Al's Turkish Delight Recipe

[milztoday]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "jenP_97" <jenP_97 at y...> wrote:
> Ah, you of two different cultural backgrounds, but probably NOT a 
> full-time cook... they are, alas, *not* quite the same thing.  This 
> is a minor difference, but in THIS particular recipe, it would be a 
> BIG mistake to use them interchangeably.  American "powdered sugar" 
> is basically UK "icing sugar" *with cornstarch added* (!!!) in 
order 
> to keep it from clumping.  It would *not* taste very good to add 
> another equal amount of corn starch (which is what I take 
> "cornflower" to mean) to sugar that already has some in it.  Icing 
> sugar is very nice, and doesn't taste "yucky" like US powdered 
sugar 
> - mainly because all it is is pure powdered sugar... with nothing 
> else added.  So in this recipe, what you're instructed to do is 
> basically *make* American powdered sugar to coat them with - so 
> *don't* add the cornstarch if you're in the US!!!  (not sure how 
> Canada handles these things)
> 
> Hope that helps, and if you make the recipe, I'm sure that the 
> coating will taste a LOT better if you make it this way. :)
> 

I think the sugar coating in this just to prevent stickiness and not 
meant to be very thick. I've made fruit leathers that need a thin 
coating of cornstarch to prevent sticking, so I imagine Turkish 
Delight would be along those lines. Fruit leathers, for those 
unfamiliar with them, are fruit purees that are spread rather thinly 
on a baking sheet and dried. They resemble leather, but don't taste 
like it (if you make it properly). 

US powdered sugar (AKA confectioner's sugar) is about 1/3 cornstarch. 
That bit of cornstarch will absorb some of the moisture and will help 
prevent the sugar from melting into the surface of the confection.

Oh and another tip, I would sift the powdered sugar to remove any 
lumps before powdering the confection with it. In fact, sifting the 
sugar directly onto the surface of the finished confection would 
probably be the best way to do it. 

Milz