Honeycomb, cinder toffee…
I’m sure there are lots of names for it. This is one of Nigella’s recipes and she calls it ‘hokey pokey’, so there you are. Make up a name and this is it.
We always called it honeycomb. Of course it has nothing to do with honey, but rather a lot to do with sugar and golden syrup. Fat free though – yes, really! Fat free! Unless you dip it in chocolate, but that’s a different matter.
Sweet, crunchy but chewy. And easy? Easy?! If you have 10 mins to spare and want to give someone a present that isn’t a box of dusty chocolates from the shop, then this is a choice to consider.
First, do yourself a favour and measure out 1 tbsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda). Also, get an 8″ square tin out and butter it well.
Put 200g caster sugar and 4 tablespoons of golden syrup in a saucepan.
Stir it around to vaguely incorporate it,
then put the pan on a low-medium heat to melt. Don’t stir it from now on. Swirl if you must, but no stirring.
See? It’s just melting in the bottom right…
Melting well now (this is a matter of a couple of minutes, incidentally)
So now you let it simmer for 3-4 minutes, until it’s darker – about the colour of maple sugar – don’t let it get too dark though. ‘Twill burn.
You can’t see the true colour very well in this pic, because the bubbles are lighter, but allow me to assure you, it was darker.
Now whip it off the heat and thrust the tblsp of biacrb in and whisk it in rapidly, but calmly. This is hot sugar – over enthusiastic stirring results in scars.
Poooooooof! Swell! Flump! *insert other words that indicate the chemical reaction*
Pour/scrape the sugary lava into the greased tin
and allow it to set.
It will firm up as it cools, but that might take a couple..a few hours. Mine firmed up pretty quickly, but I declared it ‘done’ after the most intensive pestering from Alex. Is it done yet is it done yet is it done yet. You get the picture.
Fiddle around with it by easing the sides of the tin apart slightly, sticking a palette knife down the side then turning it over and thrusting it out of the tin on to a cutting board. There’s nothing to stop you cutting it in the tin, but I like this tin dude, so I’m not cutting anything in it!
Sweeeeeeeeeeeet. (Man, it’s sweet)
Crunchy (Crunchie) …sweeeeeeeeeet
Chop it, splinter it, lick it off the board, I don’t mind one bit. Nigella suggests sprinkling it on to, or spooning through, ice cream. Whatever – as long as you don’t sprinkle it on roast chicken, I don’t think you can go wrong.
If you’re in a homemade sweetie mood, have a look at the Brown sugar fudge…
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Honeycomb
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200g caster sugar
4 tblsp golden syrup
1 tblsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
8″ square tin, well buttered
Combine the sugar and syrup in a saucepan.
Put the saucepan on a low-medium heat and allow it to melt. Do not stir at all. Evermore.
Allow it to simmer for 3-4 mins until it darkens a little – no darker than maple syrup though.
Take the pan off the heat and whisk in the bicarb.
Pour it into the well greased tin and leave to cool and set. Something in the region of 3 hours.
Chop, splinter and cut with a knife. Store in an airtight tin. (ha! store it! right! )
oh yes yes another sample please on the Christmas list, I’ll just double up on the Polygrip
I want to come and live with you and sample all these divine looking and sounding things. Do you bake every day?
Move in immediately Isobel! Of course, the house is not very roomy, so there’s nowhere comfortable for you to sleep, but although the garage does leak a bit we do have lots of blankets and an umbrella.
I am baking more to give myself more content, but leftovers are distributed to family and friends. Another reason to move in!
No, I don’t bake every day, I just have to spread the blog posts out a bit to give the illusion that I do
LOL @ the Polygrip, Rene! I shall keep a Christmas list of goodies for you to sample – I’m thoughtful like that
Yeah, it’s good, very useful, thanks
oh my god! i cant stop making this!! on its own or blathered in chocolate – it’s all good!!! thank you so much for the step by step guide!!! i love this web site!!!! xXx
LOL! I am loving the concept of someone compulsively whipping up batches of Cinder toffee. So very glad you’re enjoying the recipe, and thank you for your kind words about the site
Keep cindering, gal!
Oh dear! I’ve just made some more while the other half watches footie (which even he said it’s a boring game!) and passed some over to the neighbours (who get to guinea pig all of my baking!) and they love it! I really should stop now though, it’s not really part of my Slimming World eating plan!!! Although at only 7 syns per 28g – and you do get a lot in 28g!!!!!
a bit of a tip for you, if you line a baking try with foil and spray it with fry light, it does come out very easily!!! xXx
*gasp* Will slimming world excommunicate you?!
