Sweet Tooth

If you were inspired by the Candlyland Inspiration board posted yesterday, then you will love today's sweet DIY idea.

I love magazines and find it hard to part with them but in clearing out some cupboards I realised I would have to throw the piles into the recycling bin ASAP! I was browsing through some of them and came across these great recipes in the Food & Home Entertaining December 2008 issue. The bright red lollipops and soft pastel turkish delight would perfectly suit your touch of candyland and would make great favours.

Lollipops
Makes about 10
A little effort
40 mins


400g (2 cups) sugar
170ml (2/3 cup) liquid glucose
170ml (2/3 cup) water
a few drops of red food colouring
wooden skewers
sugar thermometer
ice

1. Line a baking tray with baking paper and lay wooden skewers out in rows, leaving 5cm between each stick.
2. Combine the sugar, glucose and water in a small saucepan. Place a sugar thermometer upright in the saucepan.
3. Bring the mixture to the boil over a high heat. Without stirring, cook until the mixture reached 151 degrees C or hard crack stage on the sugar thermometer. While the syrup is cooking, occasionally wash down the sides of the saucepan with a clean brush dipped in water, to prevent crystallisation.
4. Set up an ice bath in the sink. When the mixture is done, remove the pot from the heat and dip it into the ice bath for 15 seconds to stop the cooking process.
5. Add the food colouring, stirring very gently with a wooden skewer so that the colour is evenly distributed. To avoid air bubbles in the finished lollipops, stir the mixture gently in both directions, but be careful not to overmix.
6. Carefully spoon a little of the syrup around each skewer, creating freeform designs covering at least 6mm of the end of each skewer. If the syrup sets too much while you're working warm it up in the microwave for a few seconds.
7. Let the lollipops cool until they're hard, about 20 minutes. Lift them off the paper and store in an airtight container for up to a week (or up to 3 days if the weather is very humid).

Turkish Delight
Makes about 25
Easy
25 mins plus extra to set


130g cornflour, sifted
300ml water
25ml (5 tsp) gelatine
500g sugar
25ml (5 tsp) rose water
juice of 2 lemons
a few drops of pink food colouring
70g (1/2 cup) icing sugar, sifted

1. Line a 20cm x 23cm baking tray with plastic wrap. 
2. Combine 80g of the cornflour with 50ml of the water to form a paste. Set aside.
3. Sprinkle the gelatine onto 125ml (1/2 cup) of the water and set aside.
4. Place the remaining water, sugar, rose water and lemon juice in a large saucepan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Add the cornflour paste, whisking continuously. Cook the mixture for about 10 minutes.
5. Melt the gelatine mixture on the defrost setting of the microwave for a few seconds. Add the gelatine in a thin stream to the sugar mixture. Stir in the food colouring. Pour the mixture into the baking tray and allow to set at room temperature. Combine the icing sugar and the remaining cornflour and set aside.
6. Use a cookie cutter to cut out shapes. Place the in the icing sugar mixture and toss thoroughly to coat*. Leave to rest in the icing sugar for a couple of days or until the shapes are not moist anymore. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

*Start with only half the icing sugar and cornflour mixture to roll the Turkish Delight in as it tends to become lumpy. Discard the lumpy icing mixture and continue with the other half.