Sweet Honeycomb

This afternoon I happened to stumble across Haalo's blog, Cook (almost) Anything...at least once and found her recipe for making honeycomb. Now, it occurred to me that in all my 29 years on this earth, that I never once thought to question how honeycomb is made. This is even more astonishing, given that I LOVE both Crunchie and Violet Crumble....both which are near impossible to get Stateside. Needless to say, I was very excited to find such a recipe and also to have all the ingredients on hand. I was determined to go home and make this recipe tonight.

To be brutally honest, my first attempt was a complete disaster. I think my definition of golden brown and Haalo's definition were not at all the same and I just ended up with a big sticky mess. I thought this may be due to the fact that you also cannot get liquid glucose in the States and I had substituted with corn syrup. I therefore went hunting on the web to see if this was an appropriate substitution and subsequently found this recipe from In My Kitchen. It suggested using a candy thermometer to measure when the sugar got to hard crack or 300F and this worked out much much better.

I was a little scared to try again after my first disaster, but I have to say, once I got it right it was loads of fun. I now have a huge tub full of honeycomb and need to figure out what to do with it!! I melted some chocolate nibs and coated some of it, just like a home made Crunchie bar and it is delicious!! Stay tuned for what I end up doing with the rest of it....that is if I don't eat it all first...hahaha!!



Honeycomb

1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 tablespoon of baking soda, sifted

1. In a medium-sized deep heavy saucepan, stir the water, sugar and corn syrup together. Clip a candy thermometer onto the inside of the pan. Over medium-high heat, bring the mixture to a boil without stirring. Using a pastry brush dipped in water, brush down the sides of the pan to remove any un-dissolved sugar granules. Continue cooking until the sugar reaches 300F on the candy thermometer, then remove from the heat. The mixture should be a very pale straw color.

2. Working quickly, add the baking soda all at once to the sugar mixture, and whisk for a few seconds, until the baking soda is incorporated. The liquid will bubble up and become foamy. In one smooth movement, pour it into a foil lined 8x12 tin pan. It will spread out, puff up slightly, and have a slightly porous shiny surface. Allow it to harden for about 20 minutes, without touching or moving it. Cut the honeycomb into uneven pieces. Store it in an airtight container at room temperature. The honeycomb will last 1-2 days before it begins to lose its crunch.