White Chocolate and Lemon Truffles

 

I know you came here for delicious truffles but I'm going to sidetrack for a moment first.  It's still blog related but more on the social side rather than the baking.  It won't take too long and then we'll get to the chocolate-y lemony goodness! (Though if you'd rather, you can skip to that.  It starts after the next photo).

I am a shy person, even on the Internet.  Hence I am not the most social of people.  This isn't so great when you are trying to grow an audience for your blog.  I have been slowly trying to raise my game a little by little (fancy new layout, purchasing the domain name, joining a blog challenge) and it has helped quite a bit.  However, there's still lots that I could be doing.  So, first off, I have added a 'Connect With Me' section to my blog.  It's over in the sidebar on the right.
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So you can follow this blog on Pinterest, its RSS Feed, or its brand new Facebook page.  I have only just joined Facebook.  I am a social media recluse who is behind the times.  So I'm still getting the hang of things over there.  I have also installed a handy dandy contact form so you can ask me something without having to leave it in the comments.

Secondly, a couple of weeks ago I was contacted by Gourmandize.co.uk for an interview about this blog.  It went out on February 6th and can be seen here:

Exciting, no?  Well, I was excited.  This blog is starting to go places!  But anyway, enough babble about my social exploits.  On to truffles!

So Friday was Valentine's Day.  As I said last year, Valentine' Day is not really something the fiancé and I pay much mind to.  We're not big on going out and doing stuff, especially not for what is essentially an ordinary day.  That's not to say we never go out but we usually have a better reason for it, like there's a movie we want to see or we just really want pancakes!  But Valentine's Day was basically just another Friday.

However, as is our small tradition, we did make each other something edible again.  Once more, the fiancé attempted fudge.  Unfortunately it didn't turn out like he hoped and he got depressed.  I did try and point out that fudge is hard to do and even I haven't managed to make it the "proper" way yet.  And it does taste nice.  It's just not really fudge.  I, on the other hand, went for something new.  I love excuses to do that because then there's something to write about.  I went for truffles again since they are nice and easy.  And these would be easier than last year's (because last year I made two presents) since there was no coating in chocolate to do.

These were so lovely and simple too!  Aside from the 4 hours chilling time, they are actually really quick to make.  And whilst they still felt soft when I removed the mix to shape and coat in sugar, they were still easy to work with and they firmed up a bit more by the time I presented them to the fiancé.

So his verdict?  Criminal.  Yes, he called them 'criminal'.  The reason?  Because he just wanted to keep eating them.  He says the tang of the lemon hits you first, followed by the melty creaminess of the white chocolate and it is amazing!  Personally, I did not like them because I could taste the cream and I'm not so keen on that.  But I didn't make them for me so the fact that the fiancé enjoyed them is really the only thing that matters, isn't it?

Recipe - adapted from My Baker Lady

Makes about 18

• 100ml/3.5fl.oz double cream
• 2 lemons
• 250g/9oz white chocolate
• Pinch of salt
• 60g/2oz unsalted butter
• 85g/3oz caster sugar

1. Put the cream and zest of one lemon into a small saucepan (preferably not aluminium) and set it over a low heat.
2. Bring the cream to a simmer, stirring occasionally, and then remove from the heat.  Cover tightly and let it sit for about 20 minutes.
3. Put the chocolate, salt and butter in a medium sized, heat proof bowl.
4. Uncover and reheat the cream until it comes to a simmer once more.
5. Pour the cream through a fine meshed sieve into the bowl with the chocolate.  Press down on the lemon zest left in the sieve to strain out as much liquid as possible.
6. Place the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water (water should not touch the bowl) to melt the chocolate.  Stir the mixture regularly and remove from the heat just before the chocolate has completely melted.
7. Stir the mixture until the chocolate has all melted and the mixture is smooth.  
8. Juice one lemon and add 3 teaspoons of juice to the chocolate mixture and stir in.
9. Transfer to a small bowl and chill for at least 4 hours.  When the mixture has turned cold, cover tightly with clingfilm.
10. When the mixture has gone into the fridge, mix together the caster sugar and the zest of the other lemon, cover and set aside.
11. After 4 hours, remove the mixture from the fridge and use a teaspoon to scoop out balls of mixture (you can roll them into a better shape with your hands if need be) that are about 2.5cm/1inch in diameter.
12. Roll the balls in the lemon sugar until they are completely coated.
13. Store in the fridge in an airtight container.

