Ann Reardon

Honeycomb Candy Recipe

honey comb recipe how to cook that

Honeycomb Ingredients

365g (12.87 ounces) or 1 2/3 cup plus 1tsp caster sugar
140g (4.94 ounces) or 1/3 cup plus 1Tbsp glucose syrup
110ml or 1/3 cup plus 2Tbsp water
1 tsp bicarb
1/2 tsp baking powder

Instructions

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Gather everything you need including a pastry brush in a cup of water, a bowl lined with non-stick paper, bicarb and baking powder measured out and sifted, plus an oven mitt.


honeycomb
 

Put the sugar, glucose syrup and water into a wide based pan and put on high heat.

Stir until it begins to boil, then wash down sides of pan using the wet pastry brush. This washes down the splashes of sugar from the edges so they do not burn.

Then leave on high heat without stirring, until it JUST begins to brown in one spot. N.B. on gas stove tops this is likely to be at one edge, on electric it is likely to be in the middle. This will take about 5 minutes but keep watching it as timing is crucial. If you add the bicarb too early it won’t set, too late and it will taste burnt.

As soon as you see a light golden patch remove from the heat, stir a couple of times with the whisk to evenly distribute the heat. Then sprinkle in the bicarb and baking powders

Stir about three times with the whisk until just combined. It will start to bubble but still looks too pale for honeycomb – don’t worry it gets darker in the bowl.

Do not over stir. Pour immediately into the lined bowl.

Leave for about three hours to cool right through – this is the hardest part, as the smell of honeycomb wafts through the house. Everyone wants to eat it now! It may sink in the middle as it cools.

Once it is completely cool, peel of the paper and turn upside down.

Smash into pieces and eat! Tastes especially good dipped in melted chocolate – ideal with chocolate fountains.

Enjoy

My Cookbook

ann reardon crazy sweet creations cookbook
Stores that sell my book listed by country: http://bit.ly/ARcookbook
All recipe quantities in the book are in grams, ounces and cups.

137 Comments View Comments

  1. Rating: 4.5

    Hi Anna,
    Can you use a flavoring in the mixture. I like Malt — so I was wondering if you could add a tablespoon (or two) of Malt Flavoring — it comes in a liquid form.
    Thanks, Sharon

    • Hi Sharon, You’d need to experiment. I can’t see why it wouldn’t work but it may effect the texture. I used swapped in some malt syrup into my gingerbread this week and it was much softer than the gingerbread made with the molasses.

  2. Rating: 5

    Hi Ann! Thank you for this lovely website! Our honeycomb comes out fine, BUT it crystalises. We brush the sides and are careful not to over-beat. What are we doing wrong?

    • Hi Zitaq, I’ve not had that problem with honeycomb before, it sounds like you’re doing everything right. Are you adding the glucose syrup? That also helps stop crystallisation.

  3. If I wanted to add strawberries and place it in a mold how would the process change?

    • Hi Kimberly, Strawberries being a fresh and soft ingredient couldn’t really be added easily. If they were added to the honeycomb the moisture from the strawberries would begin to dissolve the sugar in the honeycomb. You could try spinkling freeze dried stawberries or other toppings on the cooling honeycomb. See this tutorial for some ideas and check out the topping for chocolate bark: https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/five-diy-gifts/

  4. Hi could you substitute any ingredients for honey? I made it and it’s great just would like more of a honey flavour rather then to sugary sweet. ( I do understands in a sweet treat lol)

  5. Can I use honey instead of glucose syrup?

    • Hi Claire, You can use light corn syrup or glucose syrup. Unfortunately honey is not a suitable replacement for glucose syrup.

      • I used honey and it worked fine, just a bit deeper in color and flavor.

      • Hi Ann, is this the soft honeycomb candy and not the hard recipe like brittle?

        • Hi Eileen, This honey comb is firm and crunchy.

