiment. Rose water is easy to find in any store that carries Indian foods or supplies. Walmart probably has it. Any halal or kosher store will, too.
For those who want to try this recipe, replace the icing sugar with corn starch to keep them from sticking to each other. Icing sugar will dissolve because of the moisture in the air and make the cubes become sticky. Starch will prevent that. Make sure you brush off all excess starch for presentation but while in storage leave it well covered. Enjoy.
They were slimy and didn’t stay fresh for long.
i have been searching for a decent recipe for this and was pleased to find this one. While it tastes yummy, it is sticky as all get out and this a it of a pain to get out of the pan….next time i make it i think i will maybe grease the pan a bit before hand and see how that works. Its light and sweet with out being too overpowering. I would also recommend using the nuts. i did it without and its just not the same. i am going to find a recipe now on how to make rosewater. also when you add the cornstarch it doesnt get super thick but thicker….
I give it three stars for being relatively easy – my 8yr old and I had fun making it. He likes the taste – actually, he likes all the powdered sugar – and I do not… I have no idea if this is “real” Turkish Delight or not. But the process of making it delighted my son, so despite the fact that I think it’s barely edible, it was worth the effort.
This recipe is a disaster. I’ve tried MANY different recipes, and some came out better than others, but this was one of the worst. First of all, it tastes like jell-o. That is not the traditional taste, neither is the orange flavor. The proportions are wrong, and the directions are extremely unclear. True Turkish Delight takes about two hours to cook, and then another night to set.
It was good, I would use all orange juice next time instead of the 1 1/2 cups of water to make it taste more “orangey”. I didn’t add nuts at all since I was making it for my son’s third grade class. He and his little sister liked it. It set up fine even though it never thickened up much after adding the cornstarch. Fun to make for the Narnia crowd.
I was so surprised on how sticky it was. I could not figure out how to cut that in squares because of the stickiness, even after I sprinkled with a lots of powdered sugar. They look dissapointing.
I had to throw away the pan that I made this candy in – the recipe is ALL WRONG. After having this experience, I did some further research and found out that 1) you should oil your pan before putting the candy in 2) it should sit overnight in a refrigerator and 3) the author of this recipe neglects to mention that you have to simmer the sugar water mixture for one hour. If I had known this ahead of time, I would have prepared for it.
This is alright; I am not a dedicated fan of Turkish delight but this was better than shop-bought Turkish delight, though not as good as REAL Middle-Eastern Turkish delight. (obviously!) I’m a little surprised about other reviewers wanting to change the colour; it is meant to be pale, though also meant, as others have mentioned, to be flavoured with rosewater.
i dont like that this is made with jello…didnt turn out very well
Made it and it is a very old fashioned sweetie. We are too used to jell-o and cool whip to fall in love with the old sweeties again! So sad! Are there any other flavors? I can’t have oranges very often. 5 stars for as close to the old way as we can get!
I’m giving this recipe five stars for the fun and ease of the recipe, not necessarily because I think it’s the yummiest thing! In fact, I don’t like it at all! 🙂 I made this for a “Narnia Party” and it was a huge hit to have some Turkish Delight. Only some of the kids liked it and none of the adults. I followed the recipe exactly except I substituted walnuts for the pistachios. Like other reviewers, I too noticed that the mixture doesn’t get “very thick”, rather it gets more like the consistency of gravy. It sets up just fine though after several hours. Do make sure to put down a think layer of powdered sugar and generously coat each piece afterwards.
This is really good and easy! One note: after adding the cornstarch, it never did get “very thick”. It got thicker than it previously had been, but not anything close to what I’d call very thick. I thought I’d done something wrong and ruined it, but it set up just fine and everyone loved it.