Chocolate Truffles

The last couple of weeks have been rather stressful, dear readers, and a 4000 word essay is to blame.  Essays are not something I like doing.  I did not take an essay subject for my undergraduate course for a reason.  Sure, we wrote reports but it's not quite the same thing.  This one ended up being particularly awful and culminated with me being up until 2:30am the night before it was due, resulting in only 4 hours sleep.  That has never happened to me before with any piece of assigned work.  I have always finished at a reasonable hour, sometimes even a day or two ahead of the deadline, and been able to get plenty of sleep.  It was dreadful.  But it's been handed in now so I can put it out of my mind for a couple of weeks whilst it is being marked.  Anyway, said essay-that-is-not-on-my-mind is responsible for a serious delay in getting this post together.  I actually made these the day after the brownie post went out which was...three weeks ago.  Oh dear.  We're here now though so better late than never? 

Okay, so you might be looking at these and thinking, 'those don't look like truffles, they're the wrong shape'.  Well yes, you would be right.  Truffles get their name from their round shape and these are not round; they're square-ish.  That's because this recipe was actually supposed to be fudge.  You know me and fudge.  I love the stuff but still haven't quite mastered the art of making it.  I was attracted to this one because it looked nice and simple to make, which is one of my favourite qualities in a recipe.  And to be fair, it was simple.  Problem was, I did not end up with fudge.  

Admittedly, that's probably my own fault.  It's possible I did not cook it long enough.  And I wasn't sure how I would know when the condensed milk was almost boiling.  I went with waiting until bubbles were forming around the edges.  That's what I do when I cook milk for making custard anyway.  It may also be because some of the amounts are off.  For instance, a can of condensed milk over here ways 397g/14oz.  Apparently in America, it's 12oz cans, which I did not realise until after I had made it.  Oh well.  The rest of the recipe was easy enough.  Tangentially though, I do feel the need to complain about another encounter with the bizarre measurements they have in the US.  'Squares'?  Really?  When I first read the phrase I thought it meant individual cubes of chocolate, since bars come in rows of cubes.  But nope.  Apparently one square is equal to one ounce.  You learn something new every day.

Anyway, I came to the conclusion that this was not fudge after I cut it up and ate some.  It was too sticky for a start, which is why I rolled it in icing sugar, so the squares would not stick together in the container.  Then when I bit into it, it was too soft rather than slightly firm like fudge should be.  However, it wasn't until much later that it occurred to me that the texture resembled that of a truffle.  The mixture involved is essentially a ganache after all.  So hence the change in name.  If you make this using my recipe, you're going to have soft, truffley things.  If you follow the original better than I did, you'll get fudge.

Not to say that these aren't yummy, because they are.  Very rich and creamy.  I personally cannot eat more than one in a sitting though, but that's just me.  

Recipe - adapted from Little House Living

Makes 36 pieces

• 125ml/4.5fl.oz double cream
• 1 x 397g/14oz can condensed milk (sweetened if you're American)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 450g/16oz milk chocolate chips
• 115g/4oz milk chocolate
• 2 tbsp icing sugar, for dusting

1. Grease and line a 20cm/8inch square pan with greaseproof paper. Leave a slight overhang so you can get the fudge out easier after it has set.
2. Put the cream and condensed milk into a pan and cook over a medium heat.  Stir continuously and do not allow to boil.
3. Once bubbles have started forming around the edge of the pan remove from the heat and add the chocolate chips, chocolate and vanilla extract.  Stir.
4. Return the pan to the heat, and cook gently, whisking the mixture until all the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth and creamy.
5. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and then chill in the fridge overnight.
6. Once it has set and is quite firm to the touch, take it out of the fridge, remove it from the tin, peel off the greaseproof paper and use a sharp knife to cut it into 36 pieces (6 cuts down and 6 along).
7. Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and toss the truffle cubes in it to lightly coat all sides.

