Though you wouldn’t necessarily know it from my blog, I have a thing for homemade candy.
It’s true I spend most of my time in the kitchen making salads, chicken, soups … you know, the “real food,” but in my free time I really love to play around with more whimsical things, and homemade candy is about as whimsical as it gets, if you ask me.
Honeycomb wasn’t on my radar until a couple months ago, when I was served a taste of it at a restaurant here in New York City, as one of the mignardises (those little bites of sweets they give you at the end of the meal). My husband and I were just beside ourselves as to what this magical bite of sweetness was, and after the waiter told us it was honeycomb, I went home and spent a good hour reading all about it.
Much to my surprise, it’s really easy to make. It looks all fancy, rising tall with hundreds of tiny bubbles, looking like a sponge with an incredibly crunchy texture. But a little bit of baking soda does all that work for you. It’s magic!
To get started, place a piece of parchment paper in an 8×8 pan, set out baking soda in a bowl, and grab a whisk. Honeycomb is a recipe where you need to be set up ahead of time.
You will also need a candy thermometer. Though a lot of recipes don’t call for a specific temperature, the two times I’ve tried making honeycomb without a thermometer, the candy had a slightly burned taste to it, because the sugar cooks more after you add the baking soda. Thermometers aren’t very expensive and are totally worth having, so you can nail temperature-sensitive recipes.
Place sugar, corn syrup, and honey in a saucepan.
Then add some water.
Cook over medium high heat until the sugar starts to cloud up and eventually dissolve.
As the sugar heats up, it will bubble vigorously, and will eventually hit a temperature of 300ºF, our target!
Immediately remove the pan from the heat and dump in baking soda.
Whisk it in and watch as the mixture foams like crazy, and thousands of bubbles appear.
Quickly scrape the mixture into the parchment-paper-lined pan. It will harden quickly, so I usually focus more on getting it out of the pot instead of spreading it flat on the parchment.
Let this sit for an hour at room temperature to cool and harden completely.
Then use a sharp knife to whack the honeycomb into pieces. I find that when you try cutting the honeycomb, it crumbles too much. So whacking is the way to go here!
Enjoy the honeycomb while it’s fresh, and store any leftovers in an airtight container, otherwise it will lose its crunchy texture. Enjoy!
