How to make Turkish Delights

A non-rosewater version of Turkish Delights

Alrighty, today let’s make some Turkish delights or Lokum. Fun fact, these confections were apparently what inspired the creation of jelly beans, so it seems like a pretty ideal time to make dive into it.  In North America, these are typically sold with red food coloring and rosewater as the flavoring, but they actually come in a variety of flavors. The versions I went with today are flavored with vanilla, almond, and pistachio and I covered in coconut, but I’ll give you some tips if you want to change the flavor

To make turkish delights, we need to make two different things:

• One of a cornstarch liquid/paste, which will cook into a gel that gives the Lokum its texture

• And the second a sugar syrup that will sweeten the gel, and also add a little chewiness. 

Sugar Syrup

Let’s start with the sugar syrup.

Start by adding 4 cups or 804 grams of sugar or to 1.5 cups or 350 mL of water. I know this probably seems like a lot of sugar, but this recipe makes quite a bit of candy. Begin heating over high heat. I like to give it one quick mix to ensure all of the sugar is saturated, and then we need to let this sit as it heats up. 

To prevent the sugar from crystalizing, and falling out of solution, we can add a little cream of tartar, but as long as you don’t stir the sugar as it heats it should be fine. 

We want to heat this up until we get the sugar syrup to 240 degrees Fahrenheit 115 C. This is what is known as the softball stage, meaning if you were to cool this sugar syrup down, it has the consistency of a taffy or a caramel chew. 

This will give our Turkish delights their little bit of chewiness, which will balance the gel texture of the cooked corn starch.  Once we reach 240 degrees Fahrenheit, we wanna pull this off to the side, however, we want to keep this warm while we work on the cornstarch part of the recipe.

Ok speaking of which …

Cornstarch Mixture

Place a pot over medium heat and add 2.75 cups or 650 mL of water, and mix in 1.25 cups or 160 grams of cornstarch. Be patient and begin stirring the slurry. At first, it won’t come together, but almost by magic after a few seconds of stirring, it will become a nice slurry.  I tried at first to use a whisk, but this was folly, a wooden spatula is a way to go here.

When starch is heated in water, the starch granules swell up and explode. When they explode, carbohydrates inside stick creating a gel, thickening the liquid they are in. This means as we heat the cornstarch in water it will rapidly thicken as the starch granules explode. 

Once you notice the water and starch become thick like this, gently pour in sugar syrup little by little. Make sure you have incorporated the syrup thoroughly. Alright, now the name of the game now is to cook this for half an hour. During this time, we will cook the starch, creating a gel that suspends the water into a matrix of carbohydrates.   

Let this simmer over medium heat for 30 minutes, returning every 5 minutes or so to stir and check on it. If you notice it is browning a lot between check-ins, turn your heat down. We don’t wanna burn this, but honestly stirring this stuff constantly is unreasonable.

Over the course of the half-hour the syrup corn starch mixture will progressively take on a golden hue, and it should go from opaque to clear. At which point we are done with the cooking and it’s time to flavor our Turkish delights! 

As I said at the top, traditionally this is flavored with rosewater, but I am actually allergic to roses, so today I am going to flavor this with pistachios, vanilla, and almond extract. Feel free to add whichever nuts and flavoring extracts that tickle your fancy.  Thoroughly mix in your flavors and we need to cool this.

This is stuff is sticky as all get out, so we need to lubricate a pan for this stuff to cool in. I am using aluminum foil and cooking spray in a baking tray. Aluminum foil works, but it’s not ideal, better yet would be to use parchment paper, this will help you not have to deal with aluminum foil flecks when pulling it off.

Pour the molten Turkish delights into the container of your choice, and place them into the fridge for at least an hour. It should have completely set by then. If they have, go ahead and remove them from the fridge. And it’s time to coat. Them so they don’t stick.

So I am going to coat mine in a mixture of equal parts powdered sugar and coconut shreds, but if you decide coconut isn’t your jam, mix ½ cup of cornstarch with 1 cup of powdered sugar. This will give you the common coating you normally see.  Coat the top of the Turkish delights, flip and begin cutting into cubes. I sprayed my knife in a little cooking spray to help facilitate the cutting, which seemed to work like a charm. 

Once we have our little cubes, go ahead and toss them into the coating until they are fully coated. Once coated that’s it!

---

Condensed Recipe:

Ingredients:

• Sugar Syrup:

• 4 cups (804 grams) - Granulated Sugar

• 1.25 cups (350 mL) - Water

• 1 tsp - Cream of Tartar (optional)

• Cornstarch Mixture

• 2.75 cups (650 mL) - Water

• 1.25 cups (140 g) - Cornstarch

• 1 tsp - Vanilla Extract

• 1 tsp - Almond Extract

• 1/2 cup of Pistachios (optional)

• Coating

• 1 cup - shredded coconut

• 1 cup - Powdered Sugar

Condensed Instructions:

1. Heat up sugar and water until it reaches the Softball Stage - 240 F (115 C). Keep warm off to the side.

2. Mix cornstarch and water over medium heat in a separate pot. Stir to get rid of clumps, and heat until the cornstarch mixture thickens. Add sugar syrup.

3. Cook mixture for 30 minutes over medium heat.

4. Add flavorings, then pour into a well-greased pan. Place into the fridge for 1 hour.

5. Once set, cut the Turkish delight into cubes and toss in the coating mixture.

Enjoy!