Strawberry and Cream Fudge

 

Pinterest is a site I like to go to when I'm feeling stressed or irritated with the world or having a sad day, and probably my favourite section to browse is food.  Just trawling through pages and pages of pins can be quite soothing.  I have found some new dinners to add to my repertoire (oh three cheese, spinach lasana and chicken parmesan, how I love you!), which is great since I need more variety.  The well-eat plate we have at school has been making me feel bad (stupid vegetables).  I have also stumbled across many a recipe I want to try out for the blog.  Whether this was one of them or not I'm not one hundred percent sure, since out of some weird pride thing I don't pin recipes for the blog: I bookmark them.  Of course, I also bookmark things from all over the net so...yeah.  I think I found this through Pinterest though.  I don't remember googling fudge recipes.

It was the picture that initially attracted me to this recipe.  Seriously, this woman's photos are beautiful!  And her fudge looks amazing.  I wish mine had come out looking that smooth.  I probably used too small a knife.  I also wish it was as beautifully bright in colour but white chocolate over here always gives things an off-white-ish yellow colour and my pink always seems to be slightly dull.  Anyway, once I read the ingredient list I knew I definitely wanted to make it because it was all things I liked and seemed pretty easy to put together.  No temperature monitoring is always a plus!  Flavouring with jelly powder is such a clever idea.  I used Hartley's strawberry flavour, since I had that in my cupboard.  Makes me wonder if I can use other flavours to make other fudge.  I bet I could make three layered citrus fudge if I used orange, lemon and lime jelly powder!  Guess I know what the next fudge recipe I try will be! 

I made a point to read all the comments left by people on the original blog too.  You can find out all about various problems and solutions doing that.  The main one seemed to be that you had to make sure you boiled it for the full amount of time, or the white layer won't firm up properly.  Also that you should definitely use chocolate chips (or morsels in the original), not chopped chocolate since the chips have something in them that helps them hold their shape.

I was rather pleased to discover that the recipe I use to make marshmallow fluff does in fact produce exactly 200g/7oz of the stuff.  I really wasn't sure if I would need a double batch or not so I made one and then weighed it.  Absolutely perfect!  Hurrah!  I did also discover that you can buy the stuff over here in the UK.  Sainsbury's apparently sell it (at least it's listed on their search results for online groceries).  So I could have bought it but the fiancé said it probably wouldn't taste as good as homemade, what with preservatives and all.  I agree.  Plus, it takes barely any time to make and is pretty easy.

Sadly, my white layer did not come out quite as firm as I think it is meant to.  Perhaps it wasn't quite five minutes when I took it off the heat?  It could also be because I didn't put cream of tartar in my marshmallow fluff.  Oops.  Or even because I used homemade fluff?  Maybe I should try it with the jarred brand.  The pink layer is firmer thanks to the gelatin in the jelly mix.  However, this doesn't bother me at all.  Whilst it does make the fudge a little sticky it doesn't stop it from tasting WONDERFUL.  It is seriously delicious.  So creamy and the strawberry is just perfect.  Incredibly more-ish indeed.  I really have to stop myself going into the fridge or I'll be eating far too much and my teeth will suffer for it!  I suppose the well-eat plate isn't getting to me as much as I thought it was.

