Oh honey, oh sugar sugar
By the time it gets to Friday in the office, my coworkers and I are usually at our wit’s end with boredom, so eager for the weekend that we’re almost salivating with desire (eww, now there’s a mental image!) and shooting emails back and forth, desperate for some form of amusing distraction. Occasionally, when I know I’ll be baking on the weekend, I’ll run an event on the Friday afternoon known as “Friday Afternoon Shenanigans” - an event that invites my coworkers to prepare for the weekend by exercising the sillier sides of their brains, and generally sharing a laugh.
After not having run the event for the past month, this Friday I shared the definitive guide on “How To: Smell Like A Fish“, which caused such confusion that I thought it the perfect opportunity to reinstate this event and make a triumphant come-back. The resulting request for people to submit the title of a “most unlikely ‘how to’ list” yielded a few responses, but only 3 that were received within the specified time frame, so I decided that I’d gift all three of them with a mini basket of goodies! For the basket, I created 3 different boiled sugar delights - the marshmallows you’ve already seen, so I now present you with the home made honeycomb!
Golden, crisp and crunchy - these explosive sweets are sure to be a hit!
Haalo runs one of my absolute favourite food blogs on the internet - Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once, and when she posted this recipe for honeycomb I was impressed and slightly bemused in equal parts - impressed, because her sugary sweets looked so amazing, and bemused because earlier that day I’d gone grocery shopping and come home with a tub of liquid glucose, not having any idea what it was for! I took the fact that I’d seen this recipe and bought the glucose on the same day as a sign that this was something I was meant to make, but my overwhelming fear of boiled sugar (not unlike my fear of cupcakes) meant that I just couldn’t muster up the courage to try them.
However, holding my shiny new sugar thermometer in my hands on Friday night, I felt a sudden rush of optimism - even though this recipe didn’t specify temperatures, dangnammit, I was going to give it a shot!
Haalo’s straight-forward instructions made the recipe a cinch to follow, yet for some reason I underestimated just how explosive the reaction of bi-carb (baking) soda and the molten sugars would be…which resulted in me squealing like a maniac at 1am in the morning (which is when I chose to give this a try!) and stirring like mad to try and prevent the bubbling mixture from overflowing over the sides of the pot.
Me: EeeurrgggghAAARrgghg-Saaaaaavemeeeeeee!
Mom: (rushing into the kitchen from the lounge, having been woken from her nap) What? What’s wrong? What’s going on? Are you hurt?
Me: Bicarb-Spoldey-ARGH!
Mom: (taking a long look at me) You are an idiot. (walks back into the lounge and grumbles as she collapses on the couch)
About 10 seconds later, I gave up, grabbed both handles of the pot and dashed over to my lined lasagne tin and dumped the lot in, taking a step back and eyeing the tin with awe and shock as I watched the sugar mixture morph and grow, taking on shapes not unlike a swamp monster struggling from the murky depths of a lagoon. Once it appeared to stop moving, I cautiously prodded it with my wooden spoon, letting out a slight squeal as it quickly deflated like a popped balloon. Fearing wht my curiosity might lead me to do, I forced myself out of the room and sat down to watch a movie as the sugar set, dashing back into the kitchen once the credits rolled onto the screen.
I eyeballed the golden lump, grabbed it from the tin, applied pressure and *SNAP*! I popped the freshly broken piece into my mouth and closed my eyes as the sugar fizzled and disintegrated into nothing on my tongue. I can’t tell you how much better this honeycomb is than the store bought ‘Crunchie’ chocolate bars (bars of honeycomb coated in chocolate), and it was also superb crushed and sprinkled into a bowl of vanilla ice cream that I had the next afternoon!
So, if you feel the need for a little sugary something as well as some kitchen magic, I definetely recommend giving this recipe a try 
Home Made Honeycomb (from Haalo & AWW)
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
1/3 cup liquid glucose (can replace with light coloured corn syrup)
2 tbsp monofloral honey (ironbark, leatherwood, red gum etc)
1/4 cup water
2 tsp bi-carb (baking) soda, sifted
1. In a high-sided large saucepan add the sugar, glucose, honey and water and stir over a gently heat until sugar has dissolved.
2. Continue to cook until the mixture turns a golden brown colour - this should take about 15 minutes.
3. While the sugars are cooking prepare your tray. I line my tray (20×30cm or 8×12 inch and a good 2-3 inches in depth) with double thickness aluminium foil and extend it generously over the tray edges. Put this tray on a larger cookie sheet as a protection measure to catch any over-runs should the tray not be high enough.
4. Make sure the bi-carb is well sifted and when the sugar is ready, place this into the saucepan. Stir quickly to combine, you’ll immediately notice the mixture become a lot lightly in colour and start to rise - it’s texture will change to something resembling spun sugar. Keep stirring and when the mixture is approaching the top of the saucepan begin pouring it out onto the tray - the reaction will continue in the tray where it will keep rising. There’s no need to smooth the mix out - it’s best that you just leave it.
5. Let it set in the pan for about an hour - it will drop down somewhat as it cools.
6. Remove from tray and break it up into pieces to enjoy on it’s own, dipped/coated in chocolate or smashed and mixed into some vanilla ice cream
Look at all those caverns…anyone feel like a spot of spelunking?
Technorati Tags: boiled sugar, candy, sugar, honeycomb, recipes, sweets
Others who have tried this recipe:
- Jill from Hey, That Tastes Good
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Comments
Haalo This looks superb - you’ve done honeycomb proud! No-one ever believes how explosive the reaction is, it’s almost volcanic.
Brilynn This is another sugar creation I’ve been meaning to do try, again, I fear the hot sugar. Well done on your part!
plume I. want. to. make. that!!!
In fact I have everything to make it now, but I have to work.
Drats.
Ellie Tanna - there does seem to be something about late night cooking, that’s for sure Though I think this should still be fine if made a bit earlier than 1am 
Haalo - Thanks hon Even with the warning on your post, I still didn’t expect it to be that crazy!
Mandi - Thanks sunshine
Kat - Definetely give this a try, this is one of those confectionaries that is extremely easy and hard to muck up!
Brilynn - This recipe is marvellous, so long as you keep an eye on the sugar I imagine it’d be hard to go wrong Hope you give this and mallows another shot!
Plume - hehe, maybe on the weekend
Peabody - Thank you sunshine
Neil - Hehehe, once BHP see this blog post they’ll be knocking down my door with job offers 
kitchenmage How wonderful looking! I’m planning a four-day party and surfing for recipes. I think this may have to go on the sweets list. One question: How did you store it and how long does it keep fresh? (ok, so that’s two questions…)
Ellie Kitchenmage - I just store it in the fridge in some baking paper/waxed parchment. As for how long it lasts, it’s almost been a week now and the sugar is still staying strong
Callipygia ellie- I am so impressed with this! It looks amazing and i adore honeycomb. I will say though that i am too intimidated with hot sugar…i just took a look at lis’s site!
sunny-honey-bunny- babe im from germany?? how knows germany??? the country is coooool^-^, reading me please, because i luv speak in english!!! °-° by anna
And like any good foodie blogger, I will need to try this at 1am right.
This really looks amazing and absolutely fun! Love the picture of your mom turning on her heel and “You’re an idiot.” She needs to develop a little understanding of blogger and foodie. Why is it we do these things in the middle of the night.
Actually, the picture of the honey comb is the best. Thanks I’ll try the honey comb but not spelunking!