It’s great and low fat, you’re right. (Just don’t mention the chocolate)
Good tip on the spray oil – it comes out just fine from my non-stick tin, but the tin is new, so I wouldn’t want to try turning it out from one of the older ones. I would urge you to try the fudge, but I fear it would ruin the eating plan!!
Just making this now it looks great cant wait for it to set. But how on earth do I clean the saucepan. Thinking of putting it in the freezer see if it helps it to just crack off!
OK, I laughed. I’m sorry
For things like that, I put a drizzle of fairy liquid in and half-fill with water, then heat it again on the hob – melts away
I’ve read through many online recipes for cinder toffee/honeycomb recently in an attempt to find a simple, tasty (and cheap!) christmas gift for friends and relatives, your step by step guidance is definately the best by far!!
I’ve just made my first batch and it was very easy and tasty, hubby has given it a big thumbs up too, he said it tastes like fire (a compliment apparently!), if there is any left by tomorrow I’m going to dip it in chocolate and enjoy even more
thanks again so much for the awesome guide
That’s great to hear, Raine – thanks for the feedback. I’m loving the comparison to fire
Happy dipping in chocolate!
I actually followed a recipe and it’s not a total disaster! Now my little ones can ruin their teeth with my childhood favourite. Thanks for making it so easy
Hooray! Glad it was a success and happy brushing
I finally got around to making this yesterday. It was so good! Thanks Anna. Check out the pictures at: http://honeyandspice.wordpress.com/2011/04/01/honeycomb-toffee/
[...] Adapted from Cream Until Fluffy – Honeycomb, Cinder Toffee… [...]
Your pics are fantastic! The honeycomb looks perfecto – loving the chocolate coating
In Scotland we call this Puff Candy. As a youngster I loved this but ever knew how to make it. I’m in my sixties now and this recipe is to die for – absolutely deeeeeelicious.
Puff candy is the perfect name – much better than the misleading ‘honeycomb’. Hear that everyone? Puff candy! Round of applause for Cath! Glad you like it, Cath
Wonder what would happen if you used light brown sugar instead of caster sugar?
[...] After very little deliberation it has been rather easy to come to the conclusion that cheesecake is my favourite type of dessert. It is so dense and smooth, and as Gregg Wallace of Masterchef fame will tell you, there is nothing better than a nice, moist, “buttery biscuit base”. My original plan for this recipe was to incorporate in some way the chocolate bar Crunchie, but I thought that method wouldn’t work all that well and it might end up a little more expensive than hoped. So instead we went out and bought some cinder toffee, which you can get from most supermarkets or health-food shops. We would have made it instead, but didn’t have enough time. For those of you with enough time here is a good cinder toffee recipe. [...]
Hi all, tried this recipe today – yippee Christmas has come early. My daughter calls this “Edible Heaven”. Am going to try the fudge next. Thanks for the recipe Anna – P.S Are you friends with the toothfairy????
‘Edible heaven’ is genius! LOL @ the toothfairy – think I could take an agent’s fee?
love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just made this for a halloween horse party. Plan to dip it in chocolate later or make another batch if it gets munched first! Thanks for the tip on cleaning the pan!
When I made it for Halloween, added a few drops of food colouring and turned it green! Kids loved it!
I have had two attempts at this and cant seem to get it to foam up, I have two lumps of syrupy sugar that are now sat on the side going hard. Please advise to what I may be doing wrong?! Hoping to perfect it for bonfire night!
That’s really frustrating Amy!! My first thought is your bicarb and whether it’s still active and in date. Test it by mixing 1/2 tsp into 3 tbsp vinegar – it should fizz up with an obvious reaction. If it doesn’t, buy a new tub and test that for freshness because that is the obvious culprit. If the reaction is good, let me know and I’ll continue brain-storming… I’m thinking it HAS to be the bicarb because that is solely responsible for the chemical change. Keep me posted.
Just had another go and it has worked! Yipee!! Bought a new tin of bicard so it must have been that. Thanks so much for your advice, cant wait to it to cool now!