Recipe - adapted from Shugary Sweets

Makes about 90 bite size pieces

• 500g/17.5oz granulated sugar
• 185ml/6.5fl.oz double cream
• 170g/6oz unsalted butter
• Pinch of salt
• 300g/10.5oz white chocolate chips
• 200g/7oz marshmallow fluff (see below to make your own)
• 1 tbsp strawberry gelatin powder

1. Prepare a 33x23cm / 13x9inch tray by greasing it and covering in greaseproof paper.  It is also recommended to have the chocolate chips, marshmallow fluff and gelatin powder all measured out and to hand so you can add it to your mixture quickly.
2. Melt the butter, sugar, cream and salt in a large pan placed over a gentle heat.
3. Once melted, increase to a medium-high heat and bring to a boil.
4. Boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly as you do.  Make sure to do the full five minutes otherwise it will affect the texture.
5. Once 5 minutes is up, remove from the heat and whisk in the chocolate chips and marshmallow fluff until it is smooth and thick.
6. Pour half the mixture into the prepared tray and tip about to spread it over the whole thing.
7. Add the gelatin powder to the remaining mixture and beat until colour is evenly distributed and it is smooth.
8. Pour on top of the mixture in the tray, aiming to cover all of it.  Use a knife to smooth it out and then a fork to swirl it with the white layer.
9. Chill in the fridge for at least four hours (though overnight is better).
10. Once firm, remove from fridge and cut into pieces with a knife  (I made an 15x6 grid to get 90 pieces).  Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Marshmallow Fluff - adapted from Bake me I'm yours...Sweet Bitesize Bakes

• 1 large egg white
• 125g/4.5oz caster sugar
• 25g/0.75oz golden syrup
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tbsp water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Put a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.
2. Place everything except the vanilla extract in the bowl.
3. Whilst it is heating, stir with an electric whisk for several minutes (about 10) until you get shiny peaks.
4. Remove from the heat and whisk for another two minutes to thicken it up.  
5. Add the vanilla and whisk in too.
6. Allow to cool.

 

Lemon Fudge

I love fudge.  Absolutely love it.  Have done since I was 13 and visiting the Cornish village of Padstow during a school trip.  There were so many places selling the stuff and it was amazing.  However I've only really had the traditional kinds like vanilla and chocolate.  Then back in 2011 my fiancé took me to the Highland Games they hold in the local park and there we happened across a fudge stall selling all sorts of flavours.  We bought a box of four types: Malteser; Irish cream (which I didn't realise was a liqueur at the time); citrus (three stripes flavoured with lemon, orange and lime) and...I cannot remember the fourth kind.  I remember wishing I'd taken some of the strawberries and cream fudge.  It did look rather fantastic.  Anyway, the point I'm trying to get to is that the citrus fudge was flat out wonderful and so very different from anything I'd had before.  The fiancé also really enjoyed it and he's not really a fudge person.  Next year couldn't come fast enough and we eagerly went along to the games with the sole purpose of procuring more fudge.  Imagine our disappointment when we could not find the stall anywhere.  It was quite devastating.  Luckily there were cute owls to cheer us up.

I feel I'm digressing slightly.  Back to today's fudge.  Now as much as I love the stuff, I've only ever attempted to make fudge once before, back when I was at university.  Proper fudge where you have to cook the sugar to a certain temperature and all that.  It wasn't very successful.  I couldn't really tell if I had the right temperature since I didn't have a sugar thermometer at the time.  I did try the soft ball test but honestly had no idea if the results I got were the ones I was meant to get.  The result was a sticky goop that would not set.  The fiancé on the other hand has made it at least once a year for four years now, improving each year but still not quite getting fudge at the end.  And as much as I would like to perfect the proper method one day, sometimes it's nice when you stumble across a recipe which is a bit of a cheat but still gives a great end product.

I love this recipe.  It was so quick and simple and after it had set the fudge I ended up with was fantastic.  I admit when I first found it I wasn't sure if I would be able to find a lemon pudding mix and so was all set to try and make my own from scratch.  However I did find a pack when grocery shopping and it was so inexpensive that I thought I would just go that route.  I would like to try the completely from scratch method one day though.  

I got 64 pieces of fudge from this recipe.  It is really delicious and has almost the right fudge-like texture.  It's maybe just a little bit soft but it is so very lemony that I don't really mind.  Maybe it'll firm up a little more over time.  The fiancé loves it too and keeps going back for 'just one more'. An all around success really and definitely one for the recipe folder.

