Turkish Delight Marshmallows

Puffy bouncy clouds flavoured with rose and lemon finished with a lick of chocolate.

Ingredients:

For handling:

• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 cup icing sugar

For the mallows:

• 1 large egg white
• 1/4 cup (60 mls) hot water
• 1 tablespoon (12 grams) powdered gelatine
• a drop or two of pink colouring
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 + 1/4 cups (250 grams) white sugar
• 1/2 cup (120 mls) hot water
• A 2 inch strip of lemon peel
• 1 to 2 teaspoons rosewater
• 2 to 4 ounces (50 to 100 grams) dark chocolate
• shelled unsalted pistachios to decorate

– If using metric cups, reduce volume measures by 1 tablespoon for every cup of dry or liquid ingredients – 

Equipment:

• Small saucepan
• Candy thermometer
• Standing or hand-held electric mixer
• 8 inch pan lined with foil
• Very sharp knife

Directions:

Sift the cornstarch and icing sugar together into a small bowl. This stuff is your best friend. Whenever something is sticky just dust away.

Line your pan with foil. Grease the foil with a little vegetable or coconut oil. Butter will add a flavour that we don’t want today. Dust the oiled pan with a tablespoon or so of your cornstarch mixture.

Put your egg white into a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer.

In a small bowl mix the first measure (1/4 cup) of hot water with the colouring and add the gelatine a little at a time, stirring until it’s dissolved. It won’t be perfectly smooth but don’t worry.

In a small saucepan combine the second measure of water (1/2 cup) with the sugar and lemon peel.

Over a medium heat, dissolve the sugar and then bring the syrup to a simmer. Once it’s been simmering for a minute or two use some tongs to pull out the lemon. It’s done good work.

Turn the heat up to medium high and cook the syrup until it reaches 125C (260F). IF it goes a few degrees over your marshmallows will be a little firmer but don’t let it go past about 128C.

Now for the tricky timing part. Your egg whites need to be at soft peaks but if we beat them too early and let them sit they will slowly collapse again. When the syrup is in the high hundred and teens start whipping the egg white. The hotter the syrup gets the faster the temperature rises so your egg whites won’t sit for long.

If you are using a stand mixer and find it is having trouble starting to whip one egg white use a whisk to get it whipped up a little bit so there is enough volume for the mixer to catch.

When the syrup is ready pour a little bit of the gelatine mixture into the hot syrup and whisk to combine. It will foam up a lot. Slowly add the rest whisking all the time until it’s all combined.

Start your mixer up again on medium. While the whites are whipping slowly add the syrup in a thin stream. If you dump it in the egg whites will cook into lumpy scramble.

When all the syrup is in turn the mixer up to high and whip for 6 to 8 minutes until the marshmallow is pillow and has cooled significantly.

Add the rosewater a teaspoon at a time while the mixer is running and taste the mixture each time until you like the taste.

Use a silicone spatula to spread the marshmallow out into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Set the pan aside to cool and set for at least an hour. Gently press the top of the marshmallow to see if it’s ready to cut. It will be springy and won’t stick to your finger too much when it’s ready.

Put down a piece of baking paper. Dust the paper with a little of the cornstarch mixture.

Dust the top of the marshmallow with the cornstarch mixture. Lift the block out by the foil and invert it onto the baking paper.

Carefully peel back the foil.

Lightly oil a large sharp knife and cut the marshmallows into squares. I make them about one and a half inches and get six by six from a pan this size.

After every few cuts wipe down the knife with a warm damp cloth and oil it again – it will make cutting much easier and will help prevent the surface of the mallows from tearing.

Dust all the cut sides lightly with the cornstarch mixture.

You can stop here if you like but if you want to jazz these fluffy clouds up a little more then keep going. Melt a little dark chocolate and either partially dip or drizzle or splodge a little chocolate on each one. Top with pistachios as you see fit.

Cook’s Notes:

• You can colour marshmallows as you please try using beet juice or powder to get a natural pink colour. I wouldn’t try to get more than a pastel colour as the amount of colouring you will need will start to affect the flavour.
• As with all candy making have all your equipment and ingredients measured and ready before you begin – it will save you time and stress and can prevent a ruined batch as stepping away for less than a minute a the wrong time can upset all your hard work.

 – Marshmallows keep a long time but will slowly form a bit of a crust on the outside as they dry. Keep them in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks – 

Adapted from The River Cottage Family Cookbook by Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall.

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