Fantastic! Enjoy enjoy
)
i have just made this cinder toffee for the first time it worked brilliant everyone loved it im having to make more now coz they all want more it was so easy when you know how i love the way nigela puts her recipes on here so easy to follow THANK YOU XXX
SORRY ANNA ITS YOU WHO PUT THIS ON THANK YOU XXX
just made a batch of this but not sure why mine tastes slightly slaty wondered if th eamount of bicarb is wrong as you say 1 tablespoon most other recipes talk about teaspoons
Whee! That was FUN! But I also am wondering about the amount of bicarb. It whoomped way over the pot (word to the wise…use a bigger one than you think you need) and then kept growing after I turned it out into the pan (next time I’ll put a jelly roll pan underneath). But it’s a sticky yummy and thoroughly entertaining mess. After looking at some other recipes, it seems a teaspoon is in order rather than a tablespoon. As soon as I finish cleaning up, I’ll try again with the lesser amount. Thanks so much for posting the pictorial. It made it much less daunting. Feliz Navidad!
A colleague brought cinder toffee into work a few months ago and being the one with a stomach like a buttomless pit that never gains any weight, I ate 70% of the tray. I then kept trying everything to make her make some more including my sob story of being a lonely foreigner in the Uk… It didn’t work, instead, she slammed a recipe on my desk and I remember wondering what on earth caster sugar was and how she had to bring me bicarbonate of soda in a small plastic bag which looked like something else. Few weeks on, I still didn’t make it as I couldn’t get my head round it till I read your post.
I made this after reading your recipe the day before yesterday and I don’t know how I’ve lived without cinder toffee all these years. Luckily for me, I’m a good mom who will never let my 3yr olds eat this so guess who’s had it all? My life will never be the same again, thanks to you! (I better not put on weight on this!)
Hi Anna have tried your recipe and the first two times I made it it was a great success but after several other times it has been a flop I wonder if you could tell me what I am doing wrong. When I am melting the sugar I have the gas very low and it takes a while for the sugar to melt it actually starts bubbling before it has properly melted and then I turn the gas up a bit and let it bubble for a few mins and take off the gas and put the bicarb in and give it a whisk and it fluffs up and then I pour it into the tin and the first times I made it it fluffed up a bit more in the tin but now it just goes flat and it is very chewy, can you help?thankyou
Hello Vi. Hmm. My first thought is the bicarb – I’m wondering whether it’s nearing its expiry date? Might be worth getting a new tub and repeating it; someone else had a similar problem and the bicarb turned out to be the culprit! Let me know whether it changes the result…. fingers crossed. xx
Lasha, I must only have replied to you in my head. How very annoying. I loved your comment – made me grin! You are good Mum, an excellent cook and an adventurer. And you absolutely will not put on any weight. Nope. Not at all. (That isn’t true). x
Hey, fantastic recipe and so quick to do. I think I may have done something wrong though as the cinder toffee looked like cinder toffee and tasted like it but the texture wasn’t right it was crumbly rather than crunchy any tips as to what I did wrong?
The Nigella recipe doesn’t use a confectionary thermometer so I suspect if your suger isn’t working, it’s not hot enough. It needs to hit ‘Hard Crack’ which is about 155 degrees C
The only problem I’ve found is that if heat or humidity is too high, it goes soggy.
If it’s crumbly, it’s because it wasn’t hot enough either.
It’s called hokey pokey in New Zealand, make a fab hokey pokey ice cream there!
Love hokey pokey!
Thanks for posting this childhood favourite, Anna. I’ve made this a few times from your recipe and it’s always turned out well. I’ve found that if I line the tin with baking parchment it just peels right off when it’s set (if I can wait that long). Had some chocolate ganache left over the other day and added it to the middle of the mixture (half the cinder toffee to the tin, then the ganache followed by the remaining mixture, all done very speedily) and ended up with an inside-out crunchie. Sheer heaven!
[...] Bonfire Night and they were easy to make and achieve good results. The recipe for cinder toffee is here. We followed it verbatim- or rather James did as I was too scared of very hot sugar and syrup. [...]
Fab recipe, thanks! I reduced the amount of bicarb and it still turned out well.
Thank you for this recipe! Have always been nervous of making toffee – I have a tendency to crystallise the sugar – but this worked perfectly. Surprisingly quick and easy too. Pics were excellent.
[...] After very little deliberation it has been rather easy to come to the conclusion that cheesecake is my favourite type of dessert. It is so dense and smooth, and as Gregg Wallace of Masterchef fame will tell you, there is nothing better than a nice, moist, “buttery biscuit base”. My original plan for this recipe was to incorporate in some way the chocolate bar Crunchie, but I thought that method wouldn’t work all that well and it might end up a little more expensive than hoped. So instead we went out and bought some cinder toffee, which you can get from most supermarkets or health-food shops. We would have made it instead, but didn’t have enough time. For those of you with enough time here is a good cinder toffee recipe. [...]
Been making with vinegar, butter and water as well as the other ingredients but this way is by far easier and actually nicer too. Thank you