Honeycomb Brulee

La Lune De Miel

After a 2 month obsession with lollipops and hard candies, I have rediscovered my love of making and eating honeycomb candy.  If you have ever had a Violet Crumble candy bar, then you have had honeycomb.  But, until I made Honeycomb Brulee myself I did not know the magic and delight that this candy brings to anyone you share it with. This recipe is basically like making hard candy with the main and only real flavoring being honey.  Then, the step that puts this candy in it's own category...adding the baking soda.  The baking soda makes the hot molten candy syrup bubble and foam up & lighten in color as you stir.  It's exciting, a bit scary and addictive to make (and eat).

I LOVE HONEY.  It has been my dark, secret love since early childhood.  I would drool at the sight of a honey bear or the smell of honey.  I put honey on toast, cereal, desserts peanut butter sammiches and in tea and on a spoon in my mouth.  Honeycomb Brulee combines my love of honey and a texture that is so surprising and satisfying.  This candy is kind of high maintenance because of several steps.  BTW: This recipe won't work well on rainy days.
First, to make real quality hard candy you need a good candy/deep fry thermometer, this isn't an option to me.  There are ways to "test" your molten candy for stages but the whole process is much less stressful with the right tools.  A good thermometer will cost about $20 or less.
Second, quality shows in the end product.  Like this recipe for example, a high quality honey is a must.  Orange blossom honey is my favorite.  But, always buy Grade A real honey...check that there are no fillers like high fructose corn syrup, yuck.
Third and Lastly, when the baking soda is added the molten candy will bubble up to sometimes 4 times it's volume.  This is what you want, but this is a critical step because you have to work fast to stir in the baking soda completely.  You have to stir continuously do not start & stop stirring during this step.  Then you quickly have to pour the bubbly mess out into a sheet pan or jelly roll pan.  Do not spread the candy out, in fact don't touch it!!  Pour and walk away.
This is where the magic happens.  As the candy cools, the bubbles harden and are structurally sound, but when the candy is still hot, freshly poured out onto the Silpat, it will quickly deflate if it is bumped or touched. That's why this recipe is best done with a friend.  Not only is this a fun recipe to do with someone you love, but they can help you hold the heavy pan as you pour out the hot bubbly candy and dip the broken up candies in chocolate. The best part is that you can add other flavors to infuse delicate flavors to compliment the floral honey, we love lavender and rose.

Ingredients

2 cups of sugar
1 cup water (for lavender/rose use 2-4 drops of essential oil or 1/2 cup rose water)
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup corn syrup
3 1/2 teaspoons baking soda


Prepare a sheet pan or casserole dish with aluminum foil and spray the foil with Pam, or if you have a silicone baking sheet you can use that and forgo the oil.
Combine sugar, water, honey and corn syrup in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan, stir until no dry sugar remains...(I use a saucepan that I boil larger amounts of pasta in.) Boil this mixture on medium high heat with candy thermometer clipped to side of pan and into your candy mixture. Honey can burn at high temperatures so watch this candy syrup at all times.  The temperature of the candy is really determined by the water evaporation...so to avoid burnt honey I usually don't go too high on temperature.
You will be boiling the candy mixture to 300' or the "hard crack" stage.
Once this temperature is reached, remove from heat, grab a large spoon/spatula/whisk and sprinkle in the baking soda into the hot candy syrup.  Be very careful.  The candy will violently bubble as you stir, this is normal.  Like I said, do not start then stop then start stirring...this will kill your bubbles.
Ok, done stirring?  Quickly pour your bubbly molten candy out onto your prepared pan, do not spread out candy.  Walk away from kitchen for about an hour.  Don't touch, bump or move the candy. When you come back, you will have a gorgeous, (although rustic and not uniform) puffy mass of candy.  Lift up one corner, break with hands or you can break it with a knife.
After breaking into bite sized pieces, dip into melted chocolate and let chocolate set up.  If you don't opt for chocolate, then immediately store candy in zip top bags and place those bags inside an airtight container.  After chocolate is set up, store as undipped candy. This candy will absorb moisture quickly from the air and it will turn to goo in an hour or two.  You can't be too careful about the storage of this candy, it will be highly prized at your house if you make it correctly so storage and shelf life are important.  I found that if stored properly, Honeycomb Brulee will last about 10-14 days.  But, it doesn't last that long, ever.

I hope you decide to make this candy.  It is well worth the work.  I bring this candy to parties and give it at Christmas, and the response is consistently stunned amazement. I always have crazy, addicted Honeycomb junkies asking for more.