Book Adventures: Yummy Monday: The Chronicles of Narnia, Part 3

"The Queen let another drop fall from her bottle on 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 centre and Edmund had never tasted anything more delicious."

-The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe, Chapter Four: Turkish Delight

Okay. Is this the recipe you've been waiting for? I've scoured all around the net (yes, that is an exaggeration, but suffice it to say, I've done a lot of research), taking comments, reviews, and complaints all into consideration, and have come up with this Turkish Delight recipe as the best one.
Which I have yet to try to make.

I realize this is bad of me (not having tried to make it myself yet) but I have faith in this recipe --IF you follow it exactly. Silicone and cornstarch + powdered sugar and paper bag and all. If you do make Turkish Delight from this recipe, please let me know how it turns out! I'm going to search for some rose water soon and finally give it a go. Imagine what nice Christmas gifts little boxes of Turkish Delight would make! Maybe with a little tag that has a Narnia quote or something on it. Or an image of a lamp post. You could be so creative with this!
(Turkish Delight is also called Lokum in Turkey --check it out)

"I have had Turkish Delight, and it's nice."

-Skandar Keynes, Edmund Pevensie from "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" movie.

(It was nice until he had to eat several gallons of it while shooting the movie, that is. See the video at the end of this post.)

Turkish Delight

(adapted from different sources, but mainly from this recipe on Ranum.com)

Utensils:
1 9x9 silicone baking pan

(Image from Voodoo Kitchen)

Candy thermometer
2 large pots
1 large bowl
Spoon to stir with (NOT plastic!)
Non-serrated cutting knife
Paper bag or other non-airtight container

Ingredients:
1 Lemon
4 cups sugar
1-½ cups water
1 cup cornstarch + 3 cups water
1 tsp. cream of tartar
1 Tbsp. rose water
Food coloring (optional)
At least 1 cup cornstarch + 1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
Lightly oil a 9 x 9 in. silicone baking pan.
Lay the pan aside on a flat surface near your work area.
Juice a lemon and then in a pot mix the juice with 4 cups of sugar and 1-½ cups of water.
Place a candy thermometer in the pot and turn on the heat, stirring occasionally.
While this mixture is approaching a boil of 230F, combine 1 cup of cornstarch and 3 cups of water in another pot.
Add 1 tsp. of cream of tartar and stir gently until no lumps remain.
When the temperature on the thermometer in the sugar mixture reaches 230F (soft ball stage), remove that pot from the heat.
For the cornstarch mixture, turn the heat to medium and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly.
As it begins to boil, pay attention to the consistency. When the mixture is sticky and thick, but before it has become a very thick paste, remove it from the heat.
Stir a bit more until it becomes creamy, and then immediately pour it into the pot holding the sugar mixture.
Stir until the combined mixture begins to turn clear.
Put this pot back onto the heat and bring it to a boil, stirring constantly, pressing out any lumps.
Also, as you stir, scrape the sides of the pot to keep the mixture collected in the center.
Continue stirring for about 40 minutes. The mixture will thicken and turn amber.
Remove from the heat and stir in 1 Tbsp. of rose water (and food coloring if you like).
Pour the mixture into the oiled silicon pan, dust lightly with equal parts cornstarch and powdered sugar, and then let it sit where it is, uncovered, over night.
In a bowl, combine 1 cup of cornstarch and 1 cup of powdered sugar.
With this, powder a cutting surface.
Remove the solidified delight from its pan and place it onto the powdered surface, coating one side of the delight, and then the other.
Powder a non-serrated knife and quickly slice the Turkish delight into strips using a downward motion.
Place these strips into the bowl of powder, coating the exposed edges.
Lay the powdered strips back onto the cutting surface and cut cross-wise to create bite-sized squares.
Coat these pieces in powder as well, then place them into a non-airtight container such as a paper bag or a cardboard box lined with parchment paper (because the delight will release moisture and get sticky-icky).

Rose Water:

The easiest way to make rosewater is to simply steep a bunch of clean (no pesticides, etc) rose petals in some very hot water. It's like making tea. You could even heat the water in the microwave. The more petals and the longer you let them steep, the stronger the rosewater will be. (Steeping is covering something in hot water and putting a lid over it and allowing time for the essence of whatever you're steeping to come out into the water. Rose essence in this case.)
*Here's an online place to buy rosewater. It's 8.8 oz and costs a total of $9.54 to ship it here to UT. The rosewater itself is $5.50 and the site has a shipping calculator based on zip code, so you can figure out cost for your area.

Fun Stuff:

*Here's a great link to The English Tea Store's page on Turkish Delight including the history and some recipes AND you can purchase some TD if you want!

*And a Turkish Delight shirt? Yes please! Or if you're going more for the symbolism, you'd better get this one.
*Did you know there is a musical of "The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe"? Well, there is and there is a "Turkish Delight" song. Click here for the MP3 (you can right click and select "save link as") and here for the PDF of the sheet music.

Now watch Skandar Keynes and his on-set, Turkish Delight experience!