Now that the fall has arrived and with it the fall holidays such as Halloween there’s nothing more cozy then to curl up under a blanket with some candles a good book or movie and just relax and enjoy some homemade candy, with this recipe I will give step by step instructions to help you succeed in your own candy making.
Don’t worry if you were to fail a couple of times, that’s completely fine as you are not alone in that case. I have failed many times myself and the key is to not get discouraged, just keep at it and you will be fine 🙂
Make sure to prepare everything and read the recipe before starting to make the stress factor lesser then if you where to fetch things and read the recipe as you go but also to increase the possibility of success!
Equipment
- A clean medium sized heavy based saucepan
- A sugar or jam thermometer
- A pastry brush
- A cup of water
- A whisk
- A shallow baking tray lined with baking parchment
- A silicone spatula
Ingredients
- 175 g Caster sugar (cane sugar if available)
- 4 tbsp Glucose syrup (golden syrup if available)
- 1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda/baking soda
- Optional Chocolate
Directions
- Add the sugar and the syrup to the pan and attach the thermometer to the inside of the pan.
- Place on a low heat and stir gently until the sugar is completely dissolved, try not to let the mixture bubble until the sugar crystals are completely dissolved (if you are unsure you can test the mixture by scooping out a small amount with a spoon, you should not be able to see any sugar crystals in the liquid.) DO NOT STIR ONCE THE SUGAR HAS DISSOLVED or it will crystallise and you don’t want that, sugar crystals are your enemy.
- Turn up the heat to medium and remember do not stir! To prevent you from getting crystals on the sides of your saucepan you can brush it down with the brush and some water.
- Monitor the mixture until it reaches a temperature of at least 295 degrees fahrenheit or 146 degrees Celsius and no higher then 310 degrees fahrenheit or 155 degrees Celsius. (a lower temperature will make your honeycomb softer and a higher temperature will make it brittle), it will be a lovely golden colour. Don’t leave your pan unattended and keep an eye on the temperature, once it gets going it will be very quick.
- As quickly as you can, remove the pan from the heat as soon as it reaches the temperature you want and remove the thermometer but be very careful, you don’t want to burn yourself on the hot caramel.
- Add the bicarbonate of soda and gently whisk it in until it has all disappeared and the mixture is foaming, do not overdue it since you then will be loosing those important air pockets created by the bicarbonate and make the mixture crystallise.
- Pour out the mixture gently into the lined tin, pouring as near to the bottom of the lined tin as you can so you don’t lose those important bubbles. Carefully scarpe out the last of the mixture with a silicone spatula.
- Leave it to cool before cracking it into chunks. It’s important to cool the honeycomb mixture down as quickly as you can, this will help to prevent those rouge sugar crystals forming, pouring it into a shallow baking tray lined with parchment paper does the job nicely.
- If you want you can cover the pieces with chocolate.
- Store the candy in a dry place in an airtight container, glass works best. If not stored in an airtight container or stored in a fridge the honeycomb will go soft