Since this was the first time I've ever made candy, I bought some Turkish delight from a store as a backup. Otherwise, I followed this recipe (Ian recommended this variation), though I left out the pistachios. And to better help the kids appreciate the effort involved in making the candy, I had them help -- they were both very excited to participate.
Ever since I had Clara do some stirring on a muffin recipe a few weeks back, she always asks if she can stir when we work on a recipe together. Luckily for her, there was plenty of stirring to do with this recipe. She stirred the candy syrup while it was on the stove and while watching the thermometer: if the temperature got too high, she'd let me know and I'd come over and move it off the heat (and vice-versa if it got too cold) -- and to those who are worried about a six-year-old stirring something on the stove, she never touched the saucepan, only the spoon.
Henry helped by combining the the flavoring we used (hand-pressed orange juice and hand-grated orange zest that I prepared earlier). His favorite part was pouring in the unflavored gelatin into the mixture.
I took over the stirring when it came time to combine everything (Clara mentioned that her arms were getting tired, but she still was disappointed that I took over her job). With everything mixed together, I poured the hot mixture into an 8x8-inch pan that I had dusted with powdered sugar. I then set it aside for it to cool for several hours. At Ian's suggestion, I covered the top with some plastic cling-wrap to prevent cat hair from getting on it.
After four-and-a-half hours, I checked on our product and it was still rather runny. I was really disappointed, but then I realized my mistake: the cling-wrap. By covering the top, I had prevented the steam from escaping, which kept the candy from firming up. Ian suggested putting it uncovered, under the fan over the stove to allow any moisture to be sucked up. Whether that helped or it was going to firm up on its own, I don't know, but after about thirty minutes, I had something that was solid enough for me to work with.
Armed with a paring knife, a silicone spatula, a pizza cutter, and lots of powdered sugar, I slowly worked the Turkish delight from the pan. It was really gelatinous, like slightly firmer-than-usual Jell-O or slightly-mushier-than-usual gummy candy, and pretty sticky. To keep everything in the house from getting covered in a sticky film, I covered every inch of the candy with powdered sugar. This is what the fruit of our labor looked like:
For full effect, play this.
The flavor tasted strongly of orange and was slightly tart, but as Ian pointed out, with it mostly being sugar, a little tartness wasn't a bad thing. The texture was softer than I expected, though not in an unpleasant way. Henry gobbled up any pieces he could get his hands one, but Clara said she didn't really like it. I suspect that she was expecting something that tasted more like fruit-flavored candy and less like fruit candy (if that makes sense), so she didn't like it as much. To have something with which to compare our creation, I pulled out the backup Turkish delight and gave everyone a piece. Henry like it as much as our homemade version and Clara liked it more; both Ian and I thought the store-bought stuff tasted fake and artificial and we both preferred what I made with the kids.
And now the real question: did having Turkish delight enhance the movie-watching experience? Yes, but not in a significant way. I remember as a kid that I didn't know what Turkish delight was and when I asked, the answer I got (at least, the one I remember getting) was "a treat that's popular in England." If I had known that it was simply gummy candy, I probably would have wondered why they just didn't like chocolate. Even so, I'm glad that I got the chance to make this treat with my niece and nephew.
Maybe we'll watch Soylent Green next and prepare a dish from that.
The Chronicles of Narnia were published by HarperCollins Publishers.
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lol
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