Home > Book Based Activities > Turkish Delight Recipe to Cook with Kids
ByCerys ParkerPublished on
If you’ve read The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe or watched the movie you will have heard of Turkish Delight. It’s a sweet treat that the Wicked Witch in the story enchants and feeds Edmund to get him to do her bidding. We’ve been reading the book and the kids were very intrigued by what it was and what it tasted like. So here is our recipe for Turkish Delight.
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What You'll Find on This Page
What is Turkish Delight
Turkish delight is a sweet that has a gel-like consistency it is made from starch and sugar. Traditionally flavoured with rosewater it’s delicate and unique in flavour.
I’ve since discovered from talking with friends that it actually comes in a variety of different flavours and we have some alternatives we’re going to try so watch out there maybe some more flavours coming.
What Does Turkish Delight Taste Like?
I remember tasting it as a child and thought it tasted like flowers. It’s hard to describe but with the traditional rose flavour it is flowery.
One child said it’s flavour that grows on your the other said it tasted like soap!
I think it’s something that you need to make to try it especially if you and the kids have been reading The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and want to bring a little of the book to life.
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
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The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by CS Lewis is a classic piece of children’s literature. It’s set during WWII in England and the children are evacuated from London to live in the countryside as many children were at the time.
In the house, the children arrive at they discover a hidden world that is in permanent winter with never a Christmas. Ruled over by a Witch, who has proclaimed herself Queen of Narnia.
Their adventures are one that never fails to excite children and they follow the story with awe and wonder.
Early in the book, Edmund one of the brothers meets the witch and she feeds him enchanted Turkish Delights.
You could also make a sleigh like the Witch in the story rides on to go with the book with our STEM Sleigh Challenge.
This book is the second in the Chronicles of Narnia and I highly recommend reading the others. We actually have a box set of them all and enjoy them as read-aloud time and time again.
Read Aloud with Amazon Audible
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe is available on Audible and makes it easy for kids to listen to the story on the go or independently.
Hearing the story read to them by someone helps with developing better reading skills and narration.
You can sign up for a FREE Audible trial to see what it’s like, just click on the button below to go to your countries offer.
Learning whilst you Cook
It’s amazing the amount of learning that happened whilst we cooked. I loved this for the unusual aspects that we discovered as we made it.
- Measuring liquids and solids (we have put the measurements in metric but you can change it to imperial in the recipe card)
- Reading a thermometre (ours had both F and C on it and it was a good link with our metric and imperial for measurements as well)
- Non-Newtonian Fluids – the cornflour and water mix was great as we started to whisk it didn’t perform as expected
- Literacy link – we re-read the chapter on Turkish Delight to see if we could get any hints on what it would be like before tasting
- Disolving and rates of reaction – making a sugar syrup is a great way to explore disolving and also ways to speed up reaction as well as the next point
- Evaporation – how does the syrup get thicker and thicker what is happening to the solution?
What Ingredients Do you Need to Make Turkish Delight
It’s really simple and although like I said it has a gel consistency it doesn’t contain any gelatin instead the main ingredients are sugar and cornflour/corn starch.
If you’ve got the cornflour out why not make these Baking Soda Christmas Ornaments with it too they look so pretty hanging from the tree.
So gather together these things
- Cornflour (called corn starch in the USA)
- Caster Sugar
- Water
- Rose water – US Recommended, UK Recommended
- Cream of Tartar
- Pink food colouring
- Oil for greasing the pan
You’ll also need some icing sugar for dusting.
Printable Turkish Delight Recipe
Want to use the recipe screen-free with your kids or part of a The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe Unit Study? Then our printable Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe Turkish Delight Recipe Card is ideal.
Now available in our store this Recipe Card to use with kids has the full instructions in grammes perfect for working with metric measurements. An imperial measurement version is coming soon.
Get the Printable Recipe Card NOW!
What Age do you Recommend Making This With the Kids?
This recipe is going to need the kids and you to stir over the heat for a while. The mixture does boil and will form burping bubbles as it does so they need to take care.
As long as you are comfortable with them stirring a boiling sugar mixture over the heat then do it when you feel comfortable. We first made it with the youngest being 8 which was the age that read the book for the first time.
How do you Make Turkish Delight
So Rainy Day Mum! How do we make this Turkish Delight? Well, just follow the recipe below. Remember you can switch out the metric units for imperial if you wish and don’t forget to save it. You may never know the kids may actually love the flavour.
Turkish Delight Recipe
Cerys Parker
Inspired by the book, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe make some traditional Turkish Delight with this simple recipe for a classic sweet.
5 from 1 vote
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Prep Time 5 minutes mins
Cook Time 50 minutes mins
Course Dessert
Cuisine Turkish
Servings 36 pieces
Calories 67 kcal
Equipment
Saucepan
Whisk
spoon
Brush
18cm x 18cm Silicone Baking Pan
Ingredients
- 500 g Caster Sugar
- ½ tsp Cream of Tartar
- 650 ml Water
- 120 g Cornflour Corn Starch in the USA
- Rose water The Spice Drops recommended above only needs 1 or 2 maximum for the flavour
- Pink Food Paste
- Non-Flavoured oil for greasing the baking pan
- Icing Sugar for Dusting
Instructions
Brush the oil over the baking pan
Into a sauce pan pour the sugar, cream of tartar and 500ml of water.
Stir constantly till it all disolves on a gentle heat. Once it is clear heat for 10 – 15 minutes at boiling temperature until the sugar solution forms a thicker syrup.
In a separate bowl whisk together the cornflour and 150ml of water.
Now add to the saucepan and stir.
Keep stirring and stirring as the mixture gets thicker. You want it to come away from the sides and when you stir the pattern to remain in it. This can take up to an hour of stirring so take it in turns.
Once it's started to form the gel like consistency you want to add in a couple of drops of rose water (add very carefully as it can be overpowering) and the pink food colouring. Stir well to combine it all.
Pour into the baking pan, level the top and leave to set.
Once set sprinkle a mix of icing sugar and cornflour over a chopping board. Then turn out your turkish Delight onto it.
Sprinkle some more on the top of the Turkish Delight and then cut into pieces
Nutrition
Calories: 67kcalCarbohydrates: 17gProtein: 1gFat: 1gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 1mgPotassium: 7mgFiber: 1gSugar: 14gCalcium: 1mgIron: 1mg
Keyword Sweets and Candy, Turkish Delight
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
More Traditional Sweets and Treats to Make with Kids
Have you been inspired by this traditional recipe why not try these other traditional recipes to cook with kids.
- Peppermint Cream Mice
- Easy Chocolate Fudge
Author
Cerys Parker
Cerys is a marine biologist, environmental educator, teacher, mum, and home educator from the UK. She loves getting creative, whether it is with simple and easy crafts and ideas, activities to make learning fun, or delicious recipes that you and your kids can cook together you'll find them all shared here on Rainy Day Mum.
