Honeycomb

Honeycomb toffee is a crunchy, aerated sweet that is most commonly associated with Cadbury's Crunchie bar. It has many different names including cinder toffee in parts of Britain, sponge candy in parts of America and hokey pokey in New Zealand. Honeycomb is really simple to make. There are loads of different recipes for it but the majority of them only have three ingredients: sugar, golden syrup and baking soda (bicarbonate of soda). It works by boiling the sugar and syrup to the "hard crack" stage (this gives it the crunch) and then adding the baking soda. The soda causes a chemical reaction which releases carbon dioxide bubbles. As the honeycomb hardens, the bubbles are trapped which gives the honeycomb its signature aerated texture.

Here's some honeycomb I made over the weekend. It's amazing dipped in chocolate!

Here's the recipe I used which is adapted from Nigella Lawson:

Ingredients:

100g caster sugar
4 tbsp golden syrup
1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda (sifted)

1. Mix the sugar and syrup together in a pan.
2. Set over a medium heat and allow to melt. Make sure it's completely melted before bringing to the boil.
3. Bring to the boil and boil until it's the colour of maple syrup (around 150 degrees C if you have a sugar thermometer). Test by dropping a little amount into a glass of water. It should make "threads as soon as it hits the water and become hard. This means it's at the hard crack stage. Make sure it's cooked enough as otherwise you won't get that crunchiness.
4. Quickly whisk in the bicarb and make sure it's fully incorporated.
5. Pour out onto a tray covered in baking parchment. Leave to set.
6. Break into pieces and dip in chocolate. It's best kept in an airtight box in the fridge as the sugar attracts water vapour in the air and can become sticky in a humid environment.
7. Enjoy!!