  6. What libneatirg knowledge. Give me liberty or give me death.

  7. Hey is there any thing I can use instead of Bicarb

    • baking soda

  8. Hi Ann can you use wax paper instead of non stick baking paper

    • Hi Simin, In this case it is better to use non stick baking paper. Wax paper will stick to the Honeycomb.

  9. Thank you to Ann Reardon and the team at How To Cook That. My 11 y.o. daughter, Lacey,has suddenly started cooking, any chance she gets. I have also heard 20 minute monologues from her about your website. “Ann Reardon this…” ” Ann Reardon that…” “On how to cook that…”.
    She is at this moment, in the kitchen having her first go at your honeycomb recipe. Thank you for being such a great site and a great teacher. I’m loving the spoils of my daughter’s addiction to your website.

    • Thanks Jenni for your awesome feedback. It is so exciting to see young people adventuring into the kitchen. Say hi to your daughter for me 😀

  10. Just wondering, if I add food colouring to the water before cooking can I make coloured honeycomb? I’d have to monitor the temperature rather than judge by colour to know when to add the bicarb etc. but would it work?

    • Hi Nikki, Ann suggests adding the colour early as you suggested, then you could use a candy thermometer to judge when to add the bicarb. it should reach the right temperature around 196C or 295F.

  11. Hello anne
    What can i use as a substitute for glucose syrup. I find it hard to find it in here!

    • Hi Saliha, Corn Syrup (light) is the best replacement.

  12. What happens if I put butter in the mixture?

  13. Hi, is there a specific temperature where the syrup is perfectly cooked so that we won’t have any mistake of adding the bicarb and baking powder too early or too late? Thanks!

    • Hi Winona, Ann finds it more accurate to do by look but there is likely to be an ideal temperature.

      • Oustatnding read, I just passed this onto a colleague who was doing a little research on that. And he really bought me lunch because I located it for him smile So let me rephrase that: Thanks for lunch!

    • Thanks for shnairg. Always good to find a real expert.

  14. Thanks Ann for the recipe! It was so yummy, I have never had honeycomb candy but it was really delicious. My only question is when you crush it to get pieces, what’s the best way to crush it? I got a lot of crumbs and really big pieces after I just hit it with a rolling pin. Can I just cut it with a knife?
    Thanks Ann! Love your videos and recipes 🙂
    -Sarah

    • Hi Sarah, That is pretty much how honey comb breaks up. Ann likes to collect the crumbs and mix them into cocolate to make an additional treat.

  15. Hey Ann! Tried the recipe twice already but it seems that for both times the top layer is abit sticky. Any reason why this is so? Maybe I should cut down on the corn syrup?

    • Hi Dillon, Any surface that is exposed to the moisture in the air will go sticky. Is that what is happening?

  16. I LOVE HOW TO COOK THAT ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

    • Thanks Olivia! We love our subscribers too!

      • I had no idea how to approach this benoer-fow I’m locked and loaded.

  17. Hi Ann. I am going to make this and I was wondering what castor sugar is. Is it powdered sugar? Thanks

    • Hi Delaney, Castor sugar is called granulated sugar. It is normal refined sugar that is refined to make the granules smaller.

  18. Hi can you use golden syrup instead of glucose? And if so how much golden syrup do I use? Thanks

    • Hi Louise, glucose or corn syrup are preferable for this recipe. If you use golden syrup you can’t see the colour change. The sugar structure is also very different from that of glucose. Golden syrup is predomiantely sucrose with a small about of glucose. You need a high percentage of glucose for a great result.

  19. Hi Ann, what can I use if I don’t have a pastry brush or can the recipe work without it? For sure I can’t use my paint brushes. haha. Thank you!

    • Hi James, You you could use some wet paper towel if you were desperate but you would need to be very careful not to burn yourself! I would recommend just picking up a pastry brush from the supermarket.

  20. Hi Ann!Would honey work instead of syrup?

    • Hi Ally, Honey won’t work in this recipe. You need glucose for it to work well. You could use Corn syrup instead of glucose syrup if necessary.

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