Keto Turkish Delight
If you’re less of a chocolate person and more of a confectionary person, you’ll want to try your hand at some Turkish delight. These delightful little squares have been adapted for this Keto Middle Eastern recipe with a few adjustments for sugar and starch. Instead of cornstarch and white sugar, you’ll use the natural sugars of fruit and Keto sweeteners to make a sweet treat. Everything is held together with a little bit of gelatin. For the fruit, low-carb dates and dried figs were chosen for their sweetness, flavors, and textures. If you want to include other finely chopped ingredients, some Turkish delights include nuts like pistachios and walnuts. The final “icing on the cake” is a layer of powdered erythritol for dusting, which tastes just like powdered sugar.
How to Make It
Step 1
Dice the dried figs and pitted dates into small pieces. It’s really important the pieces are finely diced so they aren’t too heavy in the final dessert. Add the diced ingredients to a pot filled with the first amount of water, lemon juice, and swerve. Heat the ingredients with the lid on the pot until the liquid is simmering and it reduces to a syrupy mixture – 20-30 minutes. Check by looking for pieces of fruit that stick to the back of a wooden spoon instead of falling off.
Step 2
When the syrup is almost ready, prepare the gelatin by filling a small dish with the second amount of water and spooning the gelatin on top. Let the gelatin bloom for 5 or so minutes. When the gelatin is ready, spoon some of the hot syrup liquid into the gelatin and stir it until the gelatin melts. Return all gelatin and liquid to the pot, and stir everything together.
Step 3
Stir rosewater into the pot, and let the ingredients cook below a simmer to ensure the gelatin is melted and the pot is at an even temperature. Remove the pot from the heat so it can start cooling. Line a 9×13 glass dish liberally with pan spray as well as a lining of parchment paper on the bottom. Press the paper against the glass to remove any air pockets, then pour your gelatin liquid into the dish.
Step 4
Keep the liquid Turkish delight in your refrigerator for at least 24 hours to set completely. You can remove the dessert by lifting it out of the dish by the ends of the parchment paper. Use a knife sprayed with pan spray to cut the dessert into slightly less than 1-inch cubes. A 9×13 dish yields about 60 pieces. After slicing the Turkish delight, liberally sprinkle all exposed pieces with the remaining amount of powdered erythritol. Use more powdered erythritol as needed.
Ingredients
- Dried figs
1 oz
- Dates, dried
1.5 oz
- Water
3 cup
- Lemon juice
0.5 tbsp
- Powdered Erythritol (Icing Sugar)
1 tbsp
- Water
3 cup
- Gelatin (jello) powder, plain
2 tsp
- Rose Water
1 tbsps
- Powdered Erythritol (Icing Sugar)
1 tbsp