Tag Archives: honey

Salted ‘Bit ‘o Honey’ (ish)

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Soundtrack: Animal, Miike Snow

finished salted 'bit 'o honey'

Supplies:
standing mixer
measuring cups/spoons
spatula
silpat lined baking sheet

Ingredients:
1 large egg whites, room temperature
1/8 tsp kosher salt
1 and 1/3 c sugar
1/2 c honey
2 Tbs water

so this post is kind of a haphazard way to see if i could fool around with a recipe i messed up. you’d think i’d have learned my lesson before about letting the sugar mixture reach too high of a temperature…but i apparently not.

(not pictured – combine sugar, honey and water in saucepan. mix to combine and increase heat. i should have stopped at 252 degrees were i to continue with nougat making but i went a bit over. honestly, not even sure what the final temp was before i pulled it off the stove and tried to incorporate in with the whipped egg whites…)

mixing

in standard mixer with whisk attachment beat egg white and salt on medium high until foamy. with mixture running add in syrup and continue to beat. (the color was my first clue something was wrong)

mixed

this doesn’t end up whipping up into a light fluffy mixture…sooo just mix for a few minutes until throughly combined (second clue)

cooling

pour onto silpat lined baking sheet – sprinkle with sea salt flakes. let cool and harden, break into pieces. at this point i knew it was a salvage or not situation so i thought sea salt and honey sounded like it be a tasty treat.

noms

Lessons Learned:

  • um, watch temperature on candy thermometer. do not decide to chop additional ingredients or load dishwasher in meantime.

Review: great flavor pretty much on point with bit ‘o honey with a twist – honey and salt is a total winner in my book. however, consistency is like really, really hard chewy taffy. it takes some work but then again it keeps you from eating too much in one sitting i suppose…

mistakes were made

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so in a (totally my fault) turn of events, my attempt to make pistachio/chocolate/dried cherry nougat has resulted in a confection that reminds me of Bit o’ Honey. luckily i could see that gross miscalculations had been made and avoided adding in any of the nougat additions i had prepped. (posts for both forthcoming)

but quite honestly, this is kind of why i love teaching myself how to make all kinds of confections, you never know what you’ll wind up with (if you’re anything like me). and even mistakes are still a good way to learn how to roll with the punches life inevitably throws at you.

Honeycomb (take 2)

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Soundtrack: Charlie Brown Christmas music

finished honeycomb

Supplies:
parchment paper lined baking sheet
3qt saucepan
measuring cups/spoons
whisk

Ingredients:
1/4c honey
1/2c light corn syrup
2c sugar
1/4c water
1 Tbsp baking soda

ingredients

line baking sheet with parchment paper. combine honey, light corn syrup, sugar and water in saucepan.

cooking

bring to boil, washing down sides of pan with pastry brush dipped in water. cook until mixture reaches 300degrees – about 20min.

whisking

remove from heat and whisk in baking soda until entirely combined. this will bubble up pretty quickly so do this over the parchment paper covered baking sheet.

cooling

pour into prepared baking pan and let cool.

noms

break into pieces. dip into melted chocolate if desired.

Lessons Learned:

  • definitely combine baking soda into mixture while holding the pot over the baking sheet to catch overflow.
  • make sure the thermometer is reading accurately.
  • **make sure store in an airtight container

Review: pretty tasty. i overcooked it a little because for some reason my thermometer seemed to read at a lower temperature on the side of the pan where i’d clipped it compared to the middle of the pot. i noticed that the color was getting super dark which is how i figured that the temperature was a lot higher than i thought. still delicious, really crispy which a rich dark caramel taste. and chocolate really does just make everything better.

 

Honeycomb (take 1)

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Screening: Misery

finished honeycomb

 
Supplies:
parchment paper lined baking pan
3qt saucepan
measuring cups/spoons
whisk

Ingredients:
1/2 c sugar
4 Tbs dark corn syrup
1 and 1/2 tsp baking soda

ingredients

line baking sheet with parchment paper. pour sugar and syrup into saucepan.

ingredients

stir to combine – off heat.

cooking

cook – not stirring – over medium heat for about 5 min until sugar mixture boils and bubbles and turns the color of maple syrup. remove from heat and whisk in baking soda until entirely combined.

finishing

pour into prepared baking pan and let cool.

noms

break into pieces. dip into melted chocolate if desired.

Lessons Learned:

  • pour finished mixture into pan quickly, and don’t try to even it out with the whisk because the quickly hardening confection with glom onto everything.

Review: did not like this recipe. the finished product has a weird after taste of baking soda, and after the initial first few light and airy bites the honeycomb starts to stick to your teeth and doesn’t really dissolve. the chocolate was a pretty touch, but doesn’t really address these main concerns. a friend who does not like honeycomb as a general rule did, however, like this confection because it had such a different-than-typical taste. also i find it weird that honey was not an actual ingredient. i will be making an alternate recipe tomorrow.