Lemon Turkish delight recipe

This recipe takes one night to set so could be your afternoon tea time treat tomorrow if you get cracking with it.

Turkish delight, or Lokum as it is known in Turkey, comes from the Arabic word al-lukum. Which translates as throat comforter. These lovely squares are exactly that - a comforting sweet treat. Traditionally Turkish Delight  is made with cornflour alone. However we added gelatin to this recipe as it is an easier way to guarantee an appealing jelly-like finish. Flavourings can include orange, hazelnut or pistachio for example. But we have gone for the delicate and delicious combination of rose water and lemon. If you fancy making a selection of bite sized desserts try our orange, cherry and almond florentines or our passionfruit Portuguese tarts.

Ingredients

• 18 leaves gelatine
• 1440g granulated sugar
• Few drops of rose water
• Few drops of lemon flavouring
• Few drops of pink food colouring
• Few drops lemon food colouring
• ½ lemon, juiced
• 2 tsp icing sugar
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• You will need:
• 2 small square sandwich tins
• Baking parchment

Method

1. Pour 150ml water into a pan and add 9 gelatine leaves, breaking them in half, if necessary, so that they all fit. Leave the gelatine to swell or ‘bloom’ a little for 5 mins.
2. Place the pan on a low heat and stir gently until the gelatine all melts. Add 1tspn sugar and stir until it has dissolved. Increase the heat and bring the mixture to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer gently for 20 mins.
3. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the rose water, half the lemon juice and the pinkfood colouring, until the mixture is very pale rose.
4. Wet the sandwich tin with cold water, then pour in the Turkish delight mix. Leave in a cool place to set overnight.
5. Repeat the process again from scratch but this time using the lemon flavour and colouring.
6. The next day, sift the icing sugar and cornflour together onto a plate or board. Ease the set Turkish Delight one at a time out of the tin onto the icing-sugar mix and use a sharp, damp blade to cut the jelly into little squares. Coat all cut surfaces in the powder and serve with mint tea.