My New Kentucky Home

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The Chronicles of Narnia and Homemade Turkish Delight

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“It is dull, Son of Adam, to drink without eating,” said the Queen presently.  “What would you like best to eat?”
     “Turkish Delight, please, your Majesty,” said Edmund.
     “The Queen let another drop fall from her bottle onto the snow, and instantly there appeared a round box, tied with green silk ribbon, which, when opened, turned out to contain several pounds of the best Turkish Delight.  Each piece was sweet and light to the very center and Edmund had never tasted anything more delicious.  He was quite warm now, and very comfortable.” –C. S. Lewis; The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

We’ve been working our way through the Chronicles of Narnia in our daily read aloud and when we read about Turkish Delight, Edmund’s ill-fated dessert request of the White Witch, my children were left licking their lips and imagining some delectable treat.  A delectable treat they had never heard of.

Nope.  Never.  You won’t find it on the dessert buffet at your local Golden Corral.  And at our church dinners, where you’ll usually find a bigger selection of pies, cakes, puddings, and cookies in one place than you’ll ever see anywhere else, never once have I seen a plate of Turkish Delight.

“So, Mom,” my children asked me, “what is Turkish Delight?”

Good question.

Turkish Delight is just a candy gel made of starch and sugar and coated in, well, more starch and sugar!  It originated in Turkey and in the 19th century made its way to Great Britain where it grew in popularity under its present name.  It’s still a relatively common confection across southwest Asia and Europe and some Americanized versions are available in the U.S.

True Turkish Delight, however, isn’t generally something I can pick up at the local Kroger store, so I suggested to the kids we try making our own!  Naturally, they were ecstatic about the idea!

Of course, I do not have the best personal record where candy-making is concerned, so I was a little apprehensive about trying this, but then I found a microwave recipe that looked incredible easy.  Exactly what I needed!

 

Microwave Turkish Delight
 
You’ll need:2 1/2 cups cold water
3/4 cup cornstarch, plus 1/2 cup for dusting candy
3 cups sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 T. pure lemon extract (Not lemon juice, mind you, but REAL lemon extract or else you need a lot more than a tablespoon, which could ruin the consistency of your candy.)
2 drops red liquid food coloring
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Cooking sprayPour the water into a 2-quart glass bowl.  Whisk in the 3/4 cup cornstarch, a little at a time, mixing until fully dissolved.  Microwave mixture for 2 minutes, then whisk smooth.

 
Microwave an additional 2-3 minutes, then whisk again.  It should be thick and opaque in color.  As far as consistency is concerned, think Elmer’s Rubber Cement.  Without the toxicity, of course! 😉  Like a thick, white paste.
 
Add the sugar and corn syrup…
 
 
 
Now heat your mixture for 5 more minutes.  It will be HOT, so be careful taking it out!  Whisk it smooth again and place it back in the microwave.  Heat another 5 minutes.  Remove it and whisk it again, then heat 5 minutes more.  By this point it’s thick and bubbly and kind of translucent.
 
 
Now you whisk in the lemon juice and the food coloring.  And incidentally, this recipe was a little less-than-authentic.  (Okay, a lot less-than-authentic when you consider it’s done in a microwave!)  Lemon varieties of Turkish Delight were generally tinted yellow and orange varieties orange.  Only rosewater varieties were pink.  But rosewater?  Seriously?  Sorry, but this is Kentucky and around here we put flowers in our gardens, on our tables, on our lapels, and in our perfume bottles, but we do not eat them in any form.  But the pink is especially pretty, so I understand completely why the recipe called for red food coloring and not yellow.  
 
But anyway…whisk the mixture thoroughly so the flavoring and color are evenly distributed.  
 
 
Heat it 3 more minutes in the microwave.  When it’s done the mixture will be thick enough to ball up inside your whisk a lot.  To test the consistency, put a drop of the candy into a bowl and let it cool a minute or two.  
 
 
If the candy’s done, you should be able to pick up the cooled drop and roll into a little ball without it sticking too much to your fingers.  If it’s still very sticky or you can’t pick it up and roll it at all, heat the mixture 3 minutes more and test it again.  
 
Spray an 8 x 8 baking pan with cooking spray and pour in the candy mixture.  Use a greased rubber spatula to spread it as smoothly as possible.  Then let it sit at room temperature until it’s completely cooled and firm enough to handle.  Mine only took a couple of hours to set up completely. 
 
 
Cut the candy into even squares.  Believe me, a dab of this stuff will do ya’, so I say the smaller you cut it, the better!  
 
In a bowl, mix the remaining 1/2 cup cornstarch with the 1/2 cup powdered sugar.  (If I make this again, I think I’ll go 1/4 cup cornstarch to 3/4 cup powdered sugar, but it’s still plenty sweet as is, believe me!)  Roll each individual piece in the mixture until thoroughly coated.
 
 
I thought the final result was very pretty.
 

 

 
And how was the taste?  Very, very rich.  It was sweet and sugary, but the lemon flavor was a little underwhelming.  I’d like to experiment with other flavors and try adding more flavoring without disturbing the consistency.  Because I loved the consistency.  It reminded me of a very soft fruit snack and I’m interested to see what flavors I could create with a little practice.  It’s easy to make and inexpensive, too, so I wouldn’t be losing much with the attempt!  
 
So whip up a batch of homemade Turkish Delight and sit down with your copy of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.  Nothing will transport you to strange and delightful worlds like good books and sweet treats!  
 
 
 
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Comments

    • kentuckysketches says

      It wasn't what I expected either. I was thinking a cake or doughnut type treat, but I was wrong! I would still like to try "store-bought" Turkish Delight sometime, just to see how close we got to the real thing!

    • kentuckysketches says

      The kids and I had a lot of fun with it and I want to try it again soon, maybe with a different flavoring. Let me know the results if you decide to give it a try!

  3. Angela says

    I know this probably sounds crazy, but I know nothing about The Chronicles of Narnia. I've never let my children read them because I thought they sounded very strange. I would like to hear your review of the series. Seriously, I know nothing about them so I really would like to know if it really is good reading. I just didn't give the series a lot of thought because of the mention of a witch, etc….. I tend to steer away from anything that would include sorcery. As the Harry Potter rage has made me extremely careful about things of that nature. Would love to get a Holiness perspective. Of course, I know we all have to decide individually what we feel is right for our own family, but I would like to hear your review of the series. Also I just bought The Case For Christ from your where you mentioned it on your blog and decided to try out The Case For Christ for Kids too. I should be receiving them in the mail shortly and look forward to it. I also bought the AIO God and Country set for the kiddos! I'm always on the lookout for great wholesome books for my kiddos. One of my daughters reads so much I can hardly keep her supplied! LOL.

    • kentuckysketches says

      It's taken me a while to post comments, I'm afraid! We've been away from home for nearly a week and before now I've only had the chance to get on my computer once in that time. I didn't want to respond to your comment until I had time to do so in a way that made sense!

      Let me just tell you I do really enjoy The Chronicles of Narnia. I had read C. S. Lewis before I ever read his children's books, which I'm sure made me a little less apprehensive than I might have been before. Lewis is an amazing writer and probably one of my favorite authors. I didn't, however, start reading The Chronicles until recent years, only because mythology/fantasy, (and I knew the books were filled with it,) was something that never appealed to me much personally. But as I've read I've come to enjoy the books very, very much.

      I truly appreciate your caution and I know that, unfortunately, Disney was pumping out the Narnia films in the midst of all the Harry Potter craze, so it's no wonder the two book series are sometimes lumped together, though they come from very different perspectives. The Chronicles are filled with Christian ideas. The Harry Potter books are NOT.

      Lewis wrote the The Chronicles of Narnia as an allegory. They weren't intended at all to be a retelling of the story of Christ, but they are filled with ideas that point to Christ. I've actually been amazed at the way my children have been able to find similarities between the story of the lion Aslan and the story of Jesus, usually without any prompting from me. And that was Lewis' intent–to point to Christ through a fun, fictional story, in much the same way Bunyan pointed to aspects of the Christian life in his allegory, Pilgrim's Progress.

      In The Chronicles, good and evil are clearly defined. Forgiveness and redemption are evident themes. In the first book, The Magician's Nephew, there is a description of creation that amazed me. Did it happen just that way? I have no idea, but the visual image it gave me may have changed forever my view of creation and made me appreciate the miracle and wonder of God's handiwork like never before.

      Yes, there are references to magic, sometimes set in a good light, and I can understand and fully respect those who may not be comfortable with that. Like you said, everyone has to make that decision for themselves. The differences between what is good and evil are very clear. Could the word "power" have been substituted for "magic" with less offense? Probably so, but Lewis was writing a fictional fantasy story for children, so he used the word magic. Personally, sometimes I've questioned why Jesus told the parable of the unjust steward, drawing parallels between God and an unjust man when God is anything BUT unjust and impatient. But to focus on that point misses the point of the parable–that God rewards those who continue to ask Him in prayer. I would say C. S. Lewis would say something similar–that focusing on the fact he uses fantasy and the word "magic" misses the point of his books.

      Anyway, the long and short of it is…you're the mom and the decision is yours. I'm very fond of The Chronicles of Narnia and would recommend reading them because they are good, quality children's literature, but I would fully respect a Christian who isn't comfortable reading them. Perhaps it's something I should write more about at another time, but then again it looks like I've written a book right here!! 🙂

      So glad you asked the question! And glad your daughter is a reader! It sounds like you want to push as many good books her direction as you possibly can, which is a wonderful, wonderful thing!

  6. Michele F. says

    This recipe was so easy to follow and the Turkish Delights turned out great! (I did have to microwave an extra 9minutes to get right consistency- 1000 watt microwave) They look just like the ones the White Witch gives Edmond in the movie.

  7. Michele F. says

    It was a lot of fun : ) I will definitely be making these again when we have a Narnian movie night. Thanks for the great recipe.

  10. Sarah Eliza says

    This is so fun!! I was way old before I found out what Turkish Delight was…. but I was always fascinated by the idea! When I have kids we are TOTALLY making this! 🙂

    • kentuckysketches says

      I imagined something totally different when we read the books…more like a cake or something. It is about as sweet as a dessert can be! Edmund must have had a major sweet tooth like one of my boys…

      Definitely file it away for a future project! And thanks for reading!

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