Recipe - adapted from Group Recipes

• 115g/4oz butter, plus extra for greasing
• 120g/4.3oz lemon pudding/pie mix (I used Green's Lemon Pie Filling)
• 125ml/4.5fl.oz milk
• 535g/19oz icing sugar, plus extra for rolling
• 1 tsp lemon extract

1. Line a 23cm/9inch square tin with foil and then grease the foil with butter.
2. Put the butter, milk and pudding/pie mix into a large saucepan and whisk over a gentle-medium heat until the mixture has thickened and is smooth.  Do not allow it to overheat or it will turn into a lumpy mush you can't do anything with.
3. Take off the heat and add the lemon extract and icing sugar.  Whisk together until smooth.
4. Pour out into the prepared tin and smooth over.
5. Put in the fridge to set.  This will take about 2-3 hours.
6. Once set, remove from fridge and separate from the tin by lifting it out by the foil.
7. Remove the foil and then cut into cubes.  I cut an 8x8 grid so got 64 pieces.
8. Roll pieces in icing sugar and store in an airtight container in the fridge.   

Chocolate and Raspberry Truffles

This was the second Valentine's Day sweet I made for the fiancé: chocolate and raspberry truffles.  I stumbled across these when looking for things to do with raspberries and thought it sounded interesting.  I want to make more sweets and truffles are in the slightly easier category I believe.  They sound easy in theory anyway.  I have always struggled a bit with them.  Usually the dipping stage.

I actually made two batches of these.  The first used a half batch of the recipe ingredients.  I didn't really encounter any major problems with them.  Things seemed to be going as the recipe dictated...until I got to the second chilling stage.  The ganache balls are supposed to be firm enough to dip after about 2 hours in the freezer.  Mine weren't.  Even after being left overnight they still weren't right.  It actually took them until the end of the following day, but I'd already made a second set by then, since I had decided it was down to my choice of cream.  As I often do, I was using Elmlea, which is actually a cream substitute (I only learnt that about a month ago) and made with vegetable oil and buttermilk.  Oil does not freeze, which is why cakes made with it freeze better than those made with butter.  The oil stays liquid and keeps the cake moist.  Not so good when you need something to firm up though.  So I started over, using real cream.

I thought the ganache certainly came out better.  I admit, I tampered with the amounts a little because I didn't think the raspberry flavour was coming through in the first batch.  To deal with this, I used some more raspberries and cut out a little of the chocolate.  The taste was definitely better in my opinion.  However, when it came to firming up, I encountered the same problem.  They still seemed too soft.  I kept my hands cold (to the point that they hurt) so my hands wouldn't melt them, but I couldn't dip them cleanly.  I could dip and remove them, but with difficulty and the final result is a bit messy.  Not dreadful, but not lovely, neat spheres.  Ah well.  I was still pretty happy with how they turned out.  The fiancé's Mum thought they looked impressive: "Like something you expect in Harrods", which was nice to hear.  She also approved of the taste and wants some for her birthday.

The fiancé likes them too, though not as much as the raspberry cremes.  I will say, the truffle centre is quite a soft truffle.  I did try the ganache when I made it, and you get a lovely mix of creamy milk chocolate and a burst of raspberry.  The fiancé says the ones coated in milk chocolate are better than the white chocolate ones, but each to their own.  Really, they would all have been coated in milk chocolate but I ran out due to starting over.  I personally like the contrast of colour though, even if the filling is the same.

Recipe - adapted from About.com

Makes about 25 

I recommend leaving the balls of ganache to set overnight, so start preparation the day before you need them.

