Chocolate Coated Honeycomb

I have a writer’s block. And a baking block. You see, I had meant to post about hot cross buns, because they’re Eastery and delicious and pretty and cute and everything, but when it was time for me to make them, I didn’t feel like it. I just didn’t feel like baking. No, I had better things to do. Watching funny videos on Youtube, for example. And snuggling with Lucy and the Rocking Rebel. And honing my guitar skills…

Wait! Am I forgetting something important here? Something my entire future depends on? Something that includes me hammering (or not-hammering) on a computer all day long?

…

Something that starts with a t and ends with an s, maybe? Something with the letters h, e, s and i in the middle? Hmmm…

Aaaanyway, because I did feel like gobbling something delicious whilst doing all those important tasks at hand, I whipped up some honeycomb!

Honeycomb is laughably easy, you see. It’s just ridiculous! Throw some sugar, water and golden syrup or corn syrup in a pan, allow to cook to a caramel, whisk in baking soda and BAM! You’re done! Just 15 minutes of moderate activity and you got yourself a cookie jar full of the good stuff!

Sure, you need to wait for an hour to let it cool, but that gives you more time to…

1. Watch funny clips on Youtube. Ellen Degeneres scaring the heck out of Taylor Swift is definitely one of my favs…
2. Snuggle with the loves of your life…
3. Curse your fingers for not being able to play John Mayer’s ‘Who Says’…
4. Look up how many words there are for honeycomb…

Oh, I didn’t mention this before, right? Honeycomb goes by a lot of names! A LOT! It’s actually another thing that’s ridiculous about honeycomb, next to the fact that it’s so easy to make. I mean, what we have here is basically chemically inflated caramel, but people call it ‘hokey pokey’, ‘cinder toffee’, ‘sponge toffee’, ‘golden crunchers’, ‘fairy food candy’, ‘angel food candy’, ‘puff candy’, ‘sea foam’ (um, eeuwh…) and ‘sponge candy’!

I prefer ‘honeycomb’. It sounds cute. Cuter than ‘sea foam’, right? Yuck…

Anyway, a few more things: I use Golden Syrup in this recipe, because it gives the honeycomb a delicious flavor. You can use corn syrup (or glucose) instead, but if you can get your hands on golden syrup you should definitely use it! It’s sooo worth it. I also coat the honeycomb with a thin chocolate layer. Totally optional, but – again – sooo worth it! Use whatever chocolate you happen to have laying around. You only need a little…

Enjoy!

Chocolate Coated Honeycomb

 

Print

Prep time

1 min

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

11 mins

 

This recipe makes enough to fill a large cookie jar with honeycomb chunks!

Author: The Tough Cookie

Ingredients

For the honeycomb:

• 1¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 200g (or 1 cup) granulated sugar
• 85g (or ¼ cup) Golden Syrup or corn syrup
• 2 tablespoons water

For the chocolate coating:

• 30g (or 1 ounce) dark chocolate
• 30g (or 1 ounce) white chocolate

Instructions

First, make the honeycomb:

1. Line a large baking sheet with a piece of baking parchment and ready a whisk and, if you have one and want to use it, a candy thermometer. The candy thermometer is totally optional, but I like to use it to make sure the caramel has come to the right temperature.
2. Measure out the baking soda and add it to a small bowl. I like to do this before I start cooking the caramel.
3. Combine the sugar, golden syrup (or corn syrup) and water in a large saucepan. Once you add the baking soda to the caramel, it will bubble up light crazy, so make the sure to use a good-sized pan. The pan I used can hold about 2½-liters or 2½-quarts of water.
4. Heat over low heat, stirring with a metal spoon until the sugar has dissolved.
5. Once the sugar has dissolved, crank the heat up to medium-high and wait patiently while the mixture bubbles and turns into a golden caramel. If you’re unsure about this step, use a candy thermometer and wait until the caramel reaches a temperature of 150°C/300°F. It’s okay to cook the caramel a little longer, but it needs to reach this temperature otherwise it won’t reaches the ‘hard crack’ stage and become brittle and hard once it has cooled.
6. If you don’t want to use a candy thermometer, or if you don’t have one, keep your eyes on the caramel. As soon as the caramel gets a little darker around the edges of the pan, it should be hot enough. If you’re using golden syrup, this can be tricky, as the golden syrup gives the sugar mixture a golden color to begin with. Just look for the darker (more mahogany colored) caramel. Don’t let it get too dark though; the caramel will continue to darken as it cools.
7. Once you like the color of the caramel, take the pan off the heat. Immediately sprinkle in the baking soda and whisk it in. Whisk for 5 seconds, then pour the bubbling caramel onto the lined baking sheet. The mixture will continue to expand and bubble, but it will soon settle down. Allow the honeycomb to cool to room temperature.

Once the honeycomb has cooled to room temperature, melt some chocolate:

1. First, melt the dark chocolate in the bowl of a double boiler or in the microwave. Using a pastry brush, coat half of the hardened slab of honeycomb candy with chocolate.
2. Melt the white chocolate in the bowl of a double boiler (wash the bowl first) or in the microwave. Again, use a pastry brush to coat the other half of the honeycomb candy with white chocolate. Allow the chocolates to set.
3. Break the honeycomb slab in large pieces with your hands or a rolling pin. Enjoy!

3.2.1284