Rose & Lychee Turkish Delight

I used to hate Turkish delight when I was a child. It was always tasted like perfume and sometimes even had a nut on the inside, which I also detested (I can't quite believe I used to dislike peanuts so much given my adoration of peanut butter and Snickers bars now...). I read a recipe by Nadiya from GBBO where she made a Guava Turkish delight and thought I'd give it a go. Now I had to adapt her recipe slightly as I couldn't find guava juice or rose syrup. Instead, I used a lychee juice I found in my local supermarket - it isn't pure juice (I think it was around 20% lychee), but gave a nice extra note of flavour to the rose-flavoured Turkish delight. Also, the rose flavour does come through but I promise these do not taste like perfume!

They also are easy to make, and once made, need to be left for at least a day to dry out. They will then keep in an airtight container for at least a week.

Fills a 20cm square cake tin, so makes 20-40 (depending on the square size you choose). 

Ingredients:

• 2 packs of powdered gelatine (25g)
• 250ml (1 cup & 2 tsp) water
• 250ml (1 cup & 2 tsp) lychee juice
• 1/2 tbsp rose water
• 450g (2 & 1/4 cups) caster sugar
• 6 tbsp icing sugar
• 2 tbsp cornflour
• Oil spray (for greasing the tin)

Method:

1. Lightly oil a 20cm square cake tin (I used a silicone one), and then line with two sheets of clingfilm. Mix together the icing sugar and cornflour and use a tablespoon to dust the base of the tin evenly.

2. Pour 45ml (3 tbsp) of the water into a small bowl and pour over the gelatine sachets. Whisk briefly then leave for the gelatine to bloom (for at least 5 minutes).

3.  Pour the remaining water into a pan, along with the caster sugar, lychee juice and rose water. Bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Reduce the heat so that it is just simmering, and cook for 25-30 minutes, until the mixture has thickened.

4. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for a few minutes. Whisk in the bloomed gelatine until dissolved. Set aside for 10 minutes to cool further.

5. Pour the mixture into your lined tin, and leave overnight to set.

6. Dust your work surface with the icing sugar/cornflour mix with clingfilm and tip out the Turkish delight onto the surface. Dust a sharp knife in the sugar/cornflour and slice the Turkish delight into squares. Roll each piece in the sugar/cornflour. 

7. To make the best Turkish delight, re-roll each piece in more icing sugar/cornflour every couple of hours or until the sweets stop absorbing the sugar. This step isn't essential but really helps to give the traditional white coating on a Turkish delight.

8. To keep the sweets, lay them in an airtight container between two pieces of greaseproof paper.

9. Enjoy!