Ganache:

• 170g/6oz thawed frozen raspberries
• 15g/0.5oz icing sugar
• 185g/6.5oz milk chocolate
• 1 tbsp golden syrup
• 100ml/3.5fl.oz double cream

Coating:

• 255g/9oz milk chocolate (or 125g/4.5oz each of milk and white chocolate)
• 40g/1.5oz white chocolate (for decoration)
• Red blossom tint 

1. Blend the raspberries into a liquid then strain into a saucepan through a sieve or cheese cloth to remove the seeds.
2. Add the icing sugar then stir over a gentle heat until it has reduced by about half and is thick and syrupy.  Set aside.
3. Chop the chocolate into very small pieces and place in a bowl.
4. Put the cream in a saucepan and heat until bubbles appear around the edges but do not bring to a full boil.
5. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and leave for a couple of minutes to melt.
6. Whisk the chocolate cream until smooth, then add the golden syrup and raspberry purée and whisk that altogether too.
7. Cover the bowl in clingfilm and put in the fridge to firm up.  This will take about 3 hours.
8. Prepare a tray by covering it with greaseproof paper and make sure your hands are cold (you may have to keep cooling them down again as you make the balls as the ganache may start sticking to them).
9. Remove the bowl of ganache from the fridge and shape 1/2 tablespoonfuls of it into balls.  Place on the tray.
10. Put the tray in the freezer and leave overnight to firm up.
11. The following day, melt the chocolate for dipping in a bowl over a pan of simmering water.
12. Prepare a new tray by covering it with greaseproof paper.
13. Remove the ganache balls from the freezer and coat in chocolate.  (I resorted to dropping mine in the chocolate, quickly rolling them in it and scooping them out with a spoon).  Place on the new tray to set.
14. Melt the white chocolate for decorating in the same manner as the dipping chocolate.
15. Add the blossom tint to colour it then pour into a piping bag fitted with a small, round nozzle.
16. Pipe zigzags or spirals onto the truffles once their coating has set, then leave to dry.
17. Keep refrigerated in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

Raspberry Cremes

Valentine's Day is not really something the fiancé and I make a big thing of.  It's pretty much a normal day for the two of us, except that we make each other an edible present.  The last few years the fiancé has been trying to make me fudge because I love fudge.  He's not quite perfected it yet but he is determined to.  The fact that I now own a sugar thermometer did help in this year's attempt.  Definitely his best batch yet.  Me, on the other hand, I vary it up each year.  The first year I tried to make chilli chocolate.  I put far too much chilli powder in without realising, since whenever I tasted it, I didn't feel any heat.  But he liked them regardless.  I've also made him oatcakes and little tiny chocolate covered cakes in previous years.  This year though, I found two things that I couldn't choose between and so decided to do both.  The first of those is raspberry cremes.

Now this came from looking at a recipe for peppermint cremes on the Carnation website.  I thought it would be an easy enough idea to adapt into a raspberry creme.  I've had success flavouring fondant with raspberry jam so figured I could do the same here.  Originally I just planned to cover them in milk chocolate but a few days beforehand, I had an idea!  The fiancé and I are big fans of Pokémon and within the Pokémon universe, there is one called Luvdisc, which look like heart shaped fish.  The entry for the pokédex for this Pokémon reads:
"It is said that a couple finding this Pokémon will be blessed with eternal love."
So I figured I could go extra geeky on this present and decorate the cremes to look like Luvdisc.  So I swapped the milk chocolate out for white chocolate (which was probably a better idea anyway since white chocolate goes much better with raspberry) which I then tinted with blossom tint, and used a little writing icing to finish them off.  The overall look was actually quite effective.

The fiancé really likes them.  He says they are really, REALLY sweet, with nice creamy chocolate and lovely raspberry tang coming through.  There was visible trembling of pleasure too.

Recipe - adapted from Carnation
Makes about 24

• 255g/9oz icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
• 115g/4oz Carnation Condensed Milk
• Pink food colouring
• 4 tbsp seedless raspberry jam
• 150g/5.3oz white chocolate
• Dusty pink blossom tint 
• Pink and brown writing icing (optional)

1. Heat the jam in a small saucepan over a gentle heat until liquefied.
2. Put the condensed milk in a bowl and gradually sift in the icing sugar, stirring as you do so.
3. Add the jam and food colouring and knead gently.  If the dough is too sticky, add more icing sugar.
4. Roll out on a surface lightly dusted with icing sugar to about 5mm/0.25inch thick. 
5. Use a 6.5cm/2.5inch heart shaped cutter to cut out the cremes and set them on a tray or wire rack.  Leave to dry in a cool place for about 2-3 hours.
6. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and then tint with the blossom powder to turn it pink.
7. Prepare a tray by covering it in greaseproof paper.
8. Use a fork to dip the top side of each creme in the chocolate and then place chocolate side up on the tray to set.
9. (Optional) When all cremes have set, use the writing icing to draw an eye, cheek and lips on each so they resemble Luvdisc.

Turkish Delight

So today is another branch into new territory: sweet making!  I tried making fudge a couple of years ago but it didn't work.  I think I suffered by not having a sugar thermometer since I could not tell if I'd reached the soft ball stage or not, even with the water test.  The fiancé also attempts to make fudge for me each Valentine's Day, with varying degrees of success.  He certainly gets better every year.  Anyway, since my first failure I'd not really considered making sweets again until I visited my family over Easter.  My Dad's partner has a bunch of cooking books in her kitchen which I decided to rifle through since that is what I do when I'm bored.  I fell in love with The Home-Made Sweet Shop.  It is a GORGEOUS book with lots of recipes that I wanted to try.  I have since bought my own copy but it was only yesterday that I was brave enough to try one.

Today is the birthday of the fiancé's dad, and he likes Turkish delight, thus providing the perfect excuse to give it a go.  I only made a fifth of the amount in the book since 1.6kg of the stuff seemed a bit excessive.  Consequently I shortened some timings based on what looked right.  I also ended up doing it twice because the first batch caught and burnt.  I blame some of the sugar in the sugar syrup re-crystallising.  When I made the second batch I switched up the order I did things to get a better flow and so my syrup didn't cool too much and become impossible to transfer into the rest of the mixture.  Hence I'll document the way I did it.  It was probably the smaller amounts which affected the method.  Ah well.

The final result looks quite good.  Having never had Turkish delight though, I honestly wasn't sure if it was right.  The fiancé tried it for me and said it tasted nice but he's never had it before either so that didn't help much.  So I'll have to wait for a final verdict on taste from his family. The results are in!  Apparently it tasted very much like Turkish Delight and was therefore delicious, it was just a little bit too soft.

Recipe - adapted from The Home-Made Sweet Shop

Makes about 320g

• Butter for greasing
• 180ml/6fl.oz water
• 90g/3.2oz caster sugar
• Pinch of cream of tartar
• 15g/0.5oz cornflour
• 40g/1.4oz icing sugar, plus extra for coating
• 10g/0.35oz honey
• Lemon extract
• Rose extract
• Pink food colouring

1. Grease a small square tin with the butter.  I used two 5x10cm/2x4inch tins.
2. Mix the cornflour, icing sugar and 10ml/0.3fl.oz of the water together in a heatproof bowl to make a paste.
3. Boil 140ml/4.7fl.oz of water and then pour onto the cornflour paste.  Whisk until dissolved.
4. Pour into a saucepan and simmer until it is clear and thick.
5. Meanwhile, put the caster sugar, cream of tartar and the remaining 30ml/1fl.oz of water into a saucepan placed over a medium heat.
6. Stir the sugar to dissolve it, bring to the boil and heat until it reaches the softball stage (114°C/238°F).
7. Add the the clear cornflour mixture slowly, whisking the whole time and then boil for another 5 minutes.  The mixture should be a pale yellow and rather transparent.
8. Turn down the heat and add the honey and a little lemon and rose extract.  I used about 1/4 tsp of each.  Add a couple of drops of pink food colouring and mix.
9. Pour into the prepared tins and leave to cool for several hours.
10. Cover a board with icing sugar and turn the Turkish delight out onto it.  It may need a knife run around the edges and a slight nudge to encourage it out.  
11. Coat in icing sugar and cut into smaller pieces.  Re-coat with sugar a few times as it will absorb it.
12. When storing, do so in an airtight container with lots of icing sugar to stop them sticking together.  